Rwanda national women’s sitting volleyball team has intensified preparations ahead of the 2016 Intercontinental and World ParaVolley Championship that will be held from March 17-23 in Hangzhou City, China.

The tournament will be the final opportunity for one male and one female team to qualify for the Rio Paralympic Games Sitting Volleyball competition. It is also seen as a great occasion for the already qualified teams, including Rwanda, to gain match experience.

"We have actually been training since January but not consistently, we have now entered our final phase of our preparations, we need to maximize our limited time because we only have three days in a week to train since many players are students,” said assistant coach Jean-Marie Nsengiyumva.

The Rwandan women made history at the ParaVolley Africa Sitting Volleyball Championships last year after coming from behind to beat Egypt 3-2 in the gold-medal match and with the victory, Rwanda will represent Africa at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games.

The achievement was later ranked number three in the International Paralympic Committee’s Top 50 Moments of the year 2015.

"It will be a great opportunity for us to participate in this event because it will give players a good platform to test their capability against the world best teams,” added Nsengiyumva.

The players in training include; Liliane Mukobwankawe, Beatha Nyinawabantu, Providence Nyirantungane, Solange Nyiraneza, Alice Musabyemariya, Carine Kwizera, Yvonne Imanishimwe, Claudine Murebwayire, Claudine Bazubagira, Agnes Nyiranshimiyimana, Clementine Umutoni and Sandrine Nyirambarushimana.

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