RWANDA will this afternoon send a team of 13 athletes to Nairobi to compete in the 17th African Championships set for July 28 to August 1 at Nyayo Stadium.

The team, which has fairly good experience in Disi Dieudonne and two-time Olympiad Epiphanie Nyirabarame, will have a feel of Nyayo stadium this evening with a light training session.

About 30 countries are expected to take part and some of these include Ethiopia, Burundi, Gabon, Chad, Morocco, Mozambique, Guinea Bissau, Eritrea, Togo, Swaziland, Liberia, Egypt, Comoros, Gambia, Zambia, Central African Republic, Mauritius, Malawi and hosts Kenya.

Ethiopia have included Olympic silver medalist Sileshi Sihine in their 10,000m. Sihine will be making his first serious attempt at an international championship since 2008 when he finished second to Kenenisa Bekele at the Beijing Olympic Games.

His wife and Africa 10,000m champion Tirunesh Dibaba will also be in Nairobi to defend her title. Other top names in the Ethiopian squad include Tariku Bekele and Meseret Defer.

Sudan will field World Indoor Championship 800m champion Abubakar Kaki.

South Africa won the last championship with 22 medals (12 golds, 2 silvers, 8 bronzes) while Nigeria finished second with 19 medals (7 gold, 7 silver, 5 bronze). Ethiopia, the hosting country, rounded off the top three slots with 15 medals (6 golds, 6 silvers, 3 bronze). Kenya finished fourth with 5 golds, 5 silver and 6 bronzes.

Traveling contingent: Disi Dieudonne, Epiphanie Nyirabarame, Joseph Nzirorera, Potien Ntawuyirushintege, Timothy Bagina (400m), Musa Bizimana, Hermas Muvunyi, Emmanuel Ntakirutimana, Emmanuel Havugimana (100m), Said Hamisi (200m), Claudette Mukasakindi, Jeanne d’Arc Uwamahoro, Sophie Kanakuze and coach Innocent Rwabuhihi.

Ends