The national taekwondo team has started daily training ahead of the forthcoming African Taekwondo Union (AfTU) Open set for February 20-25 in Alexandria, Egypt.

The development was confirmed by the Rwanda Taekwondo Federation secretary general, Placide Bagabo yesterday. Rwanda will send both the men (12 players) and women (eight players) teams.

The competition which will be taking place for the first time is the first continental meet of 2015 and Rwandan men and women are determined to start the year on high, according to Bagabo.

He said: "The players are training everyday in preparation for the first continental competition of the year; we have set ourselves targets in 2015 starting with this competition.”

"We stand a good chance to stage a good performance in Alexandria. We’re ranked in top five in Africa and top 40 globally, so it’s not as if we are coming from nowhere,” Bagabo added.

After the continental meet, players will shift focus on the Gorilla Open scheduled for March 6-8 at Amahoro stadium and ITP World championships due in May in Chelyabinsk, Russia.

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