Guy Rurangayire, a former national team karate player, has launched a multi-disciplinary sports academy that will train youngsters to play karate, basketball and football.

Dubbed Sports Genix International (SGI), the academy was inaugurated on Saturday, January 29 at Cercle Sportif de Kigali.

It is a talent development program that will house children from 4 to 17 years of age, equipping them with skills from experienced coaches.

In an interview with the media at the event, Rurangayire said the reason he founded the academy is to prepare children to become good sportsmen and women in the three sports disciplines.

The academy started with 90 children of different ages.

"Until now, parents are still enrolling children until January 31. We are going to make arrangements for the children to get regular training on weekdays,” Rurangayire said.

The children’s parents or caretakers will be required to pay some fees to be part of the academy’s programs.

"Everything is paid for by the parents of the children. What we offer is skills as professionals in these games,” he said.

Rurangayire, 41 has been in karate for a long time, having started playing it when he was 13 years old.

He featured for different local clubs, and in 1999, he joined the national Karate team, and for the first time, they participated in the African championship that was held in South Africa.

After five years on the national team, he retired and became a member of the executive committee and technical director of the Rwanda Karate federation until 2014.

He also got opportunities to train with different Karate masters abroad. At the continental level, he attended several training camps, where he focused on basics and traditional karate.

He most recently served as the Acting Director of Sports in the Ministry of Sports.