Rwanda’s rising tennis profile: another ace served

The Rwanda Challenger 50 tennis tournament, an event on the global ATP Tour, has just concluded in Kigali after two weeks of competition. The tournament attracted players and teams from around the world. ALSO READ: Tennