Rwandan golfers are looking to shine at the 19th edition of the annual East African Golf Challenge, which tees-off today at the 18-hole Gymkhana golf course in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

Rwanda’s eight-man team and one reserve player, under the guidance of Jules Dusabe Mutesa have been training since last Friday when they landed in Dar es Salaam.

The team, which is captained by the experienced Leonard Nkrurunziza, includes 19-year-old number one amateur golf player Aloys Nsabimana.

Others are; Emmanuel Rutayisire, James Ndikumana, François Habimana, Celestin Nsanzuwere, Emmanuel Nkurunziza, and Allan Niyonkuri. Jean Claude Nzeyimana is the reserve player.

"We’ve had good training on the course; the only problem is the hot weather, coupled with rain, but the boys are all in good shape and are looking forward to having a good tournament,” coach Dusabe told Times Sport.

He noted that, "Our target is to finish in the top two. We have no excuse not to perform because we’ve had good preparations.”

Rwanda has made 14 appearances and hosted the event three times in 2005, 2010 and 2015. The best performance for Rwanda was finishing as first runners up in 2005, while last year, the team finished in a disappointing fifth place in Ethiopia.

The four-day tournament started on Wednesday with the flag-raising ceremony and singing of national anthems for the participating countries.

However, the tournament tees-off today with teams competing in the Singles.  On the second day (Friday) they will contest in the Foursome better ball before winding up on Saturday with another round of Singles match-ups..

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