Bitok pleased with junior team’s success

The junior volleyball national team head coach Paul Bitok is pleased with the standard of the players after securing a place in Junior World Championships due in Ankara, Turkey from August 22 to September 1.Rwanda had never qualified for any world volleyball championship finals in their history, but now they will have both the Youth and Junior teams competing at the world stage.Bitok, who is also in charge of the senor national team, is taking care of all age category teams.When asked the secret behind Rwanda’s success at the youth level, he said, “I attribute our progress over the last few years to three main factors, the support from the government, regular participation in continental competitions, and the psychological and technical preparations of the players.” “The achievements by both the youth and junior teams send a good message that the investment over the last few years is not going to waste,” he observed. “Rwanda is among the best four countries in Africa, and now we are looking forward to achieving more at the world stage because we have good players, who can compete at the highest level,” he told Times Sport.The former Kenyan international added, “I’m happy with the performance of my team, I want to congratulate my players and also the local authorities for their support.” The junior team skipper, Aimable Mutuyimana, was named the best attacker at the CAVB Junior Championships, which ended in Tunisia on Saturday. Rwanda beat Morocco 3-0 (27-25, 27-25, 25-21) to win bronze medal. Tunisia won the gold medal after bearing Egypt 3-1 (25-17, 22-25, 25-19, 25-21).“I rested the key players in the semifinal match against Egypt because I knew it was difficult to beat them so as to concentrate on the third place playoff, and we succeeded,” Bitok explained. Africa will be represented by Tunisia, Egypt, Rwanda and Morocco at the 2013 the FIVB Men’s Junior (U 21) World Championship to be held in Turkey.

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Bitok pleased with junior team’s success