Rwanda beat Turkey, head to Libya

Build up games SaturdayRwanda 79-73 Turkey Rwanda’s senior basketball team showed that they are coming into form at the right time after Saturday’s 79-73 win over Turkey. The game played in Italy was Rwanda’s final build-up ahead of the 25th FIBA Africa Nations Championship for men (Afrobasket 2009) which throws off this Wednesday. Rwanda’s star center Robert Thomson came through unscathed and should be fully fit for Rwanda’s Group D opener against 1965 champions Morocco. Head coach Kavedzija Vaceslav should now have a glimpse of what to expect in Libya. Morocco recently lost to Turkey and Eric Kalisa, the president of the national basketball federation (Ferwaba) reckons that the Turkey win will instill more confidence in the side. “The team did well and we expected similar performances when the Afrobasket competition gets underway,” he said. Rwanda’s other Group D opponents include Tunisia and Cape Verde. The event, which runs from August 5 to 15, will be jointly held in Tripoli and Benghazi (Libya). Meanwhile, it was all gloom for Rwanda in the just ended Zone 5 Club Championships in Kampala as she failed to post a representative at the forthcoming Fiba-Africa Club championships. APR, one of the top contenders in the female category failed to match Uganda’s KCC Leopards after being trounced in the semi-finals 75-66. In the Men’s category, Marine and CSK couldn’t even get past the group stage. Needing a win from their final group game, Marine fell three points short after losing to Kenya’s KCB 61-64. By press time, Kenya’s KPA were on the verge of winning their fourth Zone 5 title. The Kenyans were leading 65-45 with two minutes to play. Ends

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Rwanda beat Turkey, head to Libya