FIBA Africa Zone V: REG, Patriots off to winning starts

Today Men Cobra (S.Sudan) vs REG (Rwanda) 9am Wolkite (Ethiopia) vs Al-Ahly (Egypt) 12:30pm Strathmore (Kenya) vs Oilers (Tanzania) 2:15pm New stars (Burundi) vs Patriots (Rwanda) 4pm JKT (Tanzania) vs Smouha (Ethiopia) 5:45pm KPA (Kenya) vs EWSA (Ethiopia) 7:45pm Women KPA (Kenya) vs APR (Rwanda) 10:45pm Sunday results REG (Rwanda) 56-39 KPA (Kenya) Walkite (Ethiopia) 34-84 Patriots (Rwanda) Rwanda’s Patriots Basketball Club and Rwanda Energy Group (REG) started off their campaigns at the ongoing FIBA Africa Zone V Club Championship with convincing victories on Sunday. The annual regional tournament got underway yesterday and will run through October 7 at Uwaanja wa Taifa Indoor Stadium in Tanzania’s coastal city of Dar es Salaam. Making their first appearance in the competition, the 2016/17 league champions REG overcame Kenyan champions Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) 56-39 to register their first victory. Commenting on the opening victory, Patrick Ngwijuruvugo, head coach of the star studded side, said that; “It was a good start that we wanted, we have a lot of new players on the squad but they know each other very well because they play together a lot in the national team.” “Despite the fact that we didn’t play a lot of friendly matches before the tournament, it’s not a big issue and as coaches we keep correcting any errors. Only Dan (Manzi) is yet get documents to allow him feature for us but we think he will be available for our third game. Our mission in Dar is to win the title,” the Burundian tactician further added in a telephone interview. Today, the red-and-black outfits take on South Sudan’s Cobra in their second game – starting at 9am. In their first game yesterday, Cobra lost to Tanzania’s JKT 81-88. Meanwhile, last year’s finalists Patriots also made a perfect start, thrashing Ethiopia’s Wolkite 84-34. In their second game, Henry Mwinuka’s side face Burundi’s New Stars this afternoon, at 4pm. In the ladies’ category, Rwanda’s only representatives, APR, will kick off their title campaign tonight as they battle it out with Kenya’s KPA at 10:45pm CAT. The ladies’ category is comprised of six teams namely; APR (Rwanda), KPA and Equity from Kenya, Uganda Christian University (Uganda), Wolkite from Ethiopia and JKT from Tanzania. They will all play each other in a round-robin format and the team that will finish on top, will automatically be crowned champions. editorial@newtimes.co.rw

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FIBA Africa Zone V: REG, Patriots off to winning starts