Rwanda Energy Group (REG) Basketball Club is in Istanbul where they are set to face Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrain in a friendly games as part of intensive preparations for the highly-anticipated Basketball Africa League (BAL) 2022 play offs slated from May 21 - 28 at the Kigali Arena.

According to the club’s management, the team is expected to feature in three friendly games, as part of preparatory activities before returning to Kigali on May 15 before the playoffs begin. 

REG will take on Cameroon’s Forces Armées et Police (FAP) Basketball Club in the playoff quarter-finals. 

The REG-powered side advanced to the last-eight playoffs in Kigali after a stunning performance that saw them top the Sahara Conference, a tournament hosted in Dakar, Senegal, in March.

REG is one of eight teams from eight different countries that will rub shoulders in Kigali to establish who will become the 2022 BAL champion.

The move to have the team play friendly games with teams from other parts of the world is a commendable one in that it improves the readiness of the team ahead of BAL.

Friendly matches for different teams in the country at club level or national teams should be a more frequent occurrence in the Rwandan sporting ecosystem.

It is not uncommon for teams to go for multiple months to go without a friendly match even ahead of major tournaments.

With Rwanda having multiple bilateral ties with countries from across the world, one of the avenues to make the most of the warm ties is to organize friendly games with local teams which could improve national readiness.