For the first time, the local Chanbara Sports Federation will organise a Genocide Memorial Tournament (GMT), this year, in memory of the over one million lives lost during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.

Like most other memorial tournaments, it is scheduled for June.

"We are, this year, joining the country, and the sports fraternity in particular, in remembering sportsmen and women who lost their lives during the Genocide,” Jean Claude Rugigana, the Chanibara federation’s Secretary General, told Times Sport on Tuesday.

He said that all local clubs are invited to register for the tournament.

Chanibara joined the list of locally recognised sports in September 2017, and have since launched activities across the country, but mostly in Kigali.

Ahead of its two-year anniversary, the Chanibara body says they have 275 players from seven clubs namely; Nyagatare Sports Chanbara Club, GS Saint Jerome Sports, Samurai Sports Club, Susanoo Sports Club, United Sports Club, Katana Sports Chanbara Club, and Bishamon Sports Chanbara Club.

By press time Tuesday, the dates and venue were yet to be revealed.

editor@newtimesrwanda.com