National beach volleyball player Flavien Ndamukunda is aiming to finish in top two at the sub-zonal qualifiers for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

The qualifiers are set for March 5-9 in Cairo, Egypt. Rwanda will be represented by four teams—two for men and two for women.

The two men’s teams are comprised of Flavien Ndamukunda and Pierre Marshal Kwizera as well as Olivier Ntagengwa and Vincent Ruhumuriza.

In the women’s category, Seraphine Mukantambara will pair with Judith Hakizimana while Denyse Mutatsimpundu will play alongside Charlotte Nzayisenga. The four teams will be coached by Jean-Damascene Ndagijimana.

"We have been doing well in the training, we will do all we can to represent our country in a proper way. I believe our teams will give their best,” Ndamukunda said before departure on Wednesday.

He added, "This is a big tournament and for us, it will be tough but I am confident we will give our best because we want to qualify for the next phase and we believe we can.”

Rwanda is in Pool 9 alongside Eritrea, hosts Egypt, Sudan and Uganda and the top two will proceed to the second round.

The competition will feature four phases as approved by the Federation of International Volleyball (FIVB). The first phase is the sub- zonal which already started early this month with Zone 6 the first to finalise.

The top two teams in each of the 12 sub-zonal pools (24 teams) will proceed to the second phase which is the zonal phase to be again divided into four pools of six teams with the top three of each proceeding to the semi-final (12 teams in total).

The semi-finals will again qualify the top eight teams to the All Africa Games scheduled for September 5-19 in Congo Brazzaville where the top two teams will earn tickets to Rio de Janeiro 2016.

editorial@newtimes.co.rw