{"id":105379,"date":"2025-07-14T17:15:58","date_gmt":"2025-07-14T17:15:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/all-news\/defence-minister-challenges-apr-to-dare-for-more"},"modified":"2025-07-14T17:32:08","modified_gmt":"2025-07-14T17:32:08","slug":"defence-minister-challenges-apr-to-dare-for-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/defence-minister-challenges-apr-to-dare-for-more","title":{"rendered":"Defence Minister Challenges APR to Dare for More"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Rwanda. <\/strong><\/span>Minister of Defence Juvenal Marizamunda has commended APR Basketball Club for an impressive season at the domestic and continental competitions and tasked them to challenge themselves and achieve much better results.<\/p>\n

He was speaking at the club\u2019s reception ceremony held at the Ministry of Defence and RDF headquarters in Kimihurura on Sunday, July 13, celebrating the club\u2019s APR Basketball Club’s recent achievements, including a third-place finish at the 2025 Basketball Africa League (BAL) and the national basketball championship.<\/p>\n

APR made headlines at BAL 2025 by setting a tournament scoring record of 123 points in a single game against Egypt\u2019s Al Ittihad (123\u201390). The club also clinched the 2025 Rwanda Basketball League title after beating REG 81-72 in Game 5 of the finals, winning the series 4-1. It marked a record-extending 16th league title since the team was founded in 1995.<\/p>\n

Speaking at the reception which brought together club\u2019s players, staff, and FERWABA officials, Marizamunda praised the team’s progress on the continental stage.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis shows the team is moving in the right direction,\u201d he said. \u201cYou\u2019ve carried your responsibilities well and shown a competitive spirit that inspires many young Rwandans,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He urged players, supporters, and management to maintain the teamwork and discipline that fueled their recent success.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce you reach this level, there\u2019s no going back,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

With a third-place finish at BAL, APR set the bar high by becoming only Rwandan team to achieve the feat, which made club president Richard Murefu proud after a below-standard debut season at the competition in the earlier season where they failed to make the playoffs.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou brought joy to Rwandans.\u201d<\/p>\n

On a personal note, he highlighted another key achievement: APR center Aliou Diarra being selected first overall in the 2025 NBA G League International Draft by the Texas Legends.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Rwanda<\/span> Follow Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Rwanda. Minister of Defence Juvenal Marizamunda has commended APR Basketball Club for an impressive season at the domestic and continental competitions and tasked them to challenge themselves and achieve much better results. He was speaking at the club\u2019s reception ceremony held at the Ministry of Defence and RDF headquarters in Kimihurura on Sunday, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":105377,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,18],"tags":[1864,3502,7611,758],"class_list":["post-105379","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-sport","tag-apr","tag-bal","tag-juvenal-marizaminda","tag-rwanda"],"yoast_head":"\nDefence Minister Challenges APR to Dare for More - Rwanda<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Minister of Defence Juvenal Marizamunda has commended APR Basketball Club for an impressive season at the domestic and c ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/defence-minister-challenges-apr-to-dare-for-more\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Defence Minister Challenges APR to Dare for More\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Minister of Defence Juvenal Marizamunda has commended APR Basketball Club for an impressive season at the domestic and c ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/defence-minister-challenges-apr-to-dare-for-more\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Rwanda\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-07-14T17:15:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-07-14T17:32:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2025\/07\/sm_1752501465.936637.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"666\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/defence-minister-challenges-apr-to-dare-for-more#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/defence-minister-challenges-apr-to-dare-for-more\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Defence Minister Challenges APR to Dare for More\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-07-14T17:15:58+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-07-14T17:32:08+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/defence-minister-challenges-apr-to-dare-for-more\"},\"wordCount\":318,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/defence-minister-challenges-apr-to-dare-for-more#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2025\/07\/sm_1752501465.936637.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"APR\",\"BAL\",\"Juvenal Marizaminda\",\"Rwanda\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"Sport\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/defence-minister-challenges-apr-to-dare-for-more#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/defence-minister-challenges-apr-to-dare-for-more\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/defence-minister-challenges-apr-to-dare-for-more\",\"name\":\"Defence Minister Challenges APR to Dare for More - 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