Sub-zone 5 Women: Rwanda, Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania

The national women’s beach volleyball teams will be looking to emulate recent heroics of their male counterparts when the sub-zone 5 qualifiers for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games get underway in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, on Friday.

In the men’s category, Rwanda advanced to the second round earlier this week after finishing top of Sub-Zone 6 in Eritrea following effortless victories over Egypt, Eritrea and South Sudan.

Rwanda’s two female teams departed Kigali for the coastal city of Dar es Salaam on Thursday aboard a RwandAir flight and would know who they will face in their first matches after the technical meeting Friday morning.

The regional sub-Zone 5 qualifiers will be concluding on Sunday, with the top two teams advancing to the next round due next month.

Rwandan teams are widely seen as favourites for the top position, but head coach Christophe Mudahinyuka has urged not to get ahead of themselves.

"We are ready for the competition in all aspects, and the preparations we had were promising. Given our status on the continent, we may be seen as favourites, but we won’t get ahead of ourselves.”

"We are going to treat every game as a must-win. We will not underrate any opponent.”

Formerly African champions, Rwanda finished third at last year’s continental championships held in Nigeria. And, for the first time, Rwanda qualified both the senior men’s and women’s teams to the Beach Volleyball Championships.

After the second round qualifiers next month, the African Championships in June will determine which two teams – one in each gender category – will represent the continent at the 2020 Olympic Games due from July 24 to August 9 in Tokyo, Japan.

At the three-day showpiece in Tanzania, Rwanda is fielding two teams.

Team 1: Charlotte Nzayisenga and Valentine Munezero

Team 2: Seraphine Mukantambara with Judith Hakizimana