Six countries have confirmed their participation in the 2017 ParaVolley African Championships, which will take place from September 13-17 in Rwanda.

According to the Rwanda National Paralympic Committee (NPC) secretary general, Celestine Nzeyimana, the six countries include; Morocco, Egypt, Algeria, Libya, Kenya and the hosts Rwanda.

"In addition to the six, we also still expect confirmation from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Uganda. However, we don’t expect Burundi to come,” Nzeyimana told Times Sport. He added, "We received the notice to host the game a bit late but we are ready, having hosted the championships in 2015. The only difference is that this year, participating teams will foot their expenses.”

The five-day event that will have teams in both men and women categories, will be hosted at National Paralympic Committee (NPC) Gymnasium and Amahoro Indoor Stadium in Remera.

Initially, the continental showpiece was supposed to be hosted by Kenya from May 15-22, but they pulled out citing financial constraints and the rights were given to Rwanda, who will be hosting the event for the second time in a row after the 2015 edition.

The top two teams in both categories (men and women) will qualify for the World Championships to be hosted in The Hague, Netherlands, in July 2018.

In 2015, Rwanda hosted the African Championships and eventually won the women’s category hence becoming the first African country to qualify for the Paralympic Games.

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