Rwanda men’s national basketball team entered residential camp for intensive preparations ahead of this year’s FIBA Africa Zone V Championships slated for March 12-18 in Cairo, Egypt.

The 15-man team are camping at Golden Tulip Hotel in Nyamata, Bugesera District for the next two weeks and will be having two training drills daily at Amahoro indoor stadium.

The team in camp, captained by Patriots point guard Aristide Mugabe, will have a fierce battle in Egypt against the hosts and resurgent Uganda among other potential serious contenders as they seek to return to African Basketball Championship after the 2015 dismissal play at hands of Uganda.

The last time Rwanda competed in Afrobasket was in 2013 in Ivory Coast where the team finished in the 10th place out of 16 countries after losing 76-54 in the 9-10 classification game against Tunisia in a tournament that was claimed by Angola.

Rwanda’s best performance at the African Basketball Championship came in 2007 when they finished 9th on their debut appearance at the biennial continental competition, Africa’s most prestigious and biggest basketball competition.

The team is under the guidance of head coach Moise Mutokambali, assisted by IPRC- Kigali technician Albert Buhake.

Full squad in camp

Aristide Mugabe, Ali Kazingufu Kubwimana, Sedar Sagamba, Parfait Ishimwe, Walter Nkurunziza, Dieudonne Ndizeye, Steve Havugintwari, Ally Ruzigande, Pascal Niyonkuru, Eric Munyaneza, Jean Paul Ndoli, Olivier Shyaka, Elie Kaje, Kami Kabange and Bienvenu Niyonsaba.

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