Local clubs snub Bitok V-ball tournament

Rwanda’s top volleyball clubs-APR, Rwanda Revenue Authority and National University of Rwanda (NUR) will not take part in the annual Paul Bitok volleyball tournament that starts this morning in Nairobi-Kenya.APR, which won the event last year, pulled out at the last minute. However, efforts to get a comment from the club officials on why they pulled out, were futile as the known phone line of club chairman, Jean Bosco Muyango, was switched off by press time. It is the second time that APR withdraws from a tournament. Last month, their women club pulled put of the African volleyball club championship in Kenya due to financial constraints.As a result, Rwanda will now be represented by Groupe Scolaire de Butare and Lycee de Nyanza.The tournament, which started in 1999 as a village tournament in Eldoret, has grown into a regional show and continues to attract some of the biggest clubs in the region. In 1999, winners were rewarded with sheep and goats but the prize has increased to over US$200,000, a move that has attracted more teams.Meanwhile, a Rwandan umpire Jean de Dieu Mukundiyimfura has been selected to officiate at this year’s Africa Junior Beach Volleyball Championship which started yesterday in Lomé, Togo.The umpire left for Lomé in midweek along with the two-player national beach volleyball team of Denise Mutatsimpundu and Charlotte Nzayisenga.The five-day tournament, which also doubles as a qualifier for the World Junior Beach Volleyball Championship, is slated for August 29-September 2 in Halifax, Canada.Other countries in contention for the six slots in Halifax include Guinea Conakry, Senegal, Cape Verde, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Niger, Gabon, Uganda, Kenya, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Madagascar.

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Local clubs snub Bitok V-ball tournament