Rwanda international Lawrence Yakan Guma, who plays for Japanese side Oita Miyoshi Weisse Adler, has joined the national team training camp ahead of the upcoming CAVB Africa Zone 5 Championships. The long-serving right attacker joined camp Wednesday afternoon and immediately started training with the team. The provisional 22-man squad, that started training on Monday, includes 20 home-based and two foreign-based players, and will be trimmed to a final 12-player team a few days ahead of the regional showpiece, which is scheduled for June 2-9 in Nairobi, Kenya. Rwanda international Lawrence Yakan Guma in action against Kenyans during a Zone V game in Kigali (Sam Ngendahimana) The week-long tournament will also double as qualifiers for the 12th All-Africa Games, due in Morocco’s capital – Rabat – in August. Born Ugandan, the 32-year old Lawrence has been a key player for the national team since 2006. He started his career at Ugandan side Sport-S before joining Kigali Volleyball Club in 2005 from where he signed for APR the following year, before joining Algerian side Etoile Sportif Setif in 2011. From Etoile Sportive Setif, the hard-hitting spiker moved to Palandoken Belediye – Erzurum, of Turkey, before joining his current club Oita Miyoshi Weisse Adler, in 2015. Rwanda finished fourth, in men’s indoor volleyball, at the last two editions of the quadrennial All-Africa Games; in Mozambique (2011) and the 2015 Congo-Brazzaville Games. editor@newtimesrwanda.com
