Friday

Patriots              Vs      APR     6pm

Saturday

Espoir                 Vs      Rusizi 11am

IPRC-South         Vs      UGB    1pm

National basketball league side APR are confident they can pull off what would be a shock win over one of the league title top contenders Patriots when the two former champions square-off Friday evening at Amahoro Indoor Stadium.

It will be Patriot, the 2016 league winners and reigning playoffs champions, who will host the 2010 champions, APR– the game starts at 6pm.

Chasing a first league title in eight years, Aime Karim Nkusi’s APR will be looking to improve their win ratio to 3:1 while the 2017 FIBA Africa Zone 5 finalists, Patriots, need a victory to go top of the table standings.

Going into Friday’s much-anticipated clash, Henry Mwinuka’s Patriots are second on the table with 7 points from four games while APR are sixth with 5 points from three games. Both sides have lost one game and will be fighting to avoid starting a new year with defeat.

"The Game against Patriots is going to be a tough one, probably our toughest so far this season.  Getting victory is very important; to start 2018 with a win would be a massive motivation boost in our aspirations for the season,” APR coach Nkusi told Times Sport.

The former international added that: "We have prepared very well, morale is high and if the players implement our game plan, we have a good chance against probably the best team in the league.”

APR are Rwanda’s most successful basketball club with 7 league titles and 3 FIFA Africa Zone V titles but have not won any major silverware in the last seven years since losing the league title to now defunct Kigali Basketball Club, in 2011.

editorial@newtimes.co.rw