Rwanda women were crowned champions of 2023 Kwibuka Women’s T20 tournament after beating Uganda by wickets in the final held at Gahanga Cricket Stadium on Saturday. Held annually in honor of Tutsi victims who were killed during the 1994 Genocide, the one-week event which was in its ninth edition saw Rwanda, Uganda, Botswana, Kenya and Nigeria battling for the glittering trophy at stake. Rwanda won the toss and elected to bowl first, giving Uganda an occasion to bat in the first innings after which they managed to post 65 runs before they were all eliminated in the 20th over. Rwanda had never beaten Uganda in any tournament since Cricket was introduced in the country 20 years ago and the likes of skipper Diane Bimenyimana, Gisele and Henriette Ishimwe and the rest of the group knew that beating the neighbors during Sunday's final would be the right occasion to end their unbeaten run. And it worked for them when they chased their 65 runs after 16 overs and beat Uganda by wickets to clinch the memorial cricket tournament for the first time since its inception in 2014. “As I said before the tournament, I had a feeling that this was going to be our turn to finally win this tournament. We just didn’t start quite well but, after sitting down to look at how we can fix where things weren’t going well, especially in batting, we came back strong,” said captain Diane Bimenyimana after the final. “So we have to celebrate this triumph because it cost us so much energy,” she added. Rwanda is gradually carving a niche as a giant in female cricket on the African continent as they also reached the Super six in the maiden edition of the U19 female cricket world cup in South Africa earlier this year. It took the country nine years to win the Kwibuka Women’s T20 despite hosting it. For Rwanda Cricket Association president Stephen Musaale, it was just a matter of time as he knew the time to win it would come. “We just trusted the process, we waited for our time to win ad here we are,” Musaale said. Besides champions Rwanda and runners-up Uganda, Kenya finished third after beating Nigeria in the third-place match by 48 runs. Losing the match saw Nigeria finish fourth while Botswana finished the tournament ranked at the bottom of the table. Best performers Best batter: Queentor (Kenya) Best Bowler: Henriette Ishimwe (Rwanda) Best fielder: Lorna Anyait (Uganda) Player of the tournament: Queentor Abel (Kenya). Team of the tournament 1. Henriette Ishimwe -Rwanda 2.Gisele Ishimwe-Rwanda 3.Belise Murekatete-Rwanda 4.Queentor Abel-Kenya 5.Rosine Irera-Rwanda 6.Goabilwe Matome-Botswana 7.Consy Aweko -Uganda 8.Evelyn Anyipo-Uganda 9.Laura Mophakedi -Botswana 10.Lucky Piety -Nigeria 11.Florence Samanyika-Botswana 12.Stephanie Nampiina-Uganda
