Rwanda has confirmed her participation in the 37th Iaaf World Cross Country Championships which will be held on March 28 in Amman, Jordan.

Rwanda Athletics Federation (Raf) Secretary General Appolinaire Munyangoga confirmed the development yesterday saying that Rwanda will send a large squad compared to past editions.

According to Munyangoga, Rwanda will be represented by a team of 12 runners, five senior boys, two senior girls and five junior girls.

"We hope to make the selection in a national cross country competition which will be held on March 7 in Bugesera. Meanwhile, 63 Iaaf member federations have expressed their wish to compete at this year’s world cross country.

Amman will be only the second occasion on which an Asian country has hosted the World Cross Country Championships, which are the oldest Iaaf World Athletics Series event, first celebrated under the Iaaf banner in 1973.

In 2006, Fukuoka, Japan, marked the championships first landfall in Asia, competitions which attracted a final entry of 59 countries. Similar numbers have also competed in the last two editions of the World Cross Country Championships.

In 2007, Kenya, the spiritual home of cross country running took charge of the organisation of the World Cross Country Championships attracting athletes from 63 nations, while in 2008 it was Scotland, the country from where the discipline first originated, which played host to a total of 57 different nationalities.

Rwanda didn’t participate at last year’s edition held in Edinburgh, Scotland after a failing to acquire travel visas on time while the country’s lone hope Dieudonne Disi didn’t finish the championship.

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