Kigali hosts historic first road world cycling championships in Africa • FRANCE 24 English

The Rwandan capital Kigali will from Sunday host some of the biggest names in cycling, including the men’s and women’s Tour de France winners, for the first staging in Africa of the UCI road world championships. Will Mbiakop, Executive Chairman of the African Sports & Creative Institute, joins us for more.
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Well, hosting the cycling world championships is the latest move by Rwanda to use sports to boost its image internationally. But some accuse the country of sports washing, pointing to what they say is Paul Kagame’s authoritarian leadership, as well as the country’s role in the ongoing war in neighboring DRC. For some insight, we can bring in Willakup, executive chairman of the African Sports and Creative Institute. He joins us via video from South Africa. Good morning. Thank you so much for taking the time to speak with us. Good morning. Thanks for having me. First, just how significant is it for Rwanda to be hosting this event? It’s unbelievable. You know, I always say there’s never been a better time to invest in Africa’s sports industry and today is another testament of it. You know, they obviously it’s history in the making. The first time ever Africa is hosting the world the world road cycling championship, but this be beyond that, you know, we have to understand that it’s also a business play. You know the UCI president first of all is one of the top right holders in the world and by granting the right to Africa to host it. It’s also a way to say that yes we can do it and Africa can host major event. Number two they also understand that it’s a fan engagement play. So basically you’re trying to make your sports more popular. You you’re trying to recruit new fans. You understand that Africa is a 1.4 4 billion people market. So you understand that investment is the right place for Africa and Africa sports industry is the right place to invest. And what are some of the other ways that Rwanda is involved with professional sports because this isn’t the kind of the first thing that they’re involved with? Oh, absolutely. You know, I think Rwanda understand the power of sports. They’ve been doing that for so many years. I think two decades now. If you recall back in the days, we saw for the first time the visit to Ronda campaign led by RDB, Ronda development board and we saw visit Ronda logo in major football team around the world. I’m thinking of Arsenal in the UK. I’m thinking of Paris Sanjama in France and most recently we saw Bayern Munich in Germany. So I think uh Ronda leadership do understand how powerful sports is. It’s a great vehicle for nation branding. Obviously, sports diplomacy as well. As you rightfully said earlier, UCI is the world championship. You have to develop uh diplomatic relationship with countries around the world. And as you said, this does, you know, come with a lot of business opportunities for Rwanda. But President Paul Kagame has also been accused of trying to sportswash his image. What do you make of those accusations? Yeah, I think you know a lot of organization worldwide have been talking about it. I’m thinking most recently of the human right watch. Um they did point out that hosting those major event is also a way to deter attention from the atrocities happening right now in East Congo. So that’s what leadership and um uh international opinion are reporting rightfully. A Belgian journalist has also said that he was denied entry to Rwanda to report on the event because he believes it’s because he’s reported critically on Rwanda in the past. Do you think that u there’s going to be much criticism of Rwanda as a host country? I I I think that there’ll be more and more sports events going to Africa. Overall, Rwanda is a premier destination to do so and you know I think right holders are looking at that. They’re also more and more mindful of the beyond the business side of any partnerships. I think you’ve seen recently that by your mentioners redefine the magnitude and the scope of the partnership with visit Wanda where now they’re focusing more onto youth development. But what we also see is that across the continent with the DRC for instance and the heart of Africa campaign those partnership that you may have seen with as Monaco uh Milan Milano in As Milano in um in Italy and most recently the $40 million partnership with FC Barcelona. So more and more people understand that they do need to put effort on the political side of it, but they also need to to embrace sports as a fantastic vehicle for nation branding, sports diplomacy, and tourism promotion. So it sounds like for now, you know, despite the criticism from human rights groups that you were saying is legitimate, that’s not impacting Rwanda’s ability to to get involved with hosting sporting events. I don’t think he does because the the event is going on today, right? I do want to talk about the event itself. Uh do you think that Slovenian cyclist and defending champion Tade Pogar is sure to win or is there anyone out there who can beat him? Oh wow. There there’s so many, you know, it’s one of the most open uh uh open championship ever. You know, the the uh the the the competition is most anticipated obviously uh very challenging. I think we mentioned earlier 1,500 meters high. The altitude, the hills, it’s wide open. You you mentioned him, you mentioned Aramo. I think we should mention Arco. We we want to think of the uh the Africans as well, right? Iritan with Bime. I’m thinking of Mauritius as well with Kim. So there there’s so many teams out there who can perform. We have to mention Australia as well, Denmark and so on and so forth. But to be honest, it’s wide open. I think everybody’s super excited about it and we’re looking forward to a great championship. Yeah, what you said, Kim Lour of Maitius, she’s one of the front runners, I believe, on the women’s side from Africa, as well as Binam Binam Germay, who’s who’s one of the strongest. He’s from Eratraa, one of the strongest on the men’s side. I’ve heard though that this this race is not going to be ideal for him though because it’s so hilly and he’s more of a sprinter. Yeah, you you’re absolutely right. But remember, it’s a team play, right? It’s a team play. So I I I think has some chances. Obviously, we need to look at Morocco. I think Morocco is doing a doing pretty well as well. I think Algeria, South Africa, obviously South Africa will probably play a major role on those those championships. So again, it’s it’s wide open, a lot of competition, and again, a lot of excitement around the those championships. All right. Well, we’ll be following it all here on France 24. Thank you again so much Will and Bakup for giving us your insight today.