APR women volleyball club head coach Viateur ‘Lado’ Sibomana has hailed his side after finishing in the top ten of the 2017 Women’s African Club championship that concluded on Sunday in Monastir, Tunisia.

APR finished in the tenth place after losing to Tunisia’s Marsa 3-2 in the 9-10 place classification that was played on Saturday.

In a five-set thrilling game, Marsa defeated APR (25-13, 22-25, 25-22, 15-25 and 15-8).

"We went into the competition without much preparations. We planned to participate just three days before the tournament and it’s in that context that I feel delighted with the way we have shown the character of competing with other African giants who have been prepared well,” Sibomana said.

The military side replaced the reigning champions Rwanda Revenue Authority (RRA) who were initially supposed to participate but pulled out at the last minute due to financial constraints.

"It was not easy to take that decision, but we are grateful to the club officials for their efforts to make this happen,” Sibomana added

In the other rankings, debutants Ndejje from Uganda astonished former FAP (Cameroon) 3-0 (25-19, 26-24 and 25-22) to occupy the 11th position whiles FAP could only settle for 12th position.

ARSU from Seychelles finished 13th while Asec from Cote d’Ivoire settled for 14th with Bejaia of Algeria occupying the 15th place and Bafia finished bottom in 16th place.

By press time, organizers Carthage were due to face Dark Horses Shams in the final while Egypt’s Ahly meet Prisons in the bronze medal match.

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