Rwanda’s Patriots basketball club have set themselves an ambitious target of winning this year’s FIBA Africa Zone V Club Championship as their third attempt. The week-long tournament starts on Sunday and will run until October 7 at Lugogo Indoor Arena in Kampala, Uganda. Rwanda is being represented by two teams, Patriots (men) and APR in the women’s category—IPRC-South (men) pulled out on Thursday. Patriots and APR left the country on Saturday morning aboard Rwandair. This year’s event has attracted teams from eight countries namely; Kenya, Burundi, Tanzania, Somalia, Ethiopia, Egypt, Rwanda and the hosts Uganda Speaking to Sunday Sport from Kampala on Saturday evening, Patriots team manager, Jean Claude Mukurarinda, revealed that the team is in high spirits and fired up to do everything possible to bring the title home. “We have a good team; the target is majorly to try to win this tournament for the first time. We are playing against the region’s best basketball clubs, it’s going to be a tough run, but it’s worth every effort,” Mukurarinda said. No Rwandan side has won the annual regional championship since 2012 when Espoir claimed it in Kampala after defeating Burundi’s Urunani in the final. However, the draws for this year’s tournament had not been announced by press time. The technical meeting was scheduled to sit on Saturday evening. editorial@newtimes.co.rw
