Rwanda’S U-23 national beach volleyball teams are aiming to give their nation something to cheer about when the inaugural FIVB U-23 Beach Volleyball World Championship gets underway today in Myslowice, Poland.

The June 6- 9 competition is the inaugural age group championship.

National Men’s team skipper Olivier Ntagengwa, who arrived in Poland alongside his colleague Thierry Mugabo, and the women team duo of Charlotte Nzayisenga (Ruhango) and Denyse Mutatsimpundu, said they are keen on raising the country’s profile in the sport by winning a silverware in Myslowice.

Speaking to Times Sport before the team’s departure, skipper Ntagengwa said they had set sights on finishing as high as possible. "We are looking forward to doing our best in this championship. We need to achieve something better and give our country respect on world stage.”

"This is another big step for us, we want to represent our country with pride and we must ensure that we finish on a brilliant note,” he added.

"We’ve prepared well for the championships and are optimistic about our chances at the tournament,” said Ntagengwa.

Rwanda men qualified after beating Kenya, Zimbabwe and Egypt to secure the first position in Africa, while the women team finished second to hosts Kenya.

For most of the teams, the competition will provide the final stop in their beach volleyball development before they progress up to senior ranks, which was the original idea behind staging a competition that provides a third age-group World Championships after the U21 and U19 tournaments. 

For the African Confederation (CAVB), the only confederation to organise a qualification tournament for the FIVB U23 Beach Volleyball World Championships, the event has provided the chance for six teams to compete in both the men’s and women’s competitions.  

Duos from Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Niger, Rwanda, Zimbabwe and Egypt will appear in the men’s competition, while Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Rwanda and Zimbabwe qualified for the women’s competition.

Their success in qualifying reflects the FIVB’s desire to spread the sport to new markets and allow non-traditional beach volleyball countries to compete at the elite level.

Of course there will be many of the familiar countries represented in Myslowice. USA provides two teams in both genders. 

Myslowice, located 70km outside Poland’s ancient capital Krakow, will host a FIVB age group World Championships for the third time after successfully hosting the U19 and U21 versions in 2006 and 2007.

The city has also regularly hosted stops on the FIVB World Tour – the first World Tour competition was a single-gender women’s tournament in 2008, as was the 2011 event. In 2009, 2010 and 2012 it was the men who lit up the courts.