Rwanda’s female duo of Claudette Mukasakindi and Salome Nyirarukundo will today jet off to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil at 2pm aboard KLM airways ahead of their campaigns in the 2016 Rio Olympic Games. The duo will travel with their trainer Innocent Rwabuhihi and Rwanda Athletics Federation (RAF) president Jean Paul Munyandamutsa. Mukasakindi will represent the country in the women’s full marathon on Sunday, August 14 at 2:30pm while Nyirarukundo will compete in the women’s 10,000m scheduled for this Friday at 4:10pm at the Olympic Stadium. The 33-year-old Mukasakindi will be making her second appearance at the world’s biggest quadrennial sporting event after making her maiden appearance four years ago in London, finishing 101st with a time of 2:51:07. Speaking to Times Sport on Saturday, Mukasakindi, fresh from a three-month training camp in Iten, Kenya revealed that, with more experience under her belt, she is determined to make amends this time round. “I feel confident because I have had excellent preparations, physically, I am pretty fit and I hope to challenge for better positions than I did four years ago in London,” said Mukasakindi. The APR athletics club runner also competed at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland and finished 11th in the women’s 10,000m. Meanwhile, Nyirarukundo fresh from competing at this year’s IAAF World U-20 championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland, will be making her Olympics debut. The 19-year-old qualified during this year’s 20th edition of Africa Athletics Senior Championships that took place in June in Durban, South Africa. The Olympic Games started on August 5 and will end on August 21. Rwanda has fielded a total of seven athletes, among them, two cyclists, two swimmers and three runners. editorial@newtimes.co.rw
