Rwanda U-16 basketball girls’ national team has been awarded a wildcard to compete at this year’s fifth edition of FIBA Africa Under-16 Championship for Women (AfroBasket) that will be held in Maputo Mozambique.

The biennial event will be hosted by from August 4-12, with the games to played at the Pavilhão do Maxaquene in Maputo.

The development was confirmed by Rwanda Basketball Federation (FERWABA) president in a press briefing that was held at Amahoro national stadium on Friday.

Rwanda had failed to seal an automatic qualification at the FIBA U16 African Championship 2017 Zone 5 Qualifiers that took place in Mombasa, Kenya last month after finishing second behind Egypt that will be the flag bearers of Zone V.

According to FERWABA technical advisor Claudette Habimana Mugwaneza, the team is scheduled to kick off a residential training camp on July 14, where she revealed that the team will be aiming to improve from the previous performance in Madagascar where they finished in the ninth place.

"The team will kick off preparations probably on July 14 and we aim to do better compared to the previous edition in 2015. This time the target will at least finishing the top four teams and it is achievable because this year, we have a very talented team,” said Mugwaneza

Of the 12 teams, 10 have been confirmed and these include Algeria, Angola, Egypt, Mali, Morocco, Mozambique, Nigeria, Tunisia and Zimbabwe

Meanwhile, the boys team are currently in a residential camp as they will represent Zone V in this particular event that will be hosted in in Vacoas-Phoenix, Mauritius from July 13-22.

The boys’ team Rwanda will represent Zone V at the biennial event for the second time in a row after successfully defending FIBA U16 African Championship 2017 Zone 5 Qualifiers title.

A team of 18 players under the guidance of head coach Moise Mutokambali who also doubles as the senior team coach and his assistant Aime Kharim Nkusi conducts training sessions daily at Amahoro indoor stadium.