Rwanda Youth Beach Volleyball and Tennis teams yesterday headed to Nassau, in the Bahamas ahead of the sixth edition of the Commonwealth Youth Games that will be held on July 19-23.
The beach volleyball pair of Penelope Musabyimana and Valentine Munezero, led by coach Christophe Mudahinyuka, have been in residential camp at Golden Tulip Hotel for the last one month.
“We are heading to the tournament with the purpose of doing well. We need to play attractive beach volleyball and we need to finish on top five, but if we can go all way and win a medal, that would be even excellent and memorable,” Mudahinyuka said.
The Commonwealth Youth Games are held every four years and age limitation of the athletes is 14 to 18 years. Rwanda will also be represented by Ernest Habiyambere in tennis. Rwanda’s number one tennis player, Habiyambere will be coached by Sylvain Rutikanga.
The delegation will be led by Jean de Dieu Mukundiyukuri, who is the Chef de Mission, while Hermine E’germa will be in charge for the girls.
These games are expected to bring together 1,000 athletes from 71 commonwealth countries.
The athletes will fall between the ages of 14 to 18 competing in nine disciplines including athletics, swimming, rugby, cycling, judo, boxing, tennis, beach volleyball and beach soccer.
It will be Rwanda’s first appearance at the youth event since joining Commonwealth in 2009, despite being regular participants in the Commonwealth Games (for seniors) since 2010.