Hoops president Kalisa backs Rwanda ahead of African showpiece

ERIC Kalisa has told Times Sport that Rwanda intends to play “positive basketball” when the 25th FIBA-Africa Men Championship (2009 Afrobasket) gets underway in Libya in five weeks’ time. The national basketball federation president’s remarks come days after the event draws which saw Rwanda seeded alongside Cape Verde, Morocco and Tunisia in Group D. Kalisa stressed that even though Rwanda’s opponents boast of superior experience in the competition, the team will not be intimidated. “Compared to all the other groups, I think our group is more or less evenly balanced. Putting history aside, there is not so much difference between the four sides,” he said before adding, “So I think it will go down to the best prepared team and the form on that particular day.” The pre-selected 17-man national team under the auspices of Vaceslav Kavedzija is already warming up for the battles ahead with two-daily training sessions at Amahoro. This year, Rwanda is making her second successive appearance at the championship following her debut in 2007 where she finished 12th. The Afrobasket competition is set to run from August 5 to 15 and the other groups in the competition include; Group A which pits Nigeria, two-time champions Ivory Coast, South Africa and hosts Libya. Ends

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Hoops president Kalisa backs Rwanda ahead of African showpiece