The national sitting volleyball teams, men and women, have embarked on a two-week residential camp for intensive preparations ahead of the upcoming 2018 World Sitting Volleyball Championships due July 15-22 in the Netherlands. After three months of non-residential training at Amahoro Stadium, since April, the two teams reported to residential camp at Galileo Hotel in Huye district and will be having two training sessions daily at University of Rwanda – Huye Campus courts. According to Jean Marie Nsengiyumva, the women’s team head coach, the ladies are in good shape and fired up for final-touch preparations ahead of their historic first World Championship. “We are starting the camp with 15 players, which will be trimmed to 12 players for the final week. All the ladies are doing well and working hard to make the cut to the traveling team,” the former Kigali Volleyball Club (KVC) coach told Saturday Sport on Friday. In a separate interview, his men’s team counterpart, Eric Gakwaya said the camp comes in handy as the team readies up for a return to the World Championship for the first time since 2010. China (women) and Bosnia and Herzegovina (men) are the reigning world champions after beating the United States and Brazil in the 2014 edition’s finals respectively – in Poland. In the women’s category, debutants Rwanda have been pooled alongside Croatia, Canada and hosts Netherlands while Gakwaya’s men are in the game group with the hosts, USA and China. The two teams, which will represent Africa along with Egypt (men and women), will depart for Netherlands on July 12, three days before the tournament’s kick-off. editorial@newtimes.co.rw
