Holders Espoir BC are keen to bounce back from the nightmare of losing the local edition and retain the regional Genocide Memorial basketball Tournament due June 12-14 at Amahoro indoor stadium.

The reigning national league champions, Espoir, were defeated 57-55 by Cercle Sportif de Kigali (CSK) in the final of the local Genocide Memorial Tournament on Sunday, and will be looking to make amends in the regional edition this weekend, according to coach, Jean Bahufite.

The former senior men’s national team assistant coach has challenged his players to show their quality and focus on the competition that they won last year.

"We are over the disappointment of losing the local tournament, and now our focus is on retaining the regional title. We must use the defeat to CSK on Sunday as a wake-up call going into the regional competition, which will be even tougher due to the availability of regional top clubs,” Bahufite said on Wednesday.

He also noted, "We are the title holders, so every team will be targeting us. We need to be strong and take every game very seriously.”

By press time, Democratic Republic of Congo’s PGJ-Goma (men and women) and ASB Mont Carmel (men) had already confirmed to be part of the three-day competitions while representatives from Burundi, Uganda and Kenya were yet to confirm.

Last year, Espoir beat Muzinga of Burundi 85-48 to win the men’s title where as Belco Stars of Burundi beat Uganda’s Magic Stormers to emerge winners of the women’s competition.

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