Gicumbi handball club are keen on retaining the annual national Heroes Day title with this year’s tournament due February 7-8.

The two-day competition will be staged on three different grounds, namely; University of Rwanda’s College of education (UR- CoE), at the Amahoro stadium, and at Kimisagara youth sports centre.

Gicumbi won title after beating ES Kigoma 35-30 in the men’s final. In the women’s category, ES Mukingi will be hoping to successfully defend their title which they lifted after defeating GS Gahengeri 29-21 in last year’s edition.

With registration still ongoing, the Rwanda Handball Federation secretary general, Jean Paul Ngarambe, predicts that more teams will participate this year than during the last two editions.

Gicumbi, who also won the tournament in 2013, will also be looking to end Police handball club dominance after the law enforcers swept every other trophy last year save for the Heroes crown.

"We are training hard to return where we belong, Police won almost everything last season and that is partly why want to do the best we can to retain our title,” Gicumbi coach Ebenezer Murenzi said on Wednesday.

Four-time league champions Police won seven out of eight titles that were up for grabs namely; League title, Liberation Day title, Genocide memorial tourney, Labour Day competition, Sulfo Beach, Carre d’AS, and Coupe de Rwanda.

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