Rwanda Basketball Federation (Ferwaba) has said they are ‘optimistic and confident’ that the 2019/2020 BK Basketball National League will end on time despite an ongoing long break due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Désiré Mugwiza, the Ferwaba president, said during an exclusive interview with Times Sport on Wednesday.

Like every other sports activity in the country, the local top basketball tier is suspended since the weekend of March 13-15. And, until today, there is no clear view as to when the league will resume, or if it will resume.

"We do not know for certain when the season will resume,” Mugwiza admitted. "We are optimistic and confident that it will end according to our initial calendar, but we will wait for the government’s guidance before making any decision.”

He added: "There are alternative options in place. If we don’t restart the league in June, then some competitions on the season’s line-up will be cancelled so the league can be top priority.”

The men’s national league was put to a half after match-day 12 where hopefuls Rwanda Energy Group led with 23 points, one ahead of two-time reigning champions Patriots.

While sports and all other public gatherings are still banned, the government partially lifted the lockdown – starting Monday, May 4, a decision that will again be revised after 15 days before announcing new measures concerning the ease back to normalcy.

The local 2019-20 season is scheduled to end with the playoffs games in September.

"Players and teams will have to play a lot of games in a short time once the league resumes, it is the only way we can recover the time lost. There will be national team’s competitions later this year, and they have to happen when the league season is over.