Yesterday

Rwanda 63-79 Egypt

Rwanda men's basketball team kicked off their 2014 Fiba/Zone V Championship campaign on a bad note after losing 63-79 to Egypt in the first game yesterday at the Lugogo Arena in Kampala.

Rwanda, last year’s losing finalists, continued their poor record against the Egyptians, who are the overwhelming favourites to retain the regional title.

Moise Mutokambali’s team led 34-33 at half time but they could not contain the north Africans, who have ‘fresh wounds’ from a Fiba World Championship in Spain where they didn’t win a single game.

Last year, Rwanda lost to Egypt twice in Dar es Salaam. Rwanda lost 57-96 in the group stages before another 76-82 loss in the final.

By press time, hosts Uganda were due to play Somalia while the organisers were still waiting for the arrival of Burundi, Kenya Ethiopia, South Sudan and Tanzania to confirm the draw for the next matches.

Initially, the week-long tournament was supposed to start on Monday (today) but that changed at the last minute despite the fact that most teams were not yet in Kampala.

Defending champions Egypt is the team to beat in this tournament whereas Rwanda, despite losing their first game, will fancy their chance too.

The Zone V tournament is also the qualifier for next year’s Fiba Afrobasket which will be held in Tunisia as the All Africa Games will be hosted by the Republic of Congo.