Rwanda youth volleyball team will not play any international friendly matches ahead of the upcoming African Women U23 Championships which will be held from October 21-28 at Kasarani Stadium gymnasium in Nairobi, Kenya.

According to the Rwanda Volleyball Federation (FRVB) vice president, Julius Kagarama Kansiime, the planned warm-up matches against Ugandan teams have been canceled because the Ugandan league is offseason.

Paul Bitok’s team will play another warm-up match against an ‘All Stars’ side today at Amahoro Indoor Stadium, starting at 5pmhaving lost the first game on Monday 3-2 (25-220, 19-20, 25-19, 19-25 and 15-11).

On Wednesday, the U23 team also lost to a selected men’s side 3-0 (25-23, 23-25 and 26-28) at Amahoro Indoor Stadium.

Meanwhile, the captain of the U23 team Seraphine Mukantambara said that despite not playing any international friendly, they are ready to give their best at the tournament.

"Our preparations are going on well, we played some warm-up games against local sides, which has really improved our confidence,” Mukantambara told Times Sport on Thursday.

She added, "We are going to play against the best teams in Africa and we have to show that we have the character to compete at such a big stage.”

Rwanda will compete against teams led by defending champions Egypt and Tunisia, who took silver at the last edition as well as bronze medalists Algeria. Others are; Senegal, Botswana and hosts Kenya.

This is the second edition of this age category competition after the first one held in Algeria in 2014. The tournament will also act as a qualifier for the 2017 FIVB World Championships.

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