Rwanda U-18 basketball team eyes Zone V title defense

The National Under-18 boys’ basketball team is eyeing to defend the Fiba Africa Zone V U-18 Championships title that they won in 2012 in Kigali. This year’s edition will be hosted in Kampala, Uganda from May 11 to 17. The Rwandan junior team won the title after beating Kenya in the final. Rwanda’s Olivier Shyaka currently featuring for reigning champions Espoir was named the Most Valuable Player of the tournament. Rwanda Basketball Federation (Ferwaba) technical committee selected the team last December and the players, all of them students, will be training at the respective schools until further notice. The selected team is not only being prepared to participate in the Fiba Africa Zone V Championships, but also at this year’s All Africa Youth Games scheduled for Gaborone, Botswana. Over 72 junior players (48 boys and 24 girls), to be grouped under three teams, namely; boys’ U16 team and girls’ and boys’ U18 teams respectively, were selected towards the end of 2013 in the process that took roughly one month.