Category: Sports

By: Marcel Nzabamwita

A mini football tournament organized by the Association des jeunes sportifs de Kigali “ESPERANCE” kicked off today at Mumena Stadium in Nyamirambo amidst hundreds of spectators.

The tournament aimed at strengthening the U17 years involves three squads from Kiyovu FC, Esperance and Vision 2020 FC as well as the Maison des jeunes – Kimisagara.

According to the organizers three teams will strengthen their academies through the tournament and other activities during their ongoing vacation for secondary and primary schools.

Ejo Hazaza, Etoile, Fishers of Men and AS Kigali are also other youth teams that were invited to participate in this event.

Each of the participating teams were divided into age groups of under 12, 13 -14 and 15-16 years.

A total of 47 games will start from August 4-17 at Mumena stadium and the Regional stadium both located in Nyamirambo.

speaking to igihe.com Manirakiza Saidi, the under-17 coach of Kiyovu FC academy and one of the organizers of the tournament, he expressed gratitude and pride in the successful start of the event.

“The only problem we have is the reluctance of the media in covering stories of young players’ sports and minimal support from the higher ranking officials from the teams and the football federation of Rwanda” he said.

He further urged Rwandan journalists and sports reporters to show dedication to young players because it is this kind of exposure that they need in order to attract foreign and major club coaches in order to further their careers in football.

By: Marcel Nzabamwita

Sellas Tetteh, the coach of the national football team has released a list of the players who have been pre-selected to clash against Ivory Coast in the African Cup of Nations qualifier.

From the pre-selected team, 18 players will be chosen to officially represent Rwanda in the game scheduled to take place on September 3rd at Amahoro Stadium.

The team includes 7 international players and four players from the Under 17 team which recently represented Rwanda in the U-17 World Cup in Mexico.

The selected team is expected to join camp this Sunday August 7, and to start training the following day in preparation for the game against Ivory Coast whose stakes are high since they will determine the future for Rwanda in the 2012 African Cup of Nations.

The tournament will be hosted by both Gabon and Equatorial Guinea.

Rwanda, alongside Ivory Coast, Benin and Burundi are all in Group H of the qualifiers and Ivory Coast leads the group with 12 Points, followed by Burundi and Benin which both have 4 points.

Although Burundi is placed second on goal difference, Rwanda, at the bottom of the group, have 3 points and to qualify, Amavubi have to win the next game against Ivory Coast while Burundi draws with Benin.

BY:Igihe.com Reporter

A sports expert from UK who has been in the country has observed that Rwanda needs more qualified coaches to lift the standards of sports.

Stephen Ogden who has just left the country was under Project Umubano program spearheaded by conservative enhances more UK and Rwanda Cooperation, said that all sports games needed coaches, facilities and equipments.

He was among 100 volunteers from UK’s based conservative party.

“Most sports teams we visited lack qualified coaches, facilities including pitches, skin guards and shoes and other related tools,”He said.

“There is a lot of talents here, Rwandan children are talented, enthusiastic and energetic but they lack a catalyst to push them to the next level of success but I believe in ten years we may see a Rwandan playing in English premier leagues,” Ogden added.

Ogden says he intends to lure football clubs’ scouts that are interested in African football to come to Rwanda and search for talents in sports.

About 11 volunteers from the conservative party joined Steven Ogden to train different sports personalities in football, cricket, basketball and volleyball among others.

Despite a recognized improvement in sports, Rwanda still faces enormous challenges in all kinds of sports where most football clubs in Rwanda lack funding which has resulted into decline.

However the football governing body in Rwanda FERWAFA has trained a few coaches and some are awaiting to upgrade their training in Germany soon to attain a solution of getting qualified coaches.

A week ago two scouts from Kenya and Uganda entered the country through Gatuna border with flags representing their scouting team attached to their bicycles. The duo very tired with huge touristic bags on their backs, gave one the impression they were not making one of those leisure cycling tours on a peace mission.

The two are Nairobi’s James Chege and Kampala’s Daniel Naghaka who spent 16 days cycling from Nairobi with an aim to cycle the whole of East African Community, targeting to preach about peace and reconciliation as well as community development.

Naghaka noted that they decided to embark on the initiative after realizing there were several parts of the region recovering from internal disputes or politically orchestrated wars yet total reconciliation wouldn’t prevail unless residents united to rebuild their society.

While cycling through Uganda, they had a number of stopovers in various towns to preach about peace and community development and in some areas, they took chores in construction activities.

“In Uganda’s Rwentobo village, western Uganda we helped women crash stones which were supposed to be used as ballast for renovation of some houses,” he remarked.

