Unfair refereeing denied Rwanda titles – Father Gatete

For the second consecutive year, Rwandan schools finished the East African post primary games without any title win. This year’s edition was held in Lira, Northern Uganda from August 24 to September 1 and Rwanda came in fourth position.Out of 17 teams that represented the country, seven reached the semi-finals and only four reached finals but none of them managed to win a title in their respective disciplines.The four semi-finalist teams were Solidarity Academy in girls’ football, ESG Rubavu in boys’ football, GS Indangaburezi in girls’ volleyball and ES Kigoma in boys’ handball.Solidarity Academy lost 5-4 on penalties in the final following a goalless draw against Kenya’s Tartar. Last year in Bujumbura, they also lost 5-4 on penalties after a 1-all draw against Kawempe Muslim of Uganda.In boys’ football, ESIG Rubavu were beaten 4-0 by six-times champions, Saint Mary’s Kitende of Uganda. ES Kigoma lost narrowly 25-26 to South Sudan team Wou in the boys’ handball, while Indangaburezi lost 3-2 to Kenya’s Wanthanza in girls’ volleyball.In an interview with Saturday Sport, the chairman of the Rwanda School Sports Federation, Father Innocent Gatete said, “I don’t fault our teams for not winning any title, reaching four different finals is a big achievement itself. They did the best they could.”“The teams had played well but a mixture of bad luck and unfair refereeing cost us titles in the boys’ handball, girls’ football and volleyball. The only final we didn’t deserve to win was boys’ football,” he noted.Rwanda finished fourth with four silver and two bronze medals behind Kenya, Uganda and South Sudan. Tanzania, Burundi and debutants Zanzibar ranked behind Rwanda.According to tentative plans, Tanzania will host next year’s edition, while Rwanda will organise the 2015 games.