APR basketball club has started its countdown to this year’s All Africa Club Championship scheduled to run from November 23 to December 2 in the Angolan capital Luanda.

The 2006 national league champions will be Rwanda’s flag bearers at what is believed to be the biggest club competition on the Fiba-Africa calendar.

The ‘Indomitable Lions’, as they are normally referred to, qualified for the event after ousting Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) in the finals of this year’s Zone V club championships which were staged in Kigali just under a month ago.

On the road to the final, APR had seen off Ethiopia’s Mazi Mazi, Kenya’s Cooperate bank and Uganda’s Nkumba University.
However, head coach Cliff Owuor is still pessimistic about the club’s preparations ahead of this competition.

"I don’t think we have a lot of time to prepare for this competition. Even though we won last weekend’s Gisembe Memorial tournament, I felt that the team was not at its best.
"The game flow was not up there.

The coordination was also shaky possibly because we have a couple of new players in the team the team,” the ex-Kenyan international said.

Owuor who joined APR in 2005 admits that his team still has a lot to perfect before the competition in which they are only making their debut appearance.

APR has beefed up its squad with four new signing amongst which include Jose-Edward Elongie from Rwanda National University (UNR) and Foster Mugisha from Kenya.

The All Africa Club Championship is the biggest club competition on the Fiba-Africa Calendar and the military side is the first Rwandan side to get involved.

However, despite being APR’s first appearance, it’s not the case with their coach, Owuor who is making his second appearance after guiding Kenya’s Ulinzi back in 2001.

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