RWANDA national football team (Amavubi) skipper and Tanzania’s Simba Sports Club playmaker Haruna Niyonzima is in India for surgery on his right knee.

The former Rayon Sports and APR kingpin flew to India this Tuesday for surgery and is expected to be out for the remainder of the 2017/2018 season. Niyonzima sustained the injury late last December, a few months after joining Simba from archrivals Young Africans.

Initially, Niyonzima was supposed to be out for two weeks but the injury kept deteriorating rather than recovering and has been on the sidelines ever since.

"I still have a problem with my right foot, which severely pains. I have tried to get back to the field but never been easy. Now the doctors have advised me to stop playing so that I can get well,” Niyonzima told the press in Tanzania.

Niyonzima, 28, has not played a single game since Match-day 9 of the Tanzania premier league which is now in round 18. However, his side still tops the table standings with 42 points, 5 ahead of reigning champions Young Africans.

Niyonzima is the captain of the senior men’s national football team since the retirement of Olivier Karekezi from international football in 2013.

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