Wednesday

Group D

South Sudan Vs Nigeria 7pm

Rwanda Vs Mali 10pm

The head coach of the national basketball team Henry Mwinuka has promised that his team will give everything when they face Mali on Wednesday, February 17 in their first game of the Afrobasket qualifiers.

It has been a few weeks of preparations for the national team since they entered training camp in Rwanda back in January until recently when they traveled to Monastir, Tunisia where the showpiece is taking place.

The team will be seeking to perform better than they did in the first window especially against Mali, a team that subjected them to a 70-64 defeat in November last year.

Speaking about Rwanda’s encounter with Mali, Mwinuka said the team has improved on their weakness and is confident they will perform much better than the previous tournament.

"The atmosphere in the camp is excellent. We have improved in many aspects and I am confident of a positive result,” he said.

The match will take place at Salle Mohamed Mzali Arena in Monastir city.

Day one of the qualifiers (February 17) will also have a match between South Sudan and Nigeria at 4pm Central African Time.

Going into the tournament, Rwanda added some new players that had not featured in window 1. These are: Ibeh Prince Chinenye, Ntore Habimana, Ntore Habimana, Sano Gasana, Jean Paul and Marius Tresor Ntwari .

Rwanda is in Group D along with Nigeria, Mali and South Sudan.

Rwandan currently sits last in their group behind Nigeria, South Sudan and Mali.

After Mali, Rwanda’s next game will be against Nigeria on February 18, and will wind up the qualifiers against South Sudan on February 19.