The Rwanda national Handball team is set to participate in the African Men’s Handball Championship slated for January 13 – 23, 2022 in Morocco, after being awarded a ticket to represent the Zone 5, Pressbox has learnt.
Rwanda was given the ticket following impressive performances in recent years, namely: winning the Juniors Africa Zone 5 IHF Trophy two times in a row, 2016 and 2018; and representing the Zone 5 at Continental Final Phase 2017 in Senegal and 2018 in Kigali.
The news about this first but not last expected participation was affirmed on Tuesday morning, October 12, 2021, by the Local Handball body via its twitter account.
The team will obviously need support from different stakeholders of the game, to make sure players are well prepared for the competition.
Speaking to local news paper, Impamba, Theogene Utabarutse, President of the Rwanda Handball Federation (FERWAHAND) said: “What we are asking the Ministry of Sports to do is to help the players prepare well so that they will be in good condition in time, without any problems. The Rwanda National Olympic and Sports Committee, as well, should take part as much as possible; because this is the first time the team will be competing at such a level. So, we need support from all institutions, stakeholders in sports to take part, thus we make sure the team is well prepared.”
Utabarutse calls on players to continue training with discipline and keep respecting COVID-19 preventive measures so that they maintain their good performance standard.
Each of the 15 countries to participate in the competition was given a deadline of November 13, 2021 to have fulfilled the requirements which include the submission of service passport copies of the delegation. The failure to meet the deadline will result in a fine of €500.
The 2022 African Men’s Handball Championship will be the 25th edition of the African Men’s Handball Championship, and will act as the African qualifying tournament for the 2023 World Men’s Handball Championship in Poland and Sweden.
