Rwanda will Friday, September 8, take on Tanzania as the two East African teams battle for a place in the quarterfinals of the 2023 men’s African Volleyball Championship which is underway in Cairo, Egypt.

Paulo De Tarso’s side finished second in Group D and was drawn against Tanzania ahead of the playoff match that will determine who will face either Algeria or Gambia in the quarter finals.

Tanzania finished in third place after Tunisia thrashed them 3-0 (10-25, 13-25, 17-25) in their final Group B match.

Morocco, who finished top of Group D ahead of Rwanda, were handed a favorable round of 16 playoff opponent in Mali who finished bottom in Group B.

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Rwanda endured a slow start to the competition when the team lost to Morocco in the opening match. But they quickly bounced back to beat Gambia and lastly Senegal in three straight sets 25-21, 25-16 and 25-17 on Wednesday to finish second in the group stages.

With De Tarso at the helm, the men’s team is now aiming to follow the footsteps or do even better than their sisters who reached the semifinals of the same tournament in women’s category for the very first time in the country’s history.

During the 2021 edition which was held in Kigali, the East African nation was eliminated in the quarterfinals and finished in sixth place after losing to neighbors Uganda.