Rwanda will host the ninth edition of the Zone Five Karate championship in Kigali.

The regional tournament was scheduled to held from August 22-23 but has been postponed until after the All Africa Games slated for September 4-19 in Congo Brazzaville.

According to Rwanda Karate Federation (FERWAKA) president Theogene Uwayo, the games were supposed to take place this weekend but the Union of African Karate Federations (UFAK), headed by Rwanda, decided to postpone it until the All Africa Games when the executive committee will decide the specific dates for the tournament.

"A calendar problem vis avis All Africa Games has forced us to reschedule the tournament to facilitate countries to prepare well for these games since all of them will participate,” said Uwayo in an interview with Time Sport.

Uwayo also the current provisional UFAK president since August 2014, added that the postponement is also intended to simplify budgetary plans for these countries as some had shown concern over financial constraints.

Hosts Rwanda, Egypt, Burundi, Kenya, and Uganda are the countries that had confirmed participation.  Rwanda took the provisional presidential seat last year from Burundi after the latter failed to organize the tournament since 2012 and the UFAK Executive Committee scheduled in Brazzaville immediately after All Africa games is set to fully authorize their four-year mandate. Meanwhile, Uwayo revealed that, "We (FERWAKA) have agreed with the Burundian federation to play a friendly game this Saturday as we prepare for the All Africa Games.”

Rwanda scooped a total of 42 medals in the last event held in 2012 in Bujumbura, when they fielded two teams for the first time in this championship finishing second behind the hosts Burundi and Kenya finished third.