National volleyball team head coach Paul Bitok believes Rwanda U-19s have a good chance to perform well at the upcoming Africa Youth Championships in Tunisia, due from September 6-16.

The team started intensive training last week at Amahoro Indoor Stadium ahead of the continental competition."The boys look good in training, we are training hard and working on every aspect on the field, and I believe that we shall do well in the tournament,” said the former Kenya international.

He added, "It will be their first international competition and we believe they will gain a lot of experience, these guys are the future of Rwandan volleyball.”

The local volleyball governing body has confirmed the team will play a couple of warm-up matches against Tunisian sides ahead of the upcoming tournament.

Bitok’s team will leave Kigali for Tunisia on September 1 and will play the friendlies with Tunisian sides, including EST Junior, on September on 2, 3 and 4.

In recent years, Rwandan volleyball, particularly the junior teams, have fared well at the continental level. Three years ago, the U-23 beach volleyball teams (men and women) featured at the World Championships in Poland.The U-19 (boys) team took part in the World Championships in Mexico, while the U21s also played in the World Championships in Turkey.

To qualify for the World Championships, Rwanda finished in third in the Youth and Junior categories while the Beach Volleyball teams won gold medals, but since then the country has not qualified for any global competition.

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