Gisagara and RRA clinched the 2021 Genocide Memorial Tournament trophies in men’s and women’s categories respectively at the Kigali Arena that hosted Volleyball games for the very first time.
June 25-27th 2021, the Rwanda Volleyball Federation and its partners organized the annual tournament, GMT to commemorate members of the wider sports community, especially in Volleyball, who lost their lives in the genocide against the Tutsi. Gisagara Volleyball Club in the men’s category and Rwanda Revenue Authority in the women’s category lifted the trophies.
Sunday, June 27, 2021, at Kigali Arena, Gisagara and REG VC came out victorious in the semi-finals and locked horns in the finals. Gisagara eliminated UTB while REG beat the 2020 League champions, APR VC to advanced to the much anticipated final in the magnificent Kigali Arena.
Gisagara District-sponsored club, Gisagara VC won the battle after beating REG VC 3-1 (22-25, 25-15, 25-21, 25-22).
In the women’s category, Rwanda Revenue Authority, RRA VC won the tournament by defeating APR in the final. Kenya’s Nairobi Water emerged third.
Apart from trophies, each team, Gisagara, and RRA, winners in both categories pocketed Rwf 2 million each as prize money, the first runners up, REG and APR each won Rwf 1 million while the 2nd runners up, UTB’s men’s team and Nairobi Water were awarded five hundred thousand Rwandan Francs each.
This amount of prize money is unprecedented and is a clear indicator of the positive intentions of the new committee plus will be a proper motivation for more clubs to engage in Rwanda volleyball.
Next weekend, a Liberation Day Tournament is on the agenda.
