Rwanda secure first World Champs win

Rwanda's Aimable Mutuyimana (right) spikes against Venezuela's block on Thursday

Rwanda’s Aimable Mutuyimana (right) spikes against Venezuela’s block on Thursday

Classification 17-20
Yesterday

Rwanda     3-2      Venezuela
Morocco      2-3      Estonia
Today
Estonia      vs      Rwanda
Morocco       vs      Venezuela
Saturday
Rwanda      vs      Morocco

A HIGHLY spirited Rwanda team secured their first victory in the FIVB Men’s U21 World Championships after overcoming Venezuela in an exciting five-set match lasting 2 hours yesterday at Ataturk Hall in Izmir, Turkey. The teams are vying for the best  slot under category of  the available 17th to 20th positions.

Paul Bitok’s team defeated their South American opponents 3-2 (27-25, 23-25, 18-25, 25-21, 17-15) in a game which debutants Rwanda showed much hunger to win.

Captain Aimable Mutuyimana led his team to a historic victory with yet another wonderful performance at the tournament, scoring 36 points, which is the first ever for any Rwandan team at the world level.

For Venezuela, Willner Rivas led the scorers with 25 points. With long rallies from both teams, Rwanda succeeded to win the first set 27-25 after great performance from their outside hitter Mutuyimana and setter Bonny Mutabazi.

Both teams again went point by point in the second set until Venezuela had a wider point deficit by the end of the set with more activity from their Willner Rivas and Roberth Abreu.

Venezuela used the disturbed Rwandan reception and backline defence to come over and win the third set  25-18.

Again Rwanda came back in the fourth set with their scoring machine to win the set 25-22 before heading into  the tie break decider.

Venezuela led in the tiebreak till they were 8-6 ahead, when Rwanda came back aggressively to win the set 17-15 and secure the first victory.

Rwanda starts the round robin competition with 2 points to lead the pool along with Estonia, while Venezuela and Morocco each gained one point.

By Bonnie Mugabe,The New Times

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