THE 2014 national inter-schools’ championships will get underway on March 1 at Stade de Kigali.

APE Rugunga (boys’ football), Solidarity academy (girls’ football), Lycee de Kigali (boys’ basketball), Saint Joseph Kabgayi (boys’ volleyball), ES Kigoma (boys’ handball), ES Mukingi (boys’ Rugby), and Saint Joseph Kabgayi (girls’ netball) are defending champions.

The championships will start at the district level with preliminary stages before the provincial level and, later on, national finals. 

"The national championships will start March 1 through July if everything goes according to plan. We always aim at improving, I hope this year’s edition to be much better,” Rwanda School Sports Federation (RSSF) technical director Aaron Rurangirwa told Times Sport on Tuesday.

Winners and first runners-up will camp for a month to enhance preparations for this year’s East African post primary games (FEASSA), scheduled to be held in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania. 

Last year’s edition was held in Guru, Uganda while Rwanda will host the 2015 edition.

In the past two editions held in Bujumbura (Burundi in 2012) and Guru, Rwandan representatives displayed below-par performances, returning trophy-less on both occasions. 

Kenya and Uganda dominated the tournaments.