Sunday Rusizi 91-68 Gisenyi Women APR 61-69 Ubumwe UBUMWE are one-match away from winning their maiden national women basketball league title after edging defending champions APR over the weekend. APR, seven-time league champions – since 2007 – lost 61-69 to Ubumwe basketball club, who were established only two years ago. Ubumwe now need to win their last fixture of the season – against Rwanda Allied Peace for Progress (RAPP) --, on July 20, to be crowned new champions. Reigning champions now lead the standings with 15 points in eight matches, two points better than Ubumwe who have only played seven matches while RAPP are placed third with 11 points secured from seven matches. In men’s league, Rusizi bounced back from Saturday’s 68-83 defeat to APR to thrash Gisenyi 91-68 on Sunday. Meanwhile, the battle for the play-offs position is still on. Rusizi and United Generation Basketball club (UGB) are battling for the only slot to complete the format for the play-offs round. Champions Espoir, Cercle Sportif de Kigali (CSK) and APR booked the other slots. Espoir lead the standings with 38 points, four ahead of second-placed APR, while CSK are in third place with 33 points and a game in hand. UGB are in fourth with 31 points, while Rusizi are fifth with 29 points and with two games in hand. If Rusizi beat UGB on July 20 and Espoir on 26, they will snatch an automatic ticket to the play-offs round. However, should they lose to archrivals UGB then the latter will qualify to the play-offs set for August.
