Rwanda National Taekwondo team captain Placide Bagabo believes the poor performance at the recent Lotto Dutch Open Taekwondo Championship is due to lack of tough competitions and experience in such International competitions.

The five-man team that represented the country at the 42nd edition of the Dutch Open returned yesterday. The prestigious meet was held over the weekend in Eindhoven, Netherlands.

33-year old Bagabo who was competing in the Men’s 63kgs category was brushed aside by a Polish counterpart in the first round on Sunday. The Black-belt- Third Dan holder also doubles as the Secretary General of the taekwondo federation.

"We did the best we could in our capabilities but the fact is that we were not as experienced as our opponents, something that is key in such competitions,” Bagabo said.

Out of five representatives, only Regis Iyumva competing in Men’s 58kgs category managed to survive the first round elimination and cruised through to reach the quarter-finals but was seen off by an English man in the 8th round.

The remaining four namely Martin Nduwayezu (54kgs), Placide Bagabo (63kgs), Savio Nizeyimana (68kgs) and Eric Nkurunziza in 80kg category were all knocked out in the first round.

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