Rwanda Beach volleyball teams (men and women) are targeting to finish in top four in the forthcoming Africa Beach Volleyball Cup of Nations that will be held from May 12-15 in Mozambique.

The tournament will work as qualifications of the 2017 World Championships. The teams left the country for Maputo on Tuesday morning.

A total of 20 teams will participate in the four-day tournament, with the top 4 qualifying for the 2017 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships (double gender) scheduled for July 28-August 6 in Vienna, Austria. 

"Our aim is to go far in this competition, since we have managed to be there, we are determined to compete with every team to the best of our ability,” said head coach, Paul Bitok.

The Kenyan trainer said his teams are well prepared and determined to qualify for the World Championships.

He noted, "I believe we can do it. We know the matches will be tough, but we don’t have any other choice, we must focus and give our best. Our objective is to reach at the semi-finals at least.”

The men’s team compromises the pair of brothers Flavier Ndamukunda and Patrick Kavalo Akumuntu, while the women team is made up of Charlotte Nzayisenga and Denise Mutatsimpundu.

The quartet has been in intensive training at Golden Tulip hotel in Nyamata in last two weeks.

Rwanda will need to go past Africa top men’s teams like Tunisia, Morocco and South Africa while in the women category, Rwanda will battle against the likes of Nigeria, Morocco, Kenya, Namibia and hosts Mozambique.

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