Following the horrifying events of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, the country has undergone sporting revolution both in terms of talent identification and infrastructure development. Sports has also played a pivotal role in uniting Rwandans as they emerged from a tragic past.
For this to happen, heavy investments in sports were made by the government and speaking specifically about basketball, President Paul Kagame has personally played a pivotal role in linking the local game with global basketball governing bodies.
Times Sport’s Damas Sikubwabo takes stock of how the game has evolved since RPF Inkotanyi liberated the country and stopped Genocide against the Tutsi in over 27 years ago.
Like all sectors in the country, baskeball had been badly devastated. Besides there being no infrastructure to speak of, the clubs were rebuilt from scratch because many players and backroom staff had either been killed or participated in the Genocide and were therefore either in exile or incancerated.
Rebuilding came with the birth of clubs like APR Basketball Club which has since won seven league titles, and rebuilding, again from scratch, of pre-existing ones Espoir BBC.
Others have since emerged including REG BBC which is linked to the national energy utility - Rwanda Energy Group - and others linked to the different Intergrated Regional Polytechnic Centres (IPRCs) like IPRC Huye, IPRC Kigali and IPRC Musanze; among others.
The first major Basketball showpiece in the post-genocide Rwanda is one dubbed "Gisembe Memorial Tournament” happened for the first time in 1996. The tourney which still happens to date, is organized in honor of the legendary Emmanuel ‘Gisembe’ Ntarugera, his teammates and other departed members of the local basketball fraternity who perished in the Genocide.
This was followed by seasonal national basketball tournaments that continue to be held every calendar year. Local clubs also take part in regional and continental contests, some of them doing relatively well.
Giants of Africa summer camps
Giants of Africa is an initiative that seeks to provide African youth access to professional basketball training and to empower them to achieve their full potential beyond the game.
The programme was introduced to Rwanda in 2015 and hundreds youth have since benefitted from its annual summer camps. Besides organising basketball camps and community outreach activities, Giants of Africa also trains coaches whose skills are sharpened when working with top international coaches. The renowned grassroots basketball programme was launched in Rwanda in 2015.
The maiden event of Giants of Africa was brought to Rwanda based on the personal friendship President Kagame has with Masai Ujili, the President of Canada’s Basketball giants Toronto Raptors and Adam Silver, commissioner of NBA.
Kagame’s role in developing the game beyond Rwanda
In 2018, President Kagame was invited to a reception hosted by the National Basketball Association (NBA) in New York City after the association’s annual assembly also attended by NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, Larry Tanenbaum, NBA Chairman of Board of Directors, among others.
The President was invited to speak at this important gathering as a recognition for his role in developing the sport.
Speaking at the event, President Kagame commended the NBA’s efforts to nurture and scout African basketball talents to play for the world’s most prestigious league. "In the NBA there have been many Africans but there are many more who can qualify to be there,” President Kagame said.
Kagame paid tribute to some of these Basketball legends with African roots for "looking back” to their continent and giving back similar opportunities to the young people. "They come from Africa, they had these opportunities and now they are looking back and saying where we come from there are many more,” he said.
Kagame launches Giants of Africa facility
In 2017, President Paul Kagame joined Masai Ujiri, the General Manager of NBA’s Toronto Raptors, who is also the founder of the Giants of Africa project, to officially launch a newly refurbished Rafiki Basketball Court in Nyamirambo, a historical place for the evolution of the game in Rwanda.
In his remarks, the President reiterated the need for young Africans to take advantage of such opportunities to showcase their talents which would otherwise not be possible without such projects.
In August 2018, President Kagame joined the Commissioner of the National Basketball Association (NBA), Adam Silver, and Ujiri to officially open the second edition of Giants of Africa training camp.
Building the Magnificent Kigali Arena
In 2019, President Kagame initiated the construction of a multipurpose basketball facility. While officially inaugurating the 10,000-seater Kigali Arena on August 9 the same year, President Kagame commended Turkish company, Summa, for constructing the state of the art facility in a short time.
Since the completion of the multipurpose indoor facility that is billed the biggest such complex in Eastern and Central Africa, it has since hosted some of the major events in the country; sports, conferences and entertainment.
The multimillion-dollar arena boasts of 13 cafeterias and restaurants, six changing rooms for teams, two rooms for the coaching staff, one fitness centre, a media hall, and a modern doping control room among other amenities.
Located right next to Amahoro National Stadium in Remera, the facility has helped Rwanda to host key international basketball events including the innaugural season of the Basketball Africa League (BAL) that started on Sunday bringing together 12 elite teams from across Africa and Afrobasket which will be played next month from the same facility.
NBA Africa launches new court in Kigali
NBA Legend Jerome Williams is one of the global sports stars who visited Rwanda in 2019.
During his visit, the former Toronto Raptors star, 46, was a guest at the launch of a new basketball court at IPRC-Kigali, which was constructed under a partnership framework between NBA Africa and OCP Group, a world leader in the phosphate industry.
At the launch, Desire Mugwiza, president of the Rwanda Basketball Federation, said that the new facility marked a significant milestone in the continuous development of young basketball talents and it would be used to host regional and continental basketball games.
Rwanda wins bid to host Afrobasket 2021
Come August 2021, Rwanda will become the second East African country to organize the African Basketball Championship (Afrobasket), which in the region was last held in Kenya in 1993.
Rwanda won the rights to host Africa’s biggest basketball event in August after beating three other countries in the bidding process.
The other bidders included Senegal, DR Congo and Côte d’Ivoire. It is estimated that over 1,000 guests – players, officials and fans – will be converging in Kigali for the competition. Rwanda has featured at the Afrobasket five times in its last six editions since 2007.
Rwandans can now play at a professional level
The remarkable investment put in the game by the country's leadership has opened the doors for local basketballers to trade their ranks in major leagues around the world. Names of Rwandan pros such as Kenneth Gasana, Olivier Shyaka, Elie Kaje, Arstide Mugabe and Kami Kabange feature prominently whenever basketball is mentioned.