Minister Mitali extols Rwandan volleyball

The Minister of Sports and Culture, Mitali Protais, has hailed Rwanda Volleyball Federation after a successful year when three teams qualified to play in World Championships.According to Minister Mitali, the federation is doing a “great job” following the achievements of the junior (boys), youth (boys) and the U-23 men and women teams. “It is good to have three teams in the world championships but they have to continue working even harder so that we have our senior teams on top in Africa,” Mitali told Times Sport at the weekend.Not so long ago, Prime Minister Pierre Damien Habumuremyi announced that the country had set itself a target of being in the top three on the continent in both basketball and volleyball by the 2017.Volleyball have reached the target in young age, including U19, U21, where teams finished among top three in Africa, while beach volleyball U23 finished in the first place in Africa this year.He added: “We are happy for them because they have reached the target already but we have to continue working hard and do well on the international level as well.”Mitali also praised the volleyball federation for using many young players.“It’s important to also note that volleyball is using many young players in every competition which is in line with our (government) policy, and we want other federations to adopt this policy as well,” he stated.