Mulinge happy with Carré d’As success

Final Men APR 3-2 NURWomen APR 2-3 RRAPreliminary roundMen NUR 3-1 INATEKAPR 0-3 Lycée de NyanzaAPR 3-1 NURNUR 3-0 LDNAPR 3-0 INATEKLDN 3-2 INATEKWomen APR 3-0 St AloysRRA 3-0 Ruhango Ruhango 3-1 St AloysRRA 3-0 APRRRA 3-0 St AlloysAPR 3-1 RuhangoAFTER guiding his club to this year’s Carré d’As success on Sunday, APR men’s Volleyball Club head coach Sammy Mulinge said he was happy to prove doubters wrong.The six-time league champions, APR beat National University of Rwanda 3-2 to secure their fifth Carré d’As Cup.And their Kenyan trainer, whose team was slight favourites going into the two-day tournament, said, “not very many people expected us to win this cup because of the key players we were missing, but we did and I am proud of my players.”The league champions were without star players including international Kenyans, Sila Makisa (right attacker), Bernard Oselu (setter), Congolese born Théodore Thiambo (fixer) and Didier Kitoko (right attacker). But Mulinge praised his team. “My players did well, I am happy with their performance. The determination they have shown in this tournament gives me optimism for a bright future.”“Our opponents (NUR) are a very strong side but we did what we had to do and got the win and another title to add to the league for the season. It was an exciting game to watch for both the winners and the neutrals.”The annual tourney brings together the top four teams in league in both the men and women categories. APR took the first two sets 25-23, 26-24, but NUR fought back to win the next two sets 25-22, 25-14 with the military side taking the decider 15-12.However, APR ladies were not as good as their male counterparts after going down against Rwanda Revenue Authority by three sets to two.APR’s Aimable Mutuyimana was named player of the tournament (male), while Regine Izabayo Feza of RRA took the women’s award.The winners (APR and RRA) took home Rwf200,000 each, on top of the trophies. Runners up, NUR and APR got Rwf150,000, while Lycée de Nyanza and Ruhango went home with Rwf100,000 each for finishing third in either respective category.Meanwhile, APR men and women were handed their 2012 league trophies and Rwf400,000 each. Lycée de Nyanza and NUR took Rwf300,000 and Rwf200,000 (men) for finishing 2nd and 3rd, while RRA and Ruhango received the same amount for ending the season in second and third place respectively.

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Mulinge happy with Carré d’As success