Former Rwanda international Pascal Rurangirwa Karekezi has retired from competitive basketball at the age of 26. He broke the news of his retirement in an emotional Instagram post on Thursday. Karekezi was a part of the Patriots basketball team that won the 2018/29 BK Basketball National League title last September after their remarkable comeback from a 3-1 deficit to beat Rwanda Energy Group 4-3 in the playoff games finals. The point guard also previously played for and won championships with Espoir. “Basketball was everything to me and I gained many things through it, I never thought a day would come where I announce my retirement. But, this is that moment and I am ready to move on,” said Karekezi. “I thank everyone who really supported me during this [tough] journey of playing for different local clubs here in Rwanda and the national team,” he further added. The former Espoir star did not reveal reasons of his retirement but he had not been in top form in the last two years. While Karekezi has a colourful junior career in international basketball, he will also be remembered as a talent that never reached its full potential as he failed to impress at senior level despite receiving his first call-up at the age of 17. He captained the national U-18 team through the 2010 FIBA Africa Under-18 Championship where hosts Rwanda finished in sixth position out of 11 teams in the competition. At club level, Karekezi also featured for APR and United Generation for Basketball.
