Police Handball Club has confirmed its participation in the 24th edition of the East and Central Africa handball club championship slated for November 4-10 in Nairobi, Kenya.Police, who lifted this year’s league title after thrashing rivals APR 43-39 in the finals, will represent Rwanda. Speaking to Times Sport after the team’s training session at Amahoro National stadium head coach, Alphonse Udahemuka said; “We have stepped up preparations and this time round we need the title whatsoever,”“Apart from targeting the event’s title, we want to use the tournament to prepare for the Africa club championship due in Morocco next month,” he added. Kenya National Cereals and Produce Board, who are champions in both categories (men and women), will be seeking to defend the titles they won last year in Dar es Salaam.However, this year the Cereals women’s team expects stiff competition from their arch rivals Nairobi Water, who finished runners up in the 2011/2012 edition after a tough encounter in the finals of the League play-offs in which they won by a single point, 27-26.Eight teams from Kenya have so far confirmed participation in the regional competition with Kenya Defence Forces side Ulinzi opting to stay away from the tournament, while Glorious Handball Club are yet to confirm their participation.The teams expected to compete in the regional tournament are, Rwanda’s Police (men and women), Lubumbashi, Ruew-Kinshasa all from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia’s Police (men and women), Tanzania’s Magereza (men and women), Ngome (women), JKT (men and women), Dodoma (women).Zanzibar is yet to confirm which team will travel to Nairobi for the tournament.Other teams are UPDF, Evergreen (Uganda), Cereals Board (men and women), Nairobi Water (women), Strathmore University (men), St. John’s sport community (women), Kenyatta University (men), Black Mamba (men) and Kenya Polytechnic (Kenya).
