CLAUDETTE Mukasakindi will be Rwanda’s sole female athlete at the 18th IAAF World half Marathon Championship set for October 11 in Birmingham, United Kingdom.

Mukasakindi replaces three-time Olympian Epiphanie Nyirabarame who has been ruled out of the event.

"She (Nyirabarame) will not be ready after competing in the marathon and 5000m at the Francophone Games in Lebanon,” the athletics federation secretary general Apollinaire Munyangoga reasoned.

The federation had initially named four female athletes (Epiphanie Nyirabarame, Janet Nyirahabimana, Pelaggie Musabimana and Jean d’luc Mukakigeri) for the marathon but had to revisit the decision due to financial constraints.

Rwanda’s ace athlete Dieudonne Disi will skipper the men’s team which also has Sylvain Rukundo, Gervais Hakizimana, Eric Sebahire and Jean Baptista Simuceka.

Disi, Rukundo and Mukasakindi are also part of the team gearing up for this year’s Francophone Games in Lebanon.

The trio will link up with the rest of the team in Birmingham, three days before the world half marathon championship showdown.

Disi was Rwanda’s top performer in last year’s edition held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil after clocking one hour, three minutes and three seconds to finish sixth.

The podium slots were claimed by Eritrea’s Zersenay Tadese, Patrick Makau Musyoki of Kenya and Ahmad Hassan Abdullah of Qatar.

In Birmingham, athletes will be competing for a share of Rwf122.5m.

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