{"id":39507,"date":"2023-04-10T17:13:52","date_gmt":"2023-04-10T17:13:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/all-news\/karekezi-calls-for-athletes-participation-in-commemoration"},"modified":"2023-04-10T17:31:30","modified_gmt":"2023-04-10T17:31:30","slug":"karekezi-calls-for-athletes-participation-in-commemoration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/karekezi-calls-for-athletes-participation-in-commemoration","title":{"rendered":"Karekezi calls for athletes’ participation in commemoration"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Rwanda. <\/strong><\/span>Former Amavubi captain Olivier Fils Karekezi has called on the sports fraternity to participate in commemoration activities and stay close to genocide survivors of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, especially during the commemoration period.<\/p>\n

As the sports fraternity joins the rest of the country to mark the 29st anniversary of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, all sports events have been put on hold. Only professional clubs can train without supporters, according to the ministry of sports.<\/p>\n

While Rwanda remembers over a million Tutsi killed during the 1994 Genocide, Karekezi, also a Genocide survivor, is convinced that commemoration is the right time to comfort survivors who lost their loved ones during the Genocide in such a tough period.<\/p>\n

ALSO READ<\/b>: How playing football saved Olivier Karekezi\u2019s life<\/p>\n

Explaining why the sports fraternity should play their part in commemoration, Karekezi said, \u201cas sportsmen and women, we need to be part of the whole commemoration event to help heal those who survived.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSports have played a key role to change the lives of Rwandans and reunite people so we need to keep the same pace,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

During the commemoration week, public lectures and meetings are being conducted at village level and any form of sports and entertainment have been put on a pause.<\/p>\n

Athletes across the country are encouraged to attend commemoration programmes that are being held at the grassroots level.<\/p>\n

According to Karekezi, sportsmen and women in all parts of the country must lead by example and be part of commemoration activities that will be held at the grassroots level.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet us commemorate the Genocide perpetrated against the Tutsi by developing our country and ourselves and helping those who need help, particularly the survivors,\u201d he emphasized.<\/p>\n

Karekezi announced retirement from international football a decade ago. He scored 25 international goals in 53 appearances for Rwanda.<\/p>\n

The 39-year-old has for the past two decades found joy in football which, he says, saved him from the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.<\/p>\n

However, the emotional wounds are still fresh for the veteran who says he still gets in his head, bad memories of his mother (Adele Kayirangwa) and two elder brothers (Aimable Ryamugema and Eric Gatera) being killed by the Interahamwe.<\/p>\n

One of successful athletes that Rwanda has ever produced, Karekezi was part of the Amavubi team that featured in the 2004 Africa Nations Cup finals in Tunisia \u2013 the country\u2019s most successful football team to date, and the only time Rwanda has participated in the continental showpiece.<\/p>\n

At club level, the former football talisman played for Rwanda\u2019s APR since 1998 where he left in 2005 to start a professional career with Swedish side Helsingborg. He spent three seasons at the club before joining Norwegian topflight league side Hamarkameratene.<\/p>\n

He also played for Swedish second division club O\u0308sters IF on a two-year deal and Tunisian Ligue Professionnelle 1 club CA Bizertin and later Swedish side Trelleborgs.<\/p>\n

After securing his UEFA Pro License A, Karekezi launched his coaching career and has coached Rwanda\u2019s top flight teams like Rayon Sports and Kiyovu SC.<\/p>\n

