Police Handball Club coach Antoine Ntabanganyimana has made an appeal to the local handball governing body to push for improved performance of local clubs at regional and continental level.

Ntabanganyimana made the remarks recently as his team maintained their two-year unbeaten run in the local championship.

However, the four-time league winners have failed to make any impact beyond Rwanda’s borders, having crushed out of the Africa Handball Champions League twice in a row without winning a single game.

"Honestly, I think our league standard is low; the competition is dominated by only two clubs, Police and APR which is great for the both clubs, but it limits our performance in international tournaments,” Ntabanganyimana told Times Sport.

Police debuted in the African Champions league in 2011 that was hosted in Nigeria before making their second appearance during last year’s edition that was staged in Morocco.

Last year, Ntabanganyimana’s side won their maiden East and Central African Handball Federation (ECAHF) tournament held in Rwanda, defeating archrivals APR in the final. But the tournament had only two foreign clubs; Black Mamba (men) and Nairobi Water (women) from Kenya.

"I have to say Police is stronger compared to her local opponents, something that does not give us a perfect opportunity to assess our weakness.

So in my view, I think the federation needs to do something to increase the level of competiveness through training club coaches to empower them with necessary skills to develop the sport,” he added.

Currently, Police tops the league table with 15 points after five games played, followed by APR and Kibogora Polytechnic, who are tied on 12 points each and a game in hand. ES Kigoma is the fourth with 11 points. The league took a short break and will resume on April 23.

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