One of the key elements that appear in a recent Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed on December 24, between Rwanda National Olympics Committee and Japan’s University of Tsukuba is the establishment of an East Africa Sports Academy.

The agreement seeks to deepen cooperation between RNOSC and the Japanese university in the areas of exchange programs and training of athletes and coaches among others.

If established, the academy would see Rwanda become a regional hub for sports development.

According to the office of the Olympic Committee, the Academy is expected to provide professional courses related to coaching, Olympic values and anti-doping among other Olympic courses.

The Japanese University will, according to the MoU, provide financial support to RNOSC to establish the academy while the university’s sports lecturers will also be coming to share sport science-related skills to sports professionals at the academy. Valens Munyabagisha, the president of Rwanda’s Olympic Committee, told Times Sport that the establishment of the academy will provide courses to not only Rwandans but different sports professionals from across the region.

“This is going to be a regional sports development hub whose courses are expected to attract sports professionals from the region. This sports academy is connected to MoUs that the university had previously signed with Uganda and Tanzania’s Olympic committees,” He said in an interview. “Sport is an ecosystem where you need to have specialists in all departments. We, therefore, look forward to sharing skills in sports development and producing sports professionals who can have an impact in different departments,” he added.

The current MoU, he said, will run until 2024 but could be renewed for another four years depending on the progress of the cooperation between the two parties. It is yet to be announced when the East African Sports Academy will start operating but Munyabagisha revealed that his office is preparing to present a proposal to the Ministry of Sports about the project implementation roadmap.

Meanwhile, The University of Tsukuba will also soon start giving scholarships to Rwandan athletes and sports professionals to study there, as per the MoU, to equip them with advanced courses in sports administration, sports medicine and nutrition in sports.

The Japanese University’s lecturers will also start sharing skills with the University of Rwanda’s students on how to carry out research in Sports.

“One of the key factors that we don’t look at when Rwanda’s performances in different disciplines are not impressive is the lack of research on those sports. If some of our sports are not performing well, there should be a reason behind and research should respond to that. We need people who are capable of conducting research on our sport and highlight the strengths and weaknesses of each discipline,” Munyabagisha explained.

Rwanda and Japan have a long-standing cooperation in sports. In 2018, another agreement was signed between RNOSC and the Japanese City of Hachimantai to host a training camp for the Rwandan Olympic athletes ahead of the Tokyo Olympic Games.