We are not good enough, says APR Handball coach

APR handball club head coach Anaclet Bagirishya has said that his team still has a lot to work on in order to be able to compete well against the best in Africa. Bagirishya made the concession after the Rwandan club finished bottom at the just concluded African Handball Champions League tournament in Hammamet, Tunisia. The national champions were among 14 teams at the 39th edition of the continent’s biggest handball club competition that was won by Egyptian side Zamalek after defeating Esperance Sportive de Tunis 31-29 in the final on Sunday. Primero from Angola won the women’s title following a 30-17 victory over AS Sfax from Tunisia in the final. “We have learnt a lot and gained some valuable experience from the competition – this competition proved that our local league is still at low level compared to other countries, especially North Africa,” Bagirishya told Times Sport on Wednesday. APR delegation returned home Tuesday evening. Bagirishya also noted that, “Our infrastructure too is very poor. However, we are optimistic the game will continue to improve as time goes by.” APR were drawn in Pool A and lost all of their group stage games and classification matches, hence finishing at the bottom of the log. In the group stage, the army side lost to Caiman (Congo-Brazzaville) 42-19, Esperance Sportive de Tunis (Tunisia) 58-20, and FAP (Cameroun) 41-27. In the 12-14th place playoff, APR lost against Red Star from Ivory Coast, 35-27, 34-32, before losing to JSK of the Democratic Republic of Congo 40-15. Last year in Ouagadougou, Rwanda was represented by Police Handball Club, who finished bottom of the 10-team continental showpiece with a 0:6 win ratio. Egyptian giants Al Ahly won the title after overcoming Esperance 26-23 in the final. editorial@newtimes.co.rw

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We are not good enough, says APR Handball coach