Rwanda has qualified for the 2022 FIBA U18 African Championship after an impressive display in Zone V preliminaries, securing the country’s fifth appearance at the Under 18 continental showcase since 2010.
Rwanda, led by coach Yves Murenzi, has qualified after securing first place in FIBA African U-18 Zone 5 Preliminaries following yet another convincing win on the 4th day of the tournament, again by beating the home team Uganda, 72-59.
Brian Wathum’s boys kept things closed in the first and second periods (15-15, 18-18) before Rwanda took control to lead the rest of the game. The latter, through Dick Sano, an NBA Africa Academy product dominated Uganda and outscored them 16-9, 23-17 in the last two quarters not only to finish the game-high but also book a ticket to this year’s FIBA U-18 African Championship.
Uganda hosted this edition of the 2022 FIBA Africa U-18 Zone 5 Preliminaries for men and women and only three teams in Uganda, Rwanda, and Tanzania are taking part in these qualifiers
Each team has to face others twice. with one game left, Rwanda tops the rankings with a 3-0 WL record. They beat Tanzania in the opener, and Uganda twice. The junior silverbacks of Uganda follow with one win and two losses record while Tanzania is yet to record a victory in the games taking place at Lugogo indoor stadium.
In the women’s category, the Rwanda under-18 girls’ team did not perform well as they lost all 3 matches. In the match on Thursday, June 16, 2022, they lost to Tanzania 86-79 in a hard-fought game as they played a second overtime.
The 2022 FIBA Under 18 African Championship is scheduled to take place in Antananarivo, Madagascar between July 23 and August 1, 2022
