Remember – Unite – Renew

The Kiwibuka tournament is with us once again when eight teams compete for the trophy in Kigali, Rwanda, starting June 9th. This will be the eight edition of the event which started in 2014 run by Rwanda Cricket.

There is a key message, “remember, unite, renew” and is a memorial tournament in remembrance of the victims of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi people.

Part of Rwanda Cricket’s mission is building a united nation, promotion of peace and playing a part in women empowerment through cricket.

The tournament has come a long way since 2014 when the only participants were Rwanda and Uganda. Kwibuka since has attracted African countries over the years including Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Nigeria, Botswana, Namibia and Mali.

This year is the biggest event to date with eight teams participating and includes for the first time, teams from outside of Africa. Brazil and Germany will join six African nations: Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Nigeria, Botswana and the home team, Rwanda.

Rwanda skipper Diane Bimenyimana is keen for the home team to win the tournament for the first time.

“We were on the third place last Kwibuka, we have reflected back and worked on our strategies that we are going to put forward in this tournament. This year we are coming with a different approach on our game, the preparations we had have been good enough to see us getting positive results.”

The tournament will be played at two venues over ten days at the Gahanga cricket stadium and IPRC cricket oval. All teams will face each other in round robin fashion before playing the finals.

There will be attendance of cricketers under the age of 13 watching the games over the weekends and they will be coached in between the matches. This will inspire the next generation of cricketers to dream becoming international cricketers.

Past winners:

• 2014: Uganda
• 2015: Kenya
• 2016: Uganda
• 2017: Kenya
• 2018: Uganda
• 2019: Tanzania
• 2021: Kenya

“We are well prepared in all departments, we will play each and every game as our last game.  Last Kwibuka we didn’t perform well and we weren’t happy with the results,  we are all ready to compete with all the teams and we feel it’s our time to show what we have.” – Diane