The National Under-18 national basketball teams both in the men and women’s categories have withdrawn from the 2020 Fiba Africa Under-18 Basketball Championships (U-18 Afrobasket).

The tournament is scheduled for December 1-10, in Cairo, Egypt.

Rwanda put up a good showing to finish fourth at the 2018 Afrobasket U-18 finals in women’s category after losing 59-46 to Angola in the third-place playoff.

The tournament was held in Maputo, Mozambique.

The teams that finish in the first two places will represent Africa at the FIBA U19 Basketball World Cup 2021.

Speaking to Times Sport in an exclusive interview, Ferwaba president Desire Mugwiza explained that the decision to drop out of the tournament was taken after consultative discussions between the Ministries of Sport and Education.

"After a long time when schools had closed to curb the spread of Covid-19, schools have just reopened and the students cannot miss school for the competition. Most of the U-18 players are students,” Mugwiza said.