Rwanda’s star tennis player Ernest Habiyambere failed to go beyond the second round after losing to Mathew Stubbings, from Papua New Guinea, 2-0 (6-2, 6-3) at the ongoing Commonwealth Youth Games on Thursday.

The 18-year-old had earlier beaten Emmanuel Nyan Plange from Ghana 2-0 (7-6, 6-4) in the first round at the quadrennial Games which started on July 19 and will climax on Sunday at Nassau, the Bahamas.

Rwanda is appearing for the first time at the prestigious event that has attracted up to 1300 athletes aged 14-18 from 70 nations and territories.

Meanwhile, the beach volleyball pair of Penelope Musabyimana and valentine Munezero made history by storming the semi-finals where they were due to face Australia on Friday but by press time, the match had not been played. The other semi-finalists were Australia, New Zealand and Scotland.

The Rwandan duo, under the guidance of Christopher Mudahunyuka, reached the semi-finals after winning three matches and losing only one.

In their opening game on Tuesday, they defeated Trinidad and Tobago 2-1 (21-17, 21-16 and 15-13) before losing to New Zealand in the second game 2-0 (21-10, 21-19).

However, they bounced back in the third game against Saint Lucia, which they won 2-0 (21-15, 21-7) and sealed their semi-final slot following a 2-0 win over Vanuatu (21-4, 21-14).

The Rwandan party was reduced to three athletes after cyclist Eric Nzafashwanayo and his trainer Nathan Byukusengenge failed to get the travel paperwork on time for the journey on Monday.

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