Rwanda has won the bid to host this year’s ParaVolley Africa Sitting Volleyball Championship in both men and women’s categories due in September, Sunday Sport has learned. The women’s championship is slated for September 15-17, while their male counterparts will be tussling it out on September 19-22 in Kigali. It is the third time that Rwanda will be hosting the continental showpiece in the last five years after 2015 and 2017. Speaking to this publication on Saturday, Celestin Nzeyimana, the Secretary General of Africa ParaVolley Committee, revealed that the Africa ParaVolleyball body had unanimously endorsed Rwanda to accommodate the event. Nzeyimana is also former president of Rwanda Paralympic Committee. “The championships will also serve as qualifiers for the 2020 Paralympic Games,” he noted. The champion teams, from both gender categories, will automatically book tickets to represent Africa at the 2020 Paralympics in Tokyo, Japan. Rwanda represented the continent at the 2012 London Paralympics in men’s category, before the women’s team became the first African female Para-Volleyball team to play Paralympic Games at its 2016 edition in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is also understood that the best teams from the week-long competitions will qualify for the inaugural African Paralympic Games due in January 2020, in Morocco. editor@newtimesrwanda.com
