Espoir point guard Olivier Turatsinze has joined Patriots Basketball Club on a two-year contract. The 23-year-old star left Espoir where he established himself as a key player during his time. He helped the club finish in third place in the 2023 Rwanda Basketball League season. His individual exploits also saw him named the Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the 2023 regular season which he finished leading the scoring charts with 507 points. He joins the Patriots who are reinforcing their roster ahead of the new season after losing small forward Steven Hagumintwari and power forward Dieudonne Ndizeye to Rwanda Energy Group (REG) in September in an Rwf 80 million trade deal. ALSO READ: Olivier Turatsinze: Rwanda’s latest basketball revelation? Turatsinze has also had outings with the national team from the youth to senior level. He was handed a call up in the U-18 team in 2018 and he was part of the team that participated in the Afrobasket in Mali. He averaged 5.4 points and 2.8 rebounds per game at the tournament and helped Rwanda finish in sixth place. ALSO READ: Team Nshobozwa defeats Team Turatsinze in 2023 All-Star Game In 2023, he debuted in the senior national team. He was part of the squad that won bronze at the 2023 AfroCAN tournament in Angola. Turatsinze further impressed at the FIBA 3x3 Africa Cup 2022 held in Cairo, Egypt, in December as Rwanda won bronze after beating Tunisia 21-17 in the third-place match. He was also with the national team that participated in the FIBA 3x3 World Cup held in Israel in May 2023.
