Basketball in Africa

By Ostine Arinaitwe

RWANDA’s basketball body, Ferwaba, has embarked on preparations to host the 2010 Afro-basketball U-18 Kagame Cup from October 8 -17 at Amahoro indoor stadium.

Twelve teams from the continent will grace the biannual event that has received huge sponsorship from President Paul Kagame.

The teams in question include defending champions Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia, Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Mali, Angola, Zimbabwe, Gabon, Congo Brazzaville and hosts Rwanda.

In an effort to put up a good display, Rwanda’s U-18 side recently travelled to USA for a two-week training camp in San Diego and Los Angeles.
The team wrapped up the camp with a couple of friendly games against select sides.

Although Coach Paris Nelson who was brought on board to try and transform the team seems happy with the progress, he is concerned about the team’s training schedule.
“Some of the players on the team are students so we are trying to work out ways of incorporating them in our daily sessions without necessarily interfering with their school schedule,” the American said.

Nelson is closely working with two local coaches; Cyrille Cyrille and Moise Mutokambili