Ferwafa, Katauti bury hatchet

At last, local football governing body, Ferwafa and former Amavubi Stars skipper Hamad Ndikumana a.k.a Katauti have buried their hatchet and resolved to again work together. The making up for the two parties, opens the door for the Cyprus based defender to play for the national team again.

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

At last, local football governing body, Ferwafa and former Amavubi Stars skipper Hamad Ndikumana a.k.a Katauti have buried their hatchet and resolved to again work together. The making up for the two parties, opens the door for the Cyprus based defender to play for the national team again.

According to Ferwafa president Brig. Gen. John Bosco Kazura, who spoke to Times Sport yesterday said that that the versatile defender has apologized for his mistakes.

"Katauti contacted us for the apology yesterday (Tuesday) at the federation head quarters, stressing clearly the points why he has decided to return to international football after two years in the wilderness. After making his apology, he is free to return and play for his country,” Kazura stated.

In 2006, the ex-Rayon Sports star wrote to Ferwafa authorities expressing his desire not to be considered for national team duty anymore after he was stripped off the team’s captaincy.

The experienced defender was stripped of the Amavubi captaincy in the wake of reports that he had received a bribe to fix the Rwanda vs Angola 2006 World Cup decisive qualifier at Amahoro stadium.

Rwanda lost the game 0-1, a result that guaranteed Angola a place at World Cup finals held in Germany at the expense of Nigeria.

But on several occasions, the former Rayon Sports star had considered returning to the national team but his moves always met stiff resistance from Ferwafa administrators who insisted that the player must state why retired from international football before being allowed to return.

His consideration to return to the Amavubi team was due to several pleas from the fans as well as administrators after the disappointing qualifying campaign for the 2008 African Nations Cup finals held in Ghana in January.

Rwanda finished third in group five with six points from two home wins, 4-0 and 2-0 over Liberia and Equatorial Guinea respectively.

Cameroon topped the group with 15 points while Equatorial Guinea finished second with ten while Liberia finished bottom with four.

The 30-year-old defender guided Anorthosis to the preliminary round of the Uefa Cup championship last year before being eliminated by English side Tottenham Hotspurs.

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