Ntagungira gears up for World Cup

RWANDA’S Fifa and Caf licensed assistant referee, Celestin Ntagungira has been invited to attend the Fifa seminar for assistant referees set for early December in Singapore. Ntagungira who dubbed as the leading assistant referee in the region has set his sights on the forthcoming Fifa World Cup due in South Africa in 2010. The week-long seminar is expected to cover various areas including technical, physical, and mental and energy performance as well as medical and physio preparations. Just like the teams, a great deal of hard work lies in store for the potential referees. The aim of the one-week seminar in Singapore is to select the best of the best, who will then be split into groups and be meticulously prepared for the third/final qualifying of the Fifa World Cup which gets underway in March, 2009. The various assistant referees will now all be eagerly awaiting the decision of the Fifa referees’ committee in the hope that they will have taken another step along the road to South Africa 2010. The Fifa assistant referee is joined by fellow assistant referees from the Cecafa region, namely; Desire Gahungu (Burundi) and Ogbamariam Angesom from Eritrea. The trio was also picked to officiate at the January Africa Cup of Nations held in Accra, Ghana. Ntagungira was picked by Fifa to work along side Evariste Menkouande (Cameroon) and centre referee Coffi Codjia (Benin) at last year’s Fifa Club World Championship held Yokohama, Japan and is still in position to take up the same duties in next year’s edition set to be held in South Africa. The World’s football body, Fifa also picked the Rwandan born assistant referee to officiate at the Beijing Olympic Games held in China mid this year. Ntagungira, 40, who has been refereeing since 1997, took charge of his first international debut in 2001 and went on to officiate at big tournaments including the Nations Cup (2006 and 2008) as well as the 2006 World Cup but says he wants more out of the 2010 World Cup. Ends

Lifestyle

Ntagungira gears up for World Cup