Emma Nsekanabo
14 March 2005
Kigali — The Rwanda Amateur Athletics Federation (RAAF) might land a lucrative deal from a leading sports kit manufacturing firm, Puma, according to RAAF technical director Emmanuel Murenzi.
Murenzi said that the Germany based firm would confirm the deal after the World Cross Country Championship, where Rwanda will be represented by five male and five female athletes on March 19th in France.
The hopes for a successful deal are entirely pinned on Rwanda's performance at the March 19th event, according to the official.
"They (sponsors) said that they would seal the sponsorship basing on our team's performance in the world championship. We hope everything goes well in France because landing sponsorship will be a significant way forward for athletics in the country," added the official.
The deal - if successful - would mean that RAAF would be relieved from purchasing sports kits for national teams.
"The deal would be very important in that we (RAAF) would be lightened from purchasing kits, which have been straining our confers. Therefore, the money saved would be allotted to other development programmes," he added.
Murenzi said that the deal was unearthed when RAAF president was placing an order for sports kits from Puma, who said that there would be the possibility of striking a deal exempting RAAF from spraining their financial muscle in purchases.
While the worthwhile deal is still lying in anticipation, Puma-Germany has pledged to provide all the required kits for the team due to participate in the Paris world cross country championship this month.
The national team, currently in residential training in Kigali and Ruhengeri, is due to leave for Paris March 16th two days before the event.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2005 The New Times. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
