The national basketball team head coach Henry Mwinuka is taking the team through intensive drills as he seeks to change the team’s fortunes after a poor run in the first window of the Afrobasket qualifiers last year.

The second window of the Afrobasket qualifiers will run from February 17 to 21 in Tunisia.

In an interview with Times Sport, Mwinuka said the team trains twice a day in a bid to improve the players’ physical fitness and endurance levels in the build up to the competition.

"Our goal is to perform much better than the last campaign and this demands tough preparations. I believe the rigorous training that the players are doing will make us have a successful campaign,” he added.

Speaking about Group D in which Rwanda was placed along with Nigeria, Mali and South Sudan, Mwinuka noted:

"Our group is strong because it has teams that are known to be good at basketball, but we want to go out and win games,” he said.

The Afrobasket qualifiers are an important sports event since the national teams that will finish in the first three places in their Groups will qualify for the final Afrobasket tournament which will be held in Kigali from August 24 to September 5.

Rwanda has already qualified as the hosts, but the national team participates in the qualifiers to among other things boost players’ confidence before the final tournament.

Due to be held in Rwanda, East Africa will be hosting the Afrobasket finals for the first time since 1993.