More women could turn to the Tennis game should they make good use of the recently-introduced initiative dedicated for encouraging young girls to showcase their potential in the sport. Dubbed ‘Ingenzi Inititive,’ the program was launched at Kicukiro Ecology Tennis Club on Sunday, October 22, attracting tens of female tennis prospects. Tennis is one of four areas that Ingenzi Initiative has, since 2022, been using to empower women and get them involved into various sports. The objective [of the initiative] is to bring the best out of women. It entails four programs including sports and tourism, arts and vocational skills, health promotion,” Philbert Ndugu, the brains behind the programme, told Times Sport. “The tennis program is here to help women to be actively involved in the sport,” he further explained. ALSO READ: Tennis: Rwanda to host 2022 Davis Cup qualifiers Ndugu emphasized that the target is to make the tennis program go beyond the borders attract more women Tennis players on the continent. Our main objective is to see this programme grow and go beyond Rwandan borders” he said. Besidees, he said, three more tennis projects targeting young women in schools will soon be launched, starting with universities across the country. Overall, the projects will operate in three campuses including UR Huye with at least 100 girls set to benefit from the initiatives. Ndugu explained that Ingenzi Initiative chose to promote tennis among women because ‘has no age limit.’ “You can play the sport from age 3 up to even age 100 unlike other sports,” he said. Carine Nishimwe, 17, a budding tennis player lauded the project which she believes it will raise her expertise in the game as she continues to grow her career in Tennis. I joined this program because they support young women and when you have friends to play with, it serves as a great source of motivation, Nishimwe said. I have played Tennis since the age of 12. I became a champion in national and international competitions. I would like to upgrade my career so that I can reach as far as I can and possibly and become continental or world champion. Tennis is one of the sports disciplines dominated by men in Rwanda and the fact that Ingenzi Initiative targets only women in its latest tennis projects is motivate by the quest of bridging the imbalance existing among men and women playing tennis. We want to bring gender balance into tennis and, through our program, we hope more women in Rwanda will embrace the sport, he added.
