RWANDAN TEAMS endured a tough opening day on their maiden appearance in the on-going FIVB U-23 Beach Volleyball World Championship in Myslowice, Poland.The men’s pair of Olivier Ntagengwa and Thierry Mugabo lost their two group stage matches against German and Russia on Thursday.In the first game, they lost to Russian pair of Bykanov and Ostrakhovskiy 2-0 [21-16 and 21-16] and the second game against Germany’s Bergmann and Schroder, losing 2-0 [21-10 and 21-14].Rwanda are third with a win ratio of 56 points, behind leaders Germany and Russia. They were expected to face lowly placed Egyptian pair of Elaskolany and Roshdy in their last group game by press time.Equally, in the women category, Charlotte Nzayisenga and Denyse Mutatsimpundu found the going tougher than probably expected as they lost their two matches to Italy and Czech Republic.The Rwandan pair lost to Italy’s Benazzi and Cavestro 2-0 [21-11 and 21-13] in the first match and again to Czech pair of Galova and Machoza 2-0 [21-7 and 21-10]. They were due to face German pair of Aulenbrock and Tillmann in their final group match yesterday.Nzayisenga blamed the poor performance on lack of experience. “All our opponents are good and experienced. I think we have struggled to win because of inexperience.” Thirty-two teams per gender are taking place in the main draw of the inaugural FIVB U23 Beach Volleyball World Championships, which run until Sunday when both the men’s and women’s finals take place.
