Rwanda's 3000m steeple chase athlete Gervais Hakizimana is well on track as far as his preparations for next month's Commonwealth Games in Delhi are concerned. The athlete, who is based in France, told Times Sport yesterday that he has intensified his build-up campaign ahead of the Games planned for October 3-14.

"I have been training at Fourome training center (borders Spain) and I'm happy with my progress. I'm going to compete against the world's best so it's very important that I prepare well which I have tried to do," the soft spoken athlete said during a phone interview.

Hakizimana, who will be Rwanda's only representative in the steeple chase category, will battle the likes of Ezekiel Kemboi and Bernard Barmasai from Kenya, Uganda's Benjamin Kiplagat, Mark Rowland of Great Britain, Tanzania's Filbert Bayi, Anatoliy Dimov of Uzebekstan and India's Gopal Saini among others.

Meanwhile, Rwanda has been given a huge boost following the arrival of Jean Baptista Simuceka and Eric Sebahire who recently flew in from their Italy base. Simuceka will compete in 5000m while Sebahire is a 10000m specialist.

The pair is expected to link up with the marathon trio of Dieudonne Disi, Gervais Nizeyimana and Rashid Safari who have been undergoing intensive training in Bugesera for the past three weeks.

Rwanda got the green light to compete in Delhi last year after her integration into the Commonwealth fraternity. Swimming, boxing, table tennis and cycling are some of the other disciplines expected to field athletes.