Habineza raps federations for poor Olympics preparation

Rwanda’s squad to this year’s summer Olympic Games in Beijing will depart on August 4, four days before the opening ceremony.

The Rwanda National Olympic Committee (RNOC) said on Thursday in a press conference held at Amahoro stadium that Rwanda’s team will leave Kigali by Ethiopia Airlines and arrive in Beijing on August 5.

The press conference was held to unveil Rwanda’s delegation to the games as well as brief the country’s medal hopefuls before they take part in the games which will wind up on August 24.

The Minister of Culture and Sport Joseph Habineza said, "Your are not going to China for a holiday but to put on better performances and even return back home with medals.”

"You should understand the  importance of representing your country because not everybody gets a chance to represent his/her country at such important competitions, that’s why you should utilize this chance to win medals,” Habineza said.

However, the charismatic sports administrator rapped federations for playing a big role in the poor Beijing Games preparations.

"You (federations) never lacked financial constraints but due to poor planning within these federations, the whole country is going to be represented by only four athletes,” he wondered.

"Because of poor planning demonstrated by money-minded administrators, the government is loosing a lot of money trying to invest in sports,” Habineza said.

Times Sport can exclusively reveal that Minister Habineza is planning a massive clear-out in all federations before the end of this year as one way of uplifting the declining sport standards in the country.

Meanwhile, the local Olympic Committee confirmed the traveling delegation to the Games which will be made up of six athletes and nine officials. The athletes include; Dieudonne Disi (10.000m), Epiphanie Nyirabarame (marathon), Pamela Girimbabazi and Jackson Niyomugabo (swimming).

Others include Beatrice Uwanyirigira and Jean Claude Mushambo who were selected by the national sport schools federation to join the International Olympic Academy which is multicultural interdisciplinary centre that aims at studying, enriching and promoting Olympism.

The officials are: Culture and Sport Minister Joseph Habineza, RNOC boss Ignace Beraho, RNOC Secretary General Freddy Somayire, Chef de Mission Thierry Ntwali, Richard Ramira Lema (swimmers coach), Innocent Rwabuhihi (athletics coach), Patrick Rutamu (team doctor), Yvette Kabeja (assistant administrator) and a media spokesman yet to be confirmed.

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