In Rwanda they met with settlers nearby Gatuna border, where they heard of experiences of genocide and the progress made in regard to peace and reconciliation.

“We really learnt a lot from them, especially how they work together in associations. I would like the same to be replicated in my country Kenya, where up to now some people live at loggerheads due to the 2007 disputed elections,” he lamented.

Upon their arrival in Kigali city, they met with William Karoki a senior scout who runs his private business in the country. He noted that scouts should have the heart of brotherhood: “once a scout always a scout that’s why I hosted them for a whole week in my house, and incurred all the costs which I can’t demand from the Kenyan Scouts Association or from anyone”.

He further pointed out that scouts should help each other since their unity can help them achieve a lot, especially in helping the needy.

In Rwanda though, scouts are not established as their brothers in the region. The three managed to tour the cyclists around their activities and Naghaka stressed that local scouts need to do more than wait for funds to carryout various activities.

“For example we don’t have money to conduct this tour that’s why we’ve decided to use our energy and bicycles to save transport expenses and we are thankful to those who give their donations to us because it keeps us moving,” he remarked.

He advised Rwandan scouts to raise their funds through contributions which they can later use to come up with income generating activity. “They can contribute an affordable fee like Frw 100 which later they can use to come up with an ICT centre for example”.

While in Kigali a good number of people hailed their initiative and vowed to assist them. The Kenyan society for instance who had met for a campaign gathering to elect a new chairman donated over Rwf 100,000.

“This is interesting, I for instance in my village Mwala district close to Machakos, I with my friends constructed a well which connects more than 200 households,” Boniface Mutua one of the chairman aspirants who had also hosted the gathering emphasized.

The duo also met with local scouts who were reminded some of the scout values and how they inspire them to change the society. Amédéé Sahaha, the scouts’ assistant commissioner in Kicukiro district explained that he was challenged to find that other scouts are crossing borders to assist the needy.

“I’m very impressed. We normally have excuses of not having cars yet others are using bicycles and they don’t have that big budget for their tour, from now henceforth I’m going to mobilize all the thousand scouts we have in the districts to use bicycles in reaching out to those who need their help,” he vowed.

Sahaha who spoke his modest Swahili also vowed to train his scouts on the widely spoken language since it was among the main challenges the two Kenyan cyclists faced while talking to locals as they would neither communicate in Kinyarwanda or French which are mainly languages locally used.

The duo left Rwanda to Burundi where they estimated to use five days. “We normally cycle for 40 kilometers per day which is two hours non-stop and we also carry first aid kits.

During the night, we set our tents till the following day because it’s risky to cycle at night though sometimes we do so in order to catch-up with deadlines,” Chege explained.

Hull native Kate Kelley, a former basketball standout at Notre Dame Academy in Hingham and Bentley University, is organizing a benefit basketball tournament at Kenberma Park in Hull on July 16.

Kelley, a two-time Patriot Ledger All-Scholastic, has earmarked 85 percent of the proceeds for the Ubumwe Basketball Program that uses sports to promote togetherness and reconciliation among youth while supporting basketball development in Rwanda. The remaining 15 percent of money raised will benefit local sports programs.

Last summer, Kelley had a basketball clinic for girls that raised money for Hull High School girls basketball and a youth camp she organized in Kigali, Rwanda. The aim is to help families affected in the genocide.

“Rwanda is still healing from the devastation of genocide,” Kelley said. “The country has made tremendous progress in the last 17 years in terms of economic development and stability.”

She further pointed.“Sports in and of itself is a community building project,” adding that, “engaging local people and empowering them to serve the children in their communities gives them a sense of independence. Having parents standing around a basketball court cheering for their neighbors and their own children develops a sense of community.”

Kelley said teams participating in the tournament can have squads of up to four players for the three-on-three games. There will be male and female divisions for ages 10-12, 13-15, 16-18, 19-29 and 30 and older. Co-ed teams for ages 19-29 and 30 and older will also be able to compete.

Individuals signing up will be assigned to a team. The cost is $30 a person or $100 for a team.
There will be a maximum eight teams for each age group and games will last 10 minutes since each team will play at least two games. Prizes will include a free workout session with a college basketball player, Nike sneakers and gift certificates.

The best players who could not be determined in several training camps held by the team in France, Germany and Phoenix were determined in Taos thanks to its high-altitude weather which is more like what they will experience in Pachuca, venue for their Group C matches in the Fifa U17 World Cup finals.

Naming the team, Tardy said, “The team was determined after a week-long of intensive training here in Taos. Players named have been able to impress and worked out hard for them to be in final team in several of the training camps that we have held. “I have no doubt in every member who has made it to the final team and by the time we leave Taos, the team will be in good shape to stage a successful World Cup debut in Mexico,” added Tardy.

