Mutokambali fired as national basketball team head coach

Moise Mutokambali has been sacked as head coach of the national basketball teams, according to a statement signed by the local basketball governing body’s secretary general, Richard Mutabazi. The dismissal, which was announced on Wednesday afternoon, brings curtains down on Mutokambali’s reign stretching six years—it follows a string of unconvincing and at time, poor results in regional and continental competitions. The most recent having come last month when Rwanda finished bottom of Group B in window one of the 2019 FIBA World Cup Qualifiers held in the Malian capital Bamako. Word has it that Mutokambali’s firing was accelerated by the defeat against neighbours and arch-rivals Uganda, who have won the last three meetings between the two countries. Rwanda last beat Uganda in January 2013, in FIBA Africa Zone V Championship. “After a disappointing performance in 2019 World Cup Qualifiers last month and average results in regional competitions in the last three years, we have come to a conclusion to part company with Mutokambali,” reads the statement. It adds, “He did not only fail to give good results, but, also continuously failed to consider in-put of his assistants and advisors. We will soon communicate how the national team will be handled as we take time to look for a suitable new coach.” After failure to qualify for the 2015 African Basketball Championship (men’s Afro-basket), the first time in eight years, the rise of Mutokambali, who was once praised as a good example of what a home-grown coach can achieve, started to crumble. Prior to his appointment as the senior national team’s head coach in 2012, Mutokambali was the U20 national team trainer. He took up the national team’s hot seat from Serbian Veceslav Kavedzija, who had been in charge for the previous five years. editorial@newtimes.co.rw

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Mutokambali fired as national basketball team head coach