The Minister of Education Dr. Valentine Uwamariya has urged the Rwandan teams representing the country at the 2023 FEASSSA (Federation of East African Secondary School Sports Associations) Games to show discipline and sportsmanship throughout the campaign.

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Uwamariya made the remarks while flagging off the teams in an event that took place at ENDP Karubanda in Huye District on Friday, August 18.

The FESSSA Games started Thursday, August 17 and will run through August 27 in Huye and Nyaruguru Districts, Southern province. The competition brings together High schools and primary schools from the six member countries of East African Community including Rwanda, Kenya, Tanzania, Burundi, Zanzibar and Uganda. Teams compete in different sports disciplines.

This year, Rwanda will be represented by 450 players (212 boys and 238 girls) from 24 teams in 13 sporting disciplines including football, basketball, netball, handball, rugby, hockey, athletics, badminton, lawn tennis, swimming, and goalball.

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Uwamariya wished the teams success and asked all the athletes to stay disciplined, follow the rules of the tournament, listen to the advice of the coaches show the winning spirit during the Games.

"You are ambassadors of the country. You carry the flag of Rwanda and this is the time to build a good image of the country in the competitions. We have thousands of students across the country and you were selected because you have many things you are good at, you should maximise your potential,” she told the teams.

"You have our confidence and sports, you going to play at home we hope that you take the maximum of that advantage. Go out there and make the country that trusted proud,” she added.

Frolence Uwineza, the captain Kiziguro SS Handball team, said her team’s main target is to defend the trophy they won in Dar es Salaam in 2022.

"We won this title last year and we are here to defend it on our home soil. We have been training hard and I see nothing stopping us from achieving our goals,” Uwineza said.

During the 2022 FEASSSA Games held in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, Rwanda won a total of nine medals including two gold medals in Handball, two silver medals in Table Tennis, and five bronze medals, with two in Volleyball, one in Handball, one in Basketball and one in Athletics.