Junior tennis players begin AJC campaign

RWANDA’S EIGHT players begin their campaign in the ITF/CAT East African U-16 Junior Championship today in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania as they bid to qualify for this year’s Africa Junior Championships. The tournament will close on January 18.The team left Kigali by road on Thursday via Burundi where they will be joined by Fabrice Tuyishime, who is on two-year scholarship training at ITF East African tennis centre in Bujumbura.The team will be coached by Justin Ntiheranwa, who normally coaches youth players at Nyarutarama Tennis Club. Another team member, Ernest Habiyambere was supposed to join his teammates before they set-off for Tanzania, but it was decided that the youngster flies direct to Dar-es-Salaam from Morocco this morning where he has been training at the ITF high performance centre in Morocco over the last seven months.Rwandan players are participating in the East African championships for their third time after appearances in 2012 and 2013. The 14-year-old Habiyambere won last year’s U-14 boys’ category and finished third at the AJC competitions staged in Nairobi.The team will be comprised of eight players, five boys and three girls competing in the under-12, under-14 and under-16 categories respectively. Habiyambere and David Uwimana make up the boys’ under-16 team, while Olive Tuyisenge along with Alliete Mutesi will compete in the girls’ under-16 category.Bryan Ndahiro and Tuyishime are in the boys’ under-14 team; Chantal Mutuyimana is to compete in the girls’ under-14 category, while the 11-year-old Bertin Karenzi, will represent the country in boys’ under-12 competition.

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Junior tennis players begin AJC campaign