Among the players who were named, only three players (Arsenal U16 striker Alfred Mugabo, Express FC midfielder Farouk Saifi Ruhinda and SEC academy defender Eugene Habyarimana) earned their maiden call to the national team while the rest had previously played for Rwanda in international friendly matches and Africa U17 Championships.

Assistant captain Faustin Usengimana said on Sunday that they have gotten used to the weather and sounded confident ahead of their Group C action in the Fifa U17 World Cup final.

“We have gained a lot in the time we have spent here in Taos. We thought the weather would hinder our preparations but thanks to God because we have adapted to the high-altitude training and our performance in both the training and friendly matches promises big for our country and enthusiasts in the upcoming World Cup,” said Usengimana.

The team has not only acclimatized with the weather but they have even adapted to both the meals offered by Sagebrush hotel and supporting care from Sports Alliance CEO Joel Israel who has availed everything either at the hotel or at the playing field to make the team comfortable.

For starters, the Junior Wasps have so far won two friendly matches against Rio Vista U19 3-1 and Classic Gladiators 3-0. Enroute to Taos, Rwanda U17 started preparations for the World Cup in February this year, one month after the Africa U17 Championship concluded in Kigali.

In April, the team held a three-week camp in France where they played several matches against different French youth clubs. On May 18, they played a goalless draw against Tottenham Hotspur U18 before heading to Hennef, Germany, for a one-week training camp.

In Pachuca, Mexico, Rwanda is grouped alongside England, Canada and Uruguay. Rwanda advanced to the World Cup final in African qualifying before losing to Burkina Faso, a team it had beaten in the opening game. The top two teams in Group C will advance to the knockout quarter-finals. this story was first published by The Taos News

According to the U.S media, the Long Beach State men’s basketball program has signed a Rwandan within its ranks as part of its 2011-12 class of recruits.

The 49ers announced Wednesday that 6-foot-9, 235-pound Gatete Djuma of West High in Salt Lake City had signed a national letter of intent.

The India Times reports that Djuma, who migrated to the United States from Rwanda without having ever played basketball on an organised level, averaged 11.7 points and 9.8 rebounds per game and was honourable mention all-state as a senior.

In the announcement, LBSU coach Dan Monson said Djuma “has great basketball instincts and already makes plays you can’t teach.”

Djuma joins 6-7 Kris Gulley (Independence, Kansas, Community College) as spring signees.

Two Briton’s Pete White, 31, and Pete Goodwin, 28, will travel approximately 6,000 miles and through 12 countries in just 70 days by bike from the United Kingdom to Rwanda to raise thousands of pounds in sponsorship to make a difference to youngsters in the country.

 The two will start the ‘Cycle to Rwanda’ trek in May 2012 from West Suffolk Athletics Arena, Bury St Edmunds Leisure Centre, Suffolk, and ending in Kigali.

 The Arena has been chosen to host the Rwandan Olympic and Paralympic teams Pre-Games Training Camp as they prepare for London 2012.

The two aim to arrive in Kigali, Rwanda, in time to accompany the Rwandan Olympic team on their journey to Bury St Edmunds.

 The Cycle to Rwanda challenge is part of the ‘Sport For Rwanda’ fundraising appeal which aims to raise £80,000 by 2012 to provide 140 schools in the country sports equipment and training materials to introduce sport to the Rwandan educational curriculum, through charity Rwandan Aid. ‘Sport For Rwanda’ was set up by the St Edmundsbury Olympic Steering Group as part of its Go Rwanda project to build a lasting legacy with Rwanda. Godwin and White are both working with the registered UK-based charity group Rwanda Aid on this project as well as sports for Rwanda and other organisations.

The trek will take them from Bury St Edmunds to Harwich where they will cross by boat to the Hook of Holland. From there they will cycle the 700 miles through France to Marseille, taking a total of six days. They will travel from Marseille by ferry to Tunisia’s ferry port and then cycle 1,750 miles in 18 days through Tunisia and Libya to Cairo in Egypt. From Cairo they will journey 1895 miles in 18 days across Egypt and Sudan to Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia. The final leg of their journey will take 16 days and 1,605 miles from Ethiopia through Kenya and Uganda to Kigali, the capital of Rwanda.

White was quoted as saying that he wants to cycle to Rwanda for various reasons such as broadening his horizons of the African continent and experience its beauty first hand but most important is that he wants to make a difference.

 Pete Godwin said he was doing this “because I have always grown up with easy access to sports equipment professional training whereas many of the young people of Rwanda don’t have that luxury in the world of sport. ” He added that he wants to try to create real life actions that symbolise the true meaning of “Everyone’s Games. ”