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

Africa-Press – Rwanda. Former Amavubi captain Olivier Fils Karekezi has called on the sports fraternity to participate in commemoration activities and stay close to genocide survivors of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, especially during the commemoration period. As the sports fraternity joins the rest of the country to mark the 29st anniversary of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":39505,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,18],"tags":[760,763,758],"class_list":["post-39507","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-sport","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-rwanda","tag-rwanda"],"yoast_head":"\nKarekezi calls for athletes' participation in commemoration - Rwanda<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Former Amavubi captain Olivier Fils Karekezi has called on the sports fraternity to participate in commemoration activit ...\" \/>\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\/karekezi-calls-for-athletes-participation-in-commemoration\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Karekezi calls for athletes' participation in commemoration\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Former Amavubi captain Olivier Fils Karekezi has called on the sports fraternity to participate in commemoration activit ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/karekezi-calls-for-athletes-participation-in-commemoration\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Rwanda\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-04-10T17:13:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-04-10T17:31:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2023\/04\/postQueueImg_1681130636.65.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=\"3 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\/karekezi-calls-for-athletes-participation-in-commemoration#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/karekezi-calls-for-athletes-participation-in-commemoration\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Karekezi calls for athletes’ participation in commemoration\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-04-10T17:13:52+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-04-10T17:31:30+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/karekezi-calls-for-athletes-participation-in-commemoration\"},\"wordCount\":522,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/karekezi-calls-for-athletes-participation-in-commemoration#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2023\/04\/postQueueImg_1681130636.65.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Rwanda\",\"Rwanda\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"Sport\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/karekezi-calls-for-athletes-participation-in-commemoration#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/karekezi-calls-for-athletes-participation-in-commemoration\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/karekezi-calls-for-athletes-participation-in-commemoration\",\"name\":\"Karekezi calls for athletes' participation in commemoration - Rwanda\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/karekezi-calls-for-athletes-participation-in-commemoration#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/karekezi-calls-for-athletes-participation-in-commemoration#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2023\/04\/postQueueImg_1681130636.65.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-04-10T17:13:52+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-04-10T17:31:30+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"description\":\"Former Amavubi captain Olivier Fils Karekezi has called on the sports fraternity to participate in commemoration activit ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/karekezi-calls-for-athletes-participation-in-commemoration#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/karekezi-calls-for-athletes-participation-in-commemoration\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/karekezi-calls-for-athletes-participation-in-commemoration#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2023\/04\/postQueueImg_1681130636.65.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2023\/04\/postQueueImg_1681130636.65.jpg\",\"width\":1000,\"height\":666,\"caption\":\"Karekezi calls for athletes' participation in commemoration\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/karekezi-calls-for-athletes-participation-in-commemoration#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Karekezi calls for athletes’ participation in commemoration\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/\",\"name\":\"Rwanda\",\"description\":\"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Karekezi calls for athletes' participation in commemoration - Rwanda","description":"Former Amavubi captain Olivier Fils Karekezi has called on the sports fraternity to participate in commemoration activit ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/karekezi-calls-for-athletes-participation-in-commemoration","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Karekezi calls for athletes' participation in commemoration","og_description":"Former Amavubi captain Olivier Fils Karekezi has called on the sports fraternity to participate in commemoration activit ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/karekezi-calls-for-athletes-participation-in-commemoration","og_site_name":"Rwanda","article_published_time":"2023-04-10T17:13:52+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-04-10T17:31:30+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1000,"height":666,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2023\/04\/postQueueImg_1681130636.65.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/karekezi-calls-for-athletes-participation-in-commemoration#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/karekezi-calls-for-athletes-participation-in-commemoration"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"Karekezi calls for athletes’ participation in commemoration","datePublished":"2023-04-10T17:13:52+00:00","dateModified":"2023-04-10T17:31:30+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/karekezi-calls-for-athletes-participation-in-commemoration"},"wordCount":522,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/karekezi-calls-for-athletes-participation-in-commemoration#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2023\/04\/postQueueImg_1681130636.65.jpg","keywords":["Africa Press","Africa Press-Rwanda","Rwanda"],"articleSection":["all news","Sport"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/karekezi-calls-for-athletes-participation-in-commemoration#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/karekezi-calls-for-athletes-participation-in-commemoration","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/karekezi-calls-for-athletes-participation-in-commemoration","name":"Karekezi calls for athletes' participation in commemoration - Rwanda","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/karekezi-calls-for-athletes-participation-in-commemoration#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/karekezi-calls-for-athletes-participation-in-commemoration#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2023\/04\/postQueueImg_1681130636.65.jpg","datePublished":"2023-04-10T17:13:52+00:00","dateModified":"2023-04-10T17:31:30+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"description":"Former Amavubi captain Olivier Fils Karekezi has called on the sports fraternity to participate in commemoration activit ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/karekezi-calls-for-athletes-participation-in-commemoration#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/karekezi-calls-for-athletes-participation-in-commemoration"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/karekezi-calls-for-athletes-participation-in-commemoration#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2023\/04\/postQueueImg_1681130636.65.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2023\/04\/postQueueImg_1681130636.65.jpg","width":1000,"height":666,"caption":"Karekezi calls for athletes' participation in commemoration"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/karekezi-calls-for-athletes-participation-in-commemoration#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Karekezi calls for athletes’ participation in commemoration"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/","name":"Rwanda","description":"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb","name":"cfeditoren"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39507","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39507"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39507\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39505"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39507"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39507"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39507"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}