As the Africa Zone 5 club championship draw closer

After securing air tickets from the Ministry of Sports and Culture (Minispoc), both APR and Marine are now banking on corporate support to help them take part in the Africa Zone 5 Club Championships due October 28-November 1 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Even with less than a week to the tournament, the clubs whose budgets are in the range of Frw 50m (air tickets inclusive) are positive that the funds will be raised in time.

"The air tickets are already catered for and we have also approached a number of corporate companies like MTN, Nakumatt and Electrogaz to help us foot the remaining part of the budget,” APR’s coach Cliff Owuor said before adding, "But one thing for sure is that we know that we shall travel.”

Rwanda is one of two countries with a luxury of fielding two clubs in the five-day tournament.

Marine booked their ticket to Ethiopia after being crowned 2007 National basketball league champions while APR has an automatic ticket after winning last year’s edition (Zone 5) which was held in Kigali.

The Indomitable Lions roared their way to the crown after silencing Uganda’s Nkumba University in the semi-finals and Kenya’s KCB in the final.

Marine, who are through to the play offs final after a 2-0 best of three play offs series win over Cercle Sportif (CSK) at the weekend, started residential training yesterday in Gisenyi.

"The guys are in good shape apart from Alma Akwira (forward) who is down with a fever, "the Marine coach Janvier Kamanzi said.

Akwira played a key role for Marine at the weekend.

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