Sunday
Final
Rwanda 2-0 Nigeria
Semi-finals
Rwanda 2-0 Seychelles
Nigeria 2-0 Mauritius
Rwanda women’s beach volleyball team are the champions of Africa after beating Nigeria in the gold medal match at the African Championships that concluded on Sunday in Free Town, Serra Leone to qualify for 2018 Commonwealth Games.
Charlotte Ndayisenga and Denyse Mutatsimpundu, who won gold at the U20 level in 2012, went a step further by claiming the senior continental title after beating the 2015 All African Games gold medalists in straight sets 2-0.
Rwanda will be Africa’s sole representative at next April’s Commonwealth Games in Australia.
In the round robin system matches played on Friday, Rwanda beat hosts Sierra Leone 2-0 in opening game and went on to defeat Seychelles 2-0, Mauritius 2-0 before overcoming Nigeria 2-0 on Saturday.
In the semi-finals, Rwanda beat Seychelles 2-0 while Nigeria conquered Seychelles 2-0—the two teams advances to the title match, which Rwanda won 2-0.
Mutatsimpundu and Nzayisenga won gold medal at the 2017 CAVB Beach Volleyball Cup in Maputo, Mozambique in May, which qualified them to the World Championships that was staged in Vienna, Austria in August where they unfortunately lost all their games.
In 2012, the duo, playing at the junior level, won gold at the Africa Championships in Togo but failed to participate in the World Championships in Canada after the hosts denied the Rwandan team entry visas.
Source: The New Times.