Latest News Prison leave for Sudan ahead of Kagame cup tourney
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Jun 28, 2009 - 11:31:22 PM
Prison leave for Sudan ahead of Kagame cup tourney
By Mussa Mkama
Tanzania Prisons departed to Khartoum, Sudan yesterday ready for the Kagame Cup Championship, which kicks off tomorrow.
Prisons' official Aziza Mursaly and team?s captain Ismail Suleiman expressed their confidence to win the coveted trophy.
"We are going to participate with one intention of winning it?we?re not underdogs as some people might think," Suleiman said.
Simba Sports Club was the last Tanzanian team to lift up the trophy seven years ago.
Tanzania Football Federation (TFF) picked Prisons to represent the country after the Council of East and Central African Football Associations (Cecafa) suspended Young Africans.
The Jangwani Street giants got the suspension after declining to field their squad to take on Simba in the third place playoff match of the previous championship.
Prisons will start their title hunt by playing Benadir Telecom of Somalia on Wednesday while Miembeni of Zanzibar will entertain Burundi's Inter Stars.
The tournament was initially scheduled for Uganda, but was shifted to Khartoum and Port Sudan because the host country had no money.
Cecafa secretary general Nicholaus Musonye said Prisons were in Pool B together with TP Mazembe of DR Congo, Uganda?s KCC and Benedir.
Miembeni are in Pool C together with Inter Stars (Burundi) Hey El- Arab (Sudan) and the defending champions Tusker FC of Kenya.
Group A has Atraco (Rwanda), Mathare United (Kenya), Kartileh Djibsat (Djibouti) and the host El- Merreikh.
Musonye said preparations for the regional tournament were complete, saying this year's edition would be tougher and enthralling following the inclusion of TP Mazembe.
TP Mazembe boast of several players who featured for the Congolese national team, which clinched the inaugural African Nations Championships (CHAN) in Cote d?Ivoire.
The event would see the champions pocketing Sh 65 million while second and third placed teams will earn Sh40 million and 25 million respectively