Rwanda's under-18 and under-20 boys’ have an uphill task to qualify for the final of the Men's IHF Trophy Zone 5 Africa taking place in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
The two teams have brought some interesting results so far after finishing unbeaten in their respective group stages at the tournament which started from May 13 and will run through May 17.
The U20 team qualified for the semifinals after defeating Burundi 38-25 on Wednesday, May 15, to finish at the top of the table.
It was a game that Rwanda played well from the very beginning. The boys were leading with 19-11 at halftime and, in the second half, they increased the gap, hence bagging the crucial 38-25 win over the Burundians.
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In the U18s category, Rwanda reached the last four after finishing at the summit of their group despite playing out a 29-29 thrilling draw with home side Ethiopia in the last group game.
Ethiopia (U20) and Kenya (U18) now stand in Rwanda’s U20 and U18 teams’ way respectively.
Semifinal action gets underway on Thursday, May 16 with Rwanda U20 taking on Ethiopia U20 at Ethiopian Sports Academy while the U18 side face Kenya U18 at 4 Killo Hall. Both games take place at 12.30PM CAT.
The final and the third-place matches will be held on Friday, 17 May.
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Countries like Kenya, Burundi, Djibouti, Rwanda, Ethiopia and Tanzania are represented at both competitions, while Somalia and Uganda only play at the junior event.
The winners at both age categories will book their tickets to the 2024 IHF Trophy Continental Phase Africa.