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Rwanda’s young athletes produced one of their strongest regional performances at the Federation of East Africa Secondary Schools Sports Association (FEASSA) games.
MOROGORO, Tanzania – Rwanda finished the 2026 Federation of East Africa Secondary Schools Sports Association (FEASSA) games with five gold medals, including four team championships and an individual athletics title, as the country’s young athletes produced one of their strongest regional performances.
The final rankings show Rwanda winning trophies in under-15 girls’ football, under-15 boys’ volleyball, under-15 girls’ handball and under-20 boys’ basketball 5×5. The country also collected an individual gold medal in the boys’ 100m through Eric Tuyishime.
The results give a stronger finish to a campaign in which Rwanda sent a 302-member student delegation to Morogoro with teams competing across several sports and age categories.
For the U15 teams, the achievement was particularly notable. Rwanda had six teams in the category, and three of them reached the final and went on to win their respective championships.
Three of the U15 teams reached the final and went on to win their respective championships.
The U15 boys’ handball side added a bronze medal, while the U15 girls’ volleyball team finished fourth.
Luke Karemangingo, President of the Rwanda School Sports Federation, said the results showed that the younger athletes were beginning to combine exposure with the confidence to compete for titles.
“At the beginning, we talked about exposure because that is an important part of these Games. But we also came here prepared to compete. The four gold medals show that our young athletes can learn from the region and at the same time compete with the best,” Karemangingo said.
A Breakthrough for Rwanda’s Basketball
The U20 football side from CGFK won bronze.
The biggest addition to Rwanda’s medal tally came from ITS Kigali, which won the Under-20 Basketball 5×5 championship.
ITS Kigali defeated Uganda’s St Cyprien Lwanga in the final to claim the title, giving Rwanda another team gold beyond the three U15 championships.
The final ranking lists ESB Kamonyi, Rwanda’s other U20 girls’ basketball representative, as runner-up, meaning the country took both gold and silver in the Basketball 5×5 finals.
The under-15 girls’ handball team won the trophy.
For Igor Ishimwe, an S6 Technology student at International Technology School Gasongi who was part of the championship-winning team, the experience was about more than the medal.
“It was my first time playing outside Rwanda, and seeing and learning from players from other countries gave me a very important experience. I believe this is good ground for me to move forward and improve my sports career,” Ishimwe said.
His experience captures one of the less visible gains from the competition. For many of the students, FEASSA offered a chance to measure themselves against athletes they would normally encounter only through regional competitions or international broadcasts.
Medals Beyond the Champions
The under-15 boys’ volleyball team also secured gold.
Rwanda’s final results also show that success was not limited to the teams that won gold.
Six Rwandan teams won bronze medals, including the U20 football side from CGFK, Nyanza TSS in U20 volleyball, ESB Kamonyi in Basketball 3×3, and GS Indangaburezi in U20 volleyball.
The U20 handball teams from GS Tabagwe and Kiziguro SS finished sixth and eighth respectively, while Rwanda’s table tennis teams also recorded podium and top-four finishes.
Tuyishime’s victory in the 100m, adding another individual highlight, came alongside Rwanda’s strong team performances and helped give the delegation a broad medal haul across team and individual events.
Tuyishime’s victory in the 100m added another individual highlight.
Karemangingo said the value of the results should ultimately be measured beyond the medal table.
“What makes us happy is not only that they have won. These are very young athletes, so the experience they are getting now can shape them for the next five or ten years. They are beginning to understand what it means to compete outside Rwanda and to believe that they belong at this level,” he said.
Rwanda’s five gold medals therefore tell only part of the story from Morogoro. The wider result is a group of young athletes returning home with medals, stronger competition experience and a clearer sense of what may be possible beyond Rwanda.
The under-15 girls’ football team won gold.
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