Saturday

FinalRwanda 47-49 Germany

Third placeSwitzerland 38-32 Uganda

Semi-finalGermany 31-17 UgandaRwanda 28-22 Switzerland

Preliminary roundDRC 18-31 UgandaGermany 33-22 KenyaRwanda 31-22 BurundiSwitzerland 26-30 GermanyGermany 42-16 DRCKenya 28-17 UgandaGermany 29-18 SwitzerlandUganda 27-21 BurundiDRC 26-24 Kenya

European giants Germany lived up to their pre-tournament billing as favourites by beating defending champions and hosts, Rwanda 47-49 in the final to win the 2013 Sitball World Championships at Amahoro indoor stadium on Saturday.

It was Rwanda’s second defeat of the tournament having lost to the same team 30-28 in another tight preliminary round game on Friday. Germany finished the 4th edition of the tournament unbeaten as they cruised to their third Sitball world title.

This year’s final was a repeat of the 2008 and 2010 finals when Rwanda and Germany contested the title match. 

The home team took the first half lead by 16-14 points and continued their lead into the second to 23 points but Germany recovered and took lead to 24 before Rwanda came back to tie the score at 26 points apiece, and with the score level at full time, another six minutes where add, three (minutes) for either half.

In the additional time, Germany led 38-36 before Rwanda made it 39-39, it went down to 40-40 and then 41-41 and both teams showed hunger to win the title.

Two more extra were added in which the outgoing champions committed two mistakes which gave Germany a 47-45 lead, but Rwanda equalized to make it 47-47, before the Germans’ vast experience shone through for a narrow but entertaining 49-47 win.

For the battle for third position, Switzerland beat Uganda 38-32 in a game the Ugandans dominated the first half 15-9 before the Swiss recovered to tie at 24-24 at the end of normal time (14 minutes). The additional six minutes ended again with both sides level at 29-29. 

The referees added two more minutes in which the Swiss won 38-32.

Final standing:

Germany, Rwanda, Switzerland, Uganda, Burundi, DRC, and Kenya.