National basketball team head coach Moise Mutokambali has revealed that his team will go into this year’s FIBA Africa Zone V Championships in Egypt aiming to qualify for the 2017 FIBA Afro-basket finals.

He made the remarks Friday before the team left for Cairo aboard an Ethiopian Airlines flight ahead of the biennial event that is scheduled for March 12-18.

The week-long tournament also doubles as qualifiers for the African Basketball Championships that will staged on August 17-31 in Brazzaville, the Republic of Congo.

Mutokambali said Rwanda will be seeking to do well at the regional competition with view to returning to the continental scene after missing out on the 2015 edition.

"Our mission is to qualify for Afro-Basket finals, I am quite optimistic that this year we can make it to the finals because I have a better team compared to the one that missed out in 2015. That time many players were still young and had no experience,” said Mutokambali.

The last time Rwanda competed in Afro-Basket finals 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 won by Angola.

Other countries set to compete in this year’s Zone V Championships include; Kenya, Burundi, Ethiopia, Somalia, South Sudan and Tanzania.

Full squad:

Aristide Mugabe (captain), Cedar Sagamba, Ali Kazingufu Kubwimana, Parfait Ishimwe, Ali Ruzigande, Olivier Shyaka, Kenny Gasana, Bladely Cameron, Steven Hagumintwari, Elie Kaje and Kami Kabange.

Jean Paul Adonis Rwabigwi and Dan Manzi are set to join the team in Cairo.

editorial@newtimes.co.rw