{"id":6388,"date":"2021-12-13T17:53:50","date_gmt":"2021-12-13T17:53:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/all-news\/2021-a-year-when-rwanda-became-africas-sports-events-hub"},"modified":"2021-12-13T18:15:55","modified_gmt":"2021-12-13T18:15:55","slug":"2021-a-year-when-rwanda-became-africas-sports-events-hub","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/2021-a-year-when-rwanda-became-africas-sports-events-hub","title":{"rendered":"2021: A year when Rwanda became Africa\u2019s sports events hub"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Rwanda. <\/strong><\/span>DESPITE<\/b><\/p>\n

the inconveniences caused by Covid-19 across the world, Rwanda, in 2021, positioned itself as one of Africa\u2019s major destinations for sports events. The country\u2019s efforts to improve its sports facilities, coupled with a reputation for Covid-secure events among other factors like cleanliness and safety saw it attract big continental tournaments. Times Sport brings you a recap of the top 7 sports competitions that the country hosted.<\/p>\n

The Basketball Africa League (BAL)<\/b><\/p>\n

In May, history was made as Rwanda hosted the inaugural season of the BAL, an elite continental club championship affiliated to the USA\u2019s National Basketball Association (NBA). Held at the Kigali Arena, the competition saw 12 clubs from 12 different African countries taking part.<\/p>\n

Besides bringing a number of celebrities like former NBA players Dikembe Mutombo and Joakim Noah, the showpiece was characterised by a number of unforgettable experiences including Patriots Basketball Club\u2019s great performances that saw them reach the semi-finals.<\/p>\n

Sports investors like Wesley Roberts Edens, the co-owner of NBA side Milwaukee Bucks, as well as politicians, notably Presidents Paul Kagame and France\u2019s Emmanuel Macron also graced the tournament. After two weeks of action, Egypt\u2019s Zamalek Sporting Club won the title after beating Tunisia\u2019s US Monastir 76-63 during the finals.<\/p>\n

The FIBA Afrobasket 2021<\/b><\/p>\n

Rwanda also hosted the FIBA Afrobasket 2021 tournament, a men\u2019s basketball continental championship for African nations. Looked at as the biggest basketball event for national teams in Africa, the competition tipped off on August 24, at the Kigali Arena and concluded on September 5.<\/p>\n

It attracted 16 teams, ranging from the usual powerhouses like Senegal and Tunisia, to smaller ones like Kenya and Rwanda. Tunisia won the title, and became the first team to win back-to-back Afrobasket titles since Angola in 2009.<\/p>\n

Africa Men\u2019s Volleyball Championship<\/b><\/p>\n

Rwanda became the first country in the East African region to host the Africa men\u2019s volleyball championship. Tunisia defended their title in Kigali after beating Cameroon 3-1 in the finals.<\/p>\n

Africa Women\u2019s Volleyball Championship<\/b><\/p>\n

The continental volleyball championship in the women\u2019s category also took place in Kigali, in September. Nine countries competed in the tournament: Nigeria, Kenya, Cameroon, Morocco, Senegal, Burundi, DR Congo, Tunisia and Rwanda.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, Rwanda was disqualified from the competition after having been found guilty for fielding ineligible players. The International Federation for Volleyball (FIVB) ruled that Rwanda be banned from the competition and previous games forfeited for flouting rules.<\/p>\n

FIBA Women\u2019s Afrobasket Zone 5 Qualifiers<\/b><\/p>\n

Rwanda also hosted the FIBA Women\u2019s Afrobasket Zone 5 qualifiers. During the competition that took place in July, Kenya booked a ticket to the 2021 Women\u2019s Afrobasket finals after beating Egypt 99- 83 in the final.<\/p>\n

The Beach Volleyball World Tour Star 2<\/b><\/p>\n

Still in July, Rwanda hosted the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) Beach Volleyball World Tour Star 2 in Rubavu District. Teams from the United States won the titles in both the men\u2019s and women\u2019s categories. Theo Brunner\/Chaim Schalk triumphed in the men\u2019s category, while Emily Day\/Sara Hughes claimed the trophy in the women\u2019s.<\/p>\n

Rwanda hosts 4 ICC cricket World Cup Africa Qualifiers<\/b><\/p>\n

Rwanda was this year given the hosting rights for the four of the five Africa Regional Qualifying tournaments including the U-19 Men\u2019s Cricket World Cup Africa Qualifier that took place from September 28 to October 7 and the ICC Men\u2019s T20 World Cup Africa Qualifier held from November 15-20.<\/p>\n

All the four tournaments cost ICC over Rwf 900 million which according to tournaments\u2019 coordinator Emmanuel Byiringiro, were spent in accommodating teams, transportation, regular testing of covid-19 for players, team delegates and organisers among others.<\/p>\n

Uganda\u2019s starlets qualified for the 2022 ICC U-19 World Cup in West Indies while the country\u2019s senior team also secured a ticket to the ICC T20 World Cup Global Qualifiers slated in February next year after last weekend\u2019s hard-fought victory over Kenya by six wickets. On top of securing qualification, the Ugandan team also bagged $80 000.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Rwanda has struggled to challenge for a ticket from any of the three qualifying tournaments they participated in, despite hosting the majority of the World Cup Qualifiers including the ICC Women\u2019s T20 World Cup Africa Qualifier held in Namibia from September 7-20, U-19 Men\u2019s Cricket World Cup Africa Qualifier and ICC Men\u2019s T20 Sub Regional World Cup Qualifier Group A, both held in Kigali.<\/p>\n

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

Africa-Press – Rwanda. DESPITE the inconveniences caused by Covid-19 across the world, Rwanda, in 2021, positioned itself as one of Africa\u2019s major destinations for sports events. The country\u2019s efforts to improve its sports facilities, coupled with a reputation for Covid-secure events among other factors like cleanliness and safety saw it attract big continental tournaments. Times […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":6387,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,28,18],"tags":[760,763,758],"class_list":["post-6388","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-homepage-english","category-sport","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-rwanda","tag-rwanda"],"yoast_head":"\n2021: A year when Rwanda became Africa\u2019s sports events hub - Rwanda<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"DESPITE the inconveniences caused by Covid-19 across the world, Rwanda, in 2021, positioned itself as one of Afr ...\" \/>\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\/2021-a-year-when-rwanda-became-africas-sports-events-hub\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"2021: A year when Rwanda became Africa\u2019s sports events hub\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"DESPITE the inconveniences caused by Covid-19 across the world, Rwanda, in 2021, positioned itself as one of Afr ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/2021-a-year-when-rwanda-became-africas-sports-events-hub\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Rwanda\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-12-13T17:53:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-12-13T18:15:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2021\/12\/img-61b78dc6c1edb.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"873\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"491\" \/>\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=\"4 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\/2021-a-year-when-rwanda-became-africas-sports-events-hub#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/2021-a-year-when-rwanda-became-africas-sports-events-hub\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"2021: A year when Rwanda became Africa\u2019s sports events hub\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-12-13T17:53:50+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-12-13T18:15:55+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/2021-a-year-when-rwanda-became-africas-sports-events-hub\"},\"wordCount\":740,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/2021-a-year-when-rwanda-became-africas-sports-events-hub#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2021\/12\/img-61b78dc6c1edb.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Rwanda\",\"Rwanda\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"homepage-english\",\"Sport\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/2021-a-year-when-rwanda-became-africas-sports-events-hub#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/2021-a-year-when-rwanda-became-africas-sports-events-hub\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/2021-a-year-when-rwanda-became-africas-sports-events-hub\",\"name\":\"2021: A year when Rwanda became Africa\u2019s sports events hub - 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