THE national U-20 handball team left yesterday to Bujumbura for their maiden regional competition that will have alot of bearing on the progress of the sport in Rwanda.

The tournament which starts today and ends on September 6 is expected to attract eight teams from Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Somalia and the hosts Burundi. 

Rwanda’s team had a last minute build up match against the senior side at Amahoro stadium on Thursday evening and lost narrowly 35-39.

This score gave alot of optimism to the U-20 team coach Jean Baptiste Ngarambe.

"I’m pleased that the boys managed to push the senior side this far. Though it will be the first competitive tournament at this level, we want to make the most of it,” Ngarambe said.

Ngarambe also believes that the mere fact that most of the players on the team are fresh from the post primary school competition is a big plus for Rwanda.

Handball is one of the most popular sport in the country despite the usual hardships related to finances.

Currently, the national league has six clubs; APR, Police, Rwanda National University (UNR), Kigali Institute of Education (KIE), School of Finance and Banking (SFB).

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