African Sports Monthly International Women's Day Special Edition | Page 14

“The people who worked in the hotels, on the streets and in the stadium, the young kids who came to watch us train, the fans that flocked to the stadium; … in fact I am looking to coming back,” observed Oliseh. The President of the Zambia Football Association (FAZ) who is also an Executive Committee Member of CAF described the level of organization of the 2016 tournament by Rwanda as top notch and he especially singled out the excellent performance of the host team Amavubi. The Rwandan soccer team were able to reach the quarter finals of the tournament and were eventually booted out by DR Congo 2-1 in a game that ended in extra time. “The great performance by Rwanda Amavubi was the icing on the cake. To be sincere Rwanda has elevated CHAN to the same level as the AFCON and it was a wonderful experience each day of the competition,” he told Supersport.com. Following the successful hosting of 2016 CHAN, and previously CAF Africa Under-20 Youth Championship this tiny Great Lakes nation has demonstrated its ability to host large sporting events and is now set to tackle a future Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) tournament. Rwanda’s Sports Minister, Julienne Uwacu,is on the record to have observed that the successful hosting of the CHAN tournament would change the mindset of the people who viewed things negatively. The Beautiful City of Kigali (Photo Credit: www.skyscrapercity.com) “CHAN will hopefully help change the perception from the usually pessimistic ones to a more positive version,” She said.