IPRC-South plot to stun APR in hoops playoff finals

Friday Playoffs finals: Game 1 Women APR vs IPRC-South 6pm Men REG vs Patriots 8pm Saturday Third place: Game 1 Women Ubumwe vs The Hoops 2pm Men IPRC-Kigali vs Espoir 4pm Women basketball playoff finals title hopefuls IPRC-South are plotting to stun favourites APR and clinch their first ever competitive title. The best of five finals series for both men and women categories, will be held at Amahoro Indoor Stadium starting with Game 1 on Friday evening. In the men’s category, regular season league champions Rwanda Energy Group (REG) will battle it out with last year’s champions Patriots. Since their establishment in 2014, IPRC-South have been improving every season—in their maiden campaign (2014/15), they finished fifth. In the 2015/16 season, the Huye-based club improved by two slots to finish third before finishing in second place this season hence qualifying for the Playoffs finals. They will compete at next year’s FIBA Africa Zone V Club Championship along with APR irrespective of who wins the playoff title. According to head coach Jean Claude Muhirwa, IPRC-South will go into the finals series against the more experienced APR without any fear because they have nothing to lose. “We have been training extensively since the end of the regular season, this has been a very good season for us and we are looking forward to the playoffs finals with high optimism,” said Muhirwa. In the regular season, IPRC-South lost to APR in the first and second round games; 46-50 and 46-48 respectively. For APR, they will go into the finals aiming to complete a quartet of trophies having already bagged the Genocide memorial tournaments (local and regional) as well as the regular season league title. editorial@newtimes.co.rw

Sports

IPRC-South plot to stun APR in hoops playoff finals