Saturday

Girls’ road race (56.6 km)

1. Donait Tsegay (Eritrea) – 1:36:50 2. Valentine Nzayisenga (Rwanda) – 1:36:50 3. Diane Ingabire (Rwanda) – 1:30:51

Boys’ road race (80.9km)

1. Yowhanes Ghebrhiwet (Eritrea) – 2:01:00 2. Misgun Metkel (Eritrea) – 2:01:00 3. Jean Eric Habimana (Rwanda) – 2:01:32

After four action-packed days, the inaugural ANOCA Zone V Youth Games came to a close Saturday afternoon in Huye as Eritreans outshined home riders in road race events.

Team Rwanda settled for two silver and one bronze medal, compared to cycling powerhouse Eritrea who scooped two gold and one silver, and as a result leapfrogged the hosts into the third position on the overall medal table.

Valentine Nzayisenga and Diane Ingabire won silver and bronze, respectively, in the girls’ road race, failing the gold to Eritrea’s Donait Tsegay in the final stretch of the 56.6km ride.

In boys’ category, Yowhanes Ghebrhiwet (gold) and Misgun Metkel (silver) proved too strong for Rwanda’s bronze medalist Jean Eric Habimana who crossed the finish-line a whopping 32 seconds behind the Eritrean duo.

Despite taking a lion’s share by numbers, only four of the twenty-two medals that Rwandans won were gold, placing the hosts in fourth position. They also included nine silver and nine bronze medals.

The guess nation, France, topped the table with ten medals (7 gold), Kenya was second with 14 medals (5 gold), while Eritrea completed top three with 7 medals, including 5 gold pieces.

After the official closing ceremony at Huye Stadium, the over 300 participants and officials paid a visit to Murambi Memorial Centre, in Nyamagabe District.

Egypt will host the event's second edition in 2021.

editor@newtimesrwanda.com