Youth and Sports Minister, Barr. Solomon Dalung alongside NFF President Amaju Pinnick, Vice Presidents Seyi Akinwunmi and Shehu Dikko, and Chairman of the Technical and Development Committee Chris Green will be in the stands when Nigeria confront Niger Republic in Kigali on Monday evening.
The Super Eagles B clash with the Mena in one of the opening matches of Group C of the 4th African Nations Championship. Venue is the Stade Regional Nyamirambo, from 5pm Nigeria time.
Super Eagles B team photo credit: @theNFF
The high –powered Nigeria delegation arrived in Kigali on Sunday and had dinner with the players and officials of the Super Eagles at the Hills View Hotel, where Sports Minister Dalung delivered the message of President Muhammadu Buhari (GCFR) to the group.
“I want to assure you that Government and people of Nigeria are with you as you start this campaign for honours. President Buhari has mandated me to tell me that you should confront all challenges with courage and confidence because he is with you in spirit.
“You have shown excellent patriotic spirit and we are proud of you. Go to battle with the mind to conquer.”
The Eagles perfected strategies for the three-week championship at the High Performance Centre in Pretoria, South Africa, where they spent two weeks, and will start as tournament favourites being the top –ranked team from the last competition present in Rwanda.
Nigeria won bronze in South Africa in 2014, but champions Libya and runners-up Ghana both failed to qualify for Rwanda.
The Confederation Africaine de Football (CAF) and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) are set to grow closer with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Friday, January 15, 2016 at 11:30 AM (local time) at the Serena Hotel in Kigali, Rwanda.
CAF President, Issa Hayatou, and AFC President, Shaikh Salman Bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa, will sign the MoU of mutual co-operation on development of football between the two confederations.
The two Presidents will be assisted by Hicham El Amrani, General Secretary of CAF and Dato’ Windsor John, General Secretary of the AFC.
The MoU which will be valid for four (4) years and open to renewal is meant to strengthen cooperation between the two confederations and provide a framework for exchanges on competitions and formation. This will be achieved through the sharing of information, experience, initiating high level competitions, conducting joint technical development programs in various fields such as: Coaching, Refereeing, Youth football, Women’s football, Integrity, Administration, Marketing, Media and Innovative technologies.
There will be a press conference to be addressed by the Presidents of CAF and AFC after signing the MoU.
The Confédération Africaine de Football in consultation with Rwandan authorities and the Local Organising Committee of the Orange African Nations Championship (CHAN), Rwanda 2016, have announced that the date of the official draw for the final tournament will now take place on Sunday, 15 November 2015 in Kigali at 18H00 local time as against the earlier announced 18th of November 2015.
Two Rwandan Cities Gisenyi, Butare Plus the Capital Kigali will host the final tournament of the fourth edition of the CHAN from 16th January to 7th February 2016.
16 have qualified for the tournament and they are listed here in alphabetical order: Angola, Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, DR Congo, Ethiopia, Gabon, Guinea, Mali, Morocco, Niger, Nigeria, Uganda, Rwanda (Host), Tunisia, Zambia, Zimbabwe.
After the spectacular of All Africa Games Qualifiers, Rwanda Men’s Volleyball national team head coach Paul Bitok wants a similar performance in upcoming 2015 Men’s African Nations Championship, which is staged Cairo, Egypt in July 20 to 31.
Rwanda will be meeting with African giants like holders Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria, Cameroon and Morocco but Bitok believes that the participation will help the players to gain the confidence.
Rwanda dominated the Easter Africa countries in All Africa Games qualifications after beating Uganda, 3-2 Burundi, 3-0 and Kenya 3-2 to earn the lone ticket of this group.
The last time Rwanda competed in 2007 where finished on eighth position which was held in South Africa under Frenchman Gerard and the best position back in 2005 under Major Patrick Rugambwa and Emmanuel ‘Casius’ Ndungutse, where Rwanda finished on fifth position.
The National team has not participated for the event in last seven years because they were no plan for the each year of the national team.
Bitok wants the team to start the preparation of the men championships early June as the way of preparing the All African Games, which will be staged in Congo Brazzaville from 4-19 September.
Rwanda Men’s team will participate in the Men’s African Nations Volleyball Championship in Egypt
The president of Rwanda Volleyball Federation Gustave Nkurunziza said that “We have talked to our sponsor, ministry of sports on how we can compete in this event is and normally we have to send the team because we need to see our level against top teams in Africa”
“We want to compete in this tournament because we want to give more experience to our young players, we will use it as the preparations of All Africa Games,” he added.
The 2015 Men’s African Nations Championship will act as a qualifier for the 2015 FIVB Men’s World Cup which will be staged in Japan 8 – 23 September.
The 8 titles record holders Tunisia will be competing with their arch rival seven time champions Egypt who won the last five editions. Among other strong teams are 2 time champions Cameroon and Algeria beside the emerging Rwanda.
Meanwhile Kenya will host the Women’s African National Championships from 10 to 21, June. Rwanda will not compete in this tournament as the Volleyball Federation will first organize two months camp for the women from August to September after that the team will start to compete in continental events.
The competition will also act as the qualifier for the 2015 FIVB Women’s World Cup to be hosted in Japan August 22 to September 6, 2015.
Seven time champions Kenya is the defending champions as they won the last title in their homelands in 2013.
Rwanda Men’s Volleyball team confirmed their qualification tickets for the 2015 All Africa Games to be held in Congo Brazzaville from 4-19 September after they finished Sub Zone 5 qualifiers in Rwanda at the top position.
Rwanda will be joined by another qualifier from the other sub zone 5 tournament which is running now in Ethiopia.
This is the second time for Rwanda to qualify for All Africa Games after beating Kenya for the final game in 2011 but rivals Kenya went to revenge for the third position in Mozambique by 3-2 and Rwanda finished on fourth position behind Cameroon, Algeria and Kenya.
Kenyan team
The emerging Rwandan team beat giants Kenya 3-2 (17-25, 25-22, 25-18, 25-27, 15-7) in the third and final day of the round robin tournament which features also the participation of Burundi and Uganda. The victory improved the Rwandan win- loss ratio to 3-0 with 7 points as the Kenyans gained the same points from a 2-1 win- loss record.
Rwanda won their first match against Uganda also 3-2 (19-25, 23-25, 25-23, 25-15, 15-13) and the second against Burundi 3-0 (25 -14, 25-20, 25-18) to clinch the top position of the podium. Burundi finished in the third position with 1-2 record and 3 points, leaving Uganda at the bottom of the table with a single point.
The win gave Rwanda the ticket to the All Africa Games and for the Kenya-born coach Bitok was not only happy with his team’s win and qualification but the fact that he beat his compatriots, who are handled by another ex-Kenyan international Geoffrey Omondi.
Huge turn out of Spectators
“It was a good game to watch for the fans, we are really happy to have achieved our goal to qualify, but we still have work to do for the All Africa Games,” Bitok said, adding that, “we needed to win that game, because it was one of the biggest games for us. It used to be hard game against Kenya and we have to look ahead of us to work for the upcoming competitions,” with three wins against Uganda, Burundi and Kenya, Rwanda qualify for All Africa.
Kenya started strongly and won opening set 25-17 but Rwanda shown the strong character to the Kenyans after winning the two consecutive sets, 25-18 and 25-22 as both Lawrence Yakan Guma and Olivier Ntagengwa dominated with spikes and services, while Fred Musoni and Vincent ‘Gasongo’ Dusabimana did great work with blocks to lead Rwanda to the opening two sets, it was hard to Kenyans to get the ball down as Flavien Ndamukunda and Libero Bosco Mutabazi did great job in defense.
Kenya came back to win the fourth set 27-25, Kenya’s recovery was led by Chemos Michel and Marua Denis powerful spikes. But it was Bitok’s side, which came on top in the decisive fifth set 15-7. This is the third consecutive win for Bitok against his nation after beating them in 2011 and 2014.
Ugandan team
Kenya played without their best player Fillip Maiyo while Rwanda was without inspiration captain Christophe Mukunzi who is still recovering from arm injury and center player Theodore Muyango.
This is second team qualified for the All Africa Games for the Rwanda Volleyball Federation after Flavien Ndamukunda and Olivier Ntagengwa got the qualification last month in Beach Volleyball which was held in Tanzania, Dar es Salaam.
The final day was attended by government officials among them the Honorable President of Senate, Honorable Minister of Culture and Sport, President of National Olympic Committee, the Director of Sports and the National federation members.
Best Players
Rwanda scooped the most number of awards four in total, skipper Lawrence Guma Yakan walked away with the most valuable award.
Flavien Ndamukunda was the best server, Ivan Mahoro Nsabimana best setter and Vincent Dusabimana was best blocker.
Ugandan born George Aporu went with best receiver, the Kenyan duo of Michael Chemos and Peter Kabati took home the best spiker and best Libero while Bosco Ngezahimana aka Rwarutabura awarded as best supporter.
Team Rwanda
Results
Match 1 BURUNDI VS KENYA 0-3 (14-25, 13-25, 20-25)
Match 2 UGANDA VS RWANDA 2-3 (25-19, 25-23, 23-25, 15-25, 13-15)
Match 3 UGANDA vs KENYA 0-3 (22-25, 20-25, 18-25)
Match 4 RWANDA vs BURUNDI 3-0 (25 -14, 25-20, 25-18)
Match 5 UGANDA vs BURUNDI 1-3 (25 -23, 19-25, 23-25, 18-25)
Match 6 KENYA vs RWANDA 2-3 (25-17, 22-25, 18-25, 27-25, 7-15)
It was Rayon Sport’s maiden appearance at the Rwanda Genocide Memorial, and they did come out on top. Formed just this year, and the influence of money to sign good players, from the likes of Inatek and National University of Rwanda, Rayon Sport ascended to the title in emphatic style, defeating APR 3-0 (25-19, 25-16, 25-23).
Led by tournament most valuable player Nelson Murangwa, Rayon Sport seemed so apart in every department of the games. From intimidating services, to defending to defending them on backline, net defense, court cover, Murangwa had it all.
“New team with experienced players, winning is what we are all about and we have started on a high note,” he said. “I should say, the competition wasn’t that tough like we had expected, but coming out on top shows that we never took anyone for granted,” added Murangwa.
Rayon sport players
Rwanda Revenue Authority (RRA) also recovered from last year’s crush in the final to defeat Kenya’s National Water 3-1 to lift the women’s title. Uganda’s best performance came from Sport-S who finished third after a 3-0 (25-19, 25-13, 25-17) defeat against Kigali Volleyball Club (KVC).
Vision Volleyball Camp settled for fourth in the women category after losing 3-2 to APR in the third place playoff. Sky and Nemostars had decimal performances as both teams failed to leave their groups, the former losing both matches to Muzinga and KVC.
There was some consolation for Ugandan clubs as Sport-S’ Dickens Otim and VVC Peace Busingye were named best attackers in the men and women categories respectively.
Nigeria’s senior women team, the Super Falcons on Saturday in faraway Gisenyi whip lashed host Rwanda 4-1 in a first leg African Women Championship (AWC) qualifier.
Falcons started the game brightly by dominating proceedings but threw away so many scoring chances they created.Rising star Asisat Oshoala,however, opened scoring in the 37th minute with a volley inside the box.
Three minutes later, the rampaging Desire Oparanozie who was the tormentor -in -chief set up Asisat to put Super Falcons two goals up. It should have been more before interval but poor shooting denied the Falcons a more comfortable lead.
Falcons made it three on resumption when captain Evelyn Nwabuoku found Esther Sunday who beat Rwanda goalkeeper with a low shot. Thereafter it was the Falcons against the She Amavubi goalkeeper who pulled off several good saves .
Rwanda pulled a goal back in the 65th minute when Clementine Mukamana’s free kick beat Precious Dede in goal for Nigeria.
Stunned by the goal the Nigerian girls piled pressure on their host and Oparanozie was brought down inside the box and she rose to convert the resultant penalty kick for Falcons fourth goal in the match.
Speaking after the game an elated Coach Edwin Okon said it was a good game but said it should have been more if they had taken the numerous chances created.
“It is a good game, a good win. We did not expect it to be this easy but we take positive in the team work of the girls. They lost so many scoring chances and we shall go back and work on them to ensure that they do not repeat the misses again in Nigeria” he said
Umuganda stadium, venue of the Rwanda vs Nigeria, AWC qualifier
Super Falcons are in high spirit for their Saturday’s Africa women Championship (AWC) qualifier against Rwanda in Gisenyi, a town three hours away from their capital city of Kigali.
Coach Edwin Okon said the team is undaunted by the gimmicks of their host as they are poised to win the first leg before going back to Nigeria to do final job of booking ticket to the AWC in Namibia.
The team has no injury worries and they had a feel of the pitch at Gisenyi Thursday afternoon but only went to shake off jet lag by walking round before returning to their hotel.
Team skipper Nwabuoku Evelyn said she is not worried about their host taking the game outside Kigali adding she wants to open her tenure as captain on a winning note and that Rwanda cannot stop her dream of lifting the AWC trophy in Namibia.
The Falcons journey took them from Abuja on Wednesday afternoon arriving Kigali on Thursday morning after two stop overs in Addis Ababa and Entebbe,Uganda.
The team landed at 2.25 am local time on Thursday and was received by the Rwandan football authorities.
Falcons were booked into Peace Land Hotel Gisenyi and went to Umuganda stadium to shake off jet lag around 4pm local time which is 3pm Nigerian time.Incidentally the Umuganda stadium will be the venue of the Saturday qualifier.
Falcons trained by 3pm to 4:30pm local time on Friday which is the official training time allotted to the team.
The match will be played by 3:30pm local time which is 2:30 Nigeria time Today .
SUPER FALCONS TO DON WHITE JERSEY
Super Falcons will go into Saturday’s AWC qualifier against host Rwanda clad in white jersey while their opponents wear yellowJersey,green short and blue hose.
The match officials are:
Referees:Alla Ali Abdelssmad (Sudan),
Trhas Gebreyohanis (Ethiopia),
Nasrim Mahdi Mudawi (Sudan),
Batol Mahjob Ibrahim (Sudan).
Match Commissioner: Genevieve Lukusa Kanjinga ( D.R. Congo)
Two foreign based professionals Onome Ebi and Desire Oparanozie topped the list of 18 member Super Falcons players named by coach Edwin Okon for the Africa women championship (AWC) qualifier against Rwanda this weekend in Kigali.
Conspicously missing in the team that is expected to travel Wednesday to Rwanda via Addis Ababa are Gloria Ofoegbu, Lilian Cole,Uchechi Sunday and Glory Iroka.
Surprised inclusion in the squad are captain of the Under-17 women that got to quarter-final of the of the recently concluded FIFA U-17 World Cup, Chiwendu Ihezuo and two members of the Under-20 women team the Falconets Asisat Oshoala and Yetunde Adeboyejo also made the squad.
Executive Committee member of the Nigeria Football Federation, Dili Onyedinma will lead out the team that comprises four coaches and six officials.
The team will depart Nnamdi Azikiwe International airport Abuja on Wednesday afternoon aboard an Ethiopian airline flight to Addis-Ababa before connecting a flight to Kigali.
The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has warned the Super Falcons not to be complacent when they clash with Rwanda in the first leg of the Africa women championship (AWC) qualifier in Kigali this weekend.
The Director of Technical in the federation, Emmanuel Ikpeme who issued this warning after the team’s training in Abuja said that nothing short of victory is acceptable.
“The only way you can restore the confidence Nigerians used to have in this team is to go Kigali and get a win. This will boost morale and believe in this squad and give the confidence to do more
“You must discard any form of complacency in Kigali. Women football has grown in Africa and there are no longer minnows. So you must play Rwanda as if you are playing a football super power. Don’t underrate them, go at them from the blast of the referees whistle ” he said.
He continued “the bottom line here is that you must whip away your dismal performance against Cameroon in a recent friendly match by beating Rwanda by a wide margin and win back the confidence Nigerians used to have on you”
The former Cross River state director of sports urged the team to make a big statement of their intention of reclaiming the African title by beating Rwanda silly before their home fans.
ONOME:WE’LL SHOW RWANDA IN KIGALI
Super Falcons foreign based defender Onome Ebi has said that Rwanda will be shown why Nigeria is Africa’s best women football team for over 20 years with a resounding win in Kigali in the first AWC qualifier.
The former Delta Queens defender who is plying her trade in Belarus expressed joy at uniting with her team mates after almost two years absence noting there are lot of changes in the squad.
She said a lot of young players have graduated into the Falcons and vying for starting jersey with the old members of the team stressing that the competition for a place in team is keen and healthy.
Onome stated that she is ready for shirt war adding that her position in the team is not threatened by the young defenders in the new look Super Falcons.
“I am not in any way threatened by the new defenders in the team, the reverse should be the case here. The new defenders should be the Ones being threatened that I am back in the team. My position is safe
“The team needs the experience that some of us the older players come with and we shall guide them through by leading by example. I am impressed by the talents we have here” she stated
Onome who arrived over the weekend from her club in Europe had her first training session with Super Falcons on Monday in Abuja. The team now train once a day as they finalize their travelling plans to Rwanda.
Rwanda is currently hosting a Volleyball Cooperation Programme in its capital Kigali, and the course opening was attended by representatives from the Ministry of Sport and the Rwandan Volleyball Federation.
The course runs from March 10 to 14 under the instruction of Michel Vandermeulen of Belgium.
The main aim of the VCP course is to show teachers how to adapt volleyball as an easy, fun and competitive sport in schools.
Physical Education Teachers are one of key target groups for the Volleyball Cooperation Programme to help them learn how they can integrate volleyball into their schools and motivate young volleyball players.
The aim of the five-day course is for teachers to learn the basic skills of teaching children the fundamentals of volleyball in a practical way, in addition to showing how to maximise school facilities for multiple courts and mass participation.
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