Volleyball league defending champions, University of Kibungo (UNIK) on Monday started residential training camp ahead of the upcoming 2017 Men’s African Club Championship that will be held on March 15-28 in Tunis, Tunisia.

The team is camping at Pacis Plaza in Remera where daily training sessions are being held at Amahoro indoor stadium under the guidance of the head coach Dominique Ntawangundi.

Despite a slow start to their title defence this season where they are currently standing in the sixth place with 16 points, twelve behind leaders Gisagara after 12 rounds, Ntawangundi has revealed that his team is looking forward to do much better at their debut in the annual continental showpiece.

"We kicked off training on Monday and we are looking forward to a memorable debut, we are doing two training sessions daily and we hope to be in good shape by the time of the competition,” said Ntawangudi

The Ngoma-district based side missed out on making their debut appearance last year due to financial constraints.

Last season, they won the league title, Genocide Memorial tourney, KAVC Memorial tournament staged in Kampala, Uganda, as well as the Carre d’AS competition.

Meanwhile, Rwanda Revenue Authority will compete in the women’s tournament which will be staged in Carthage, Tunisia from April 5-18.

The Club Championships is considered one of the most attractive volleyball tournaments in Africa attracting best clubs from across the continent.

Last year, a record number of 42 teams graced the event with 24 clubs featuring for the men’s competition while 18 clubs participated in the women category.

The competition was hosted in Cairo, Egypt. The winners of the two-week tournament will represent Africa at the 2017 women and Men’s Club World Championship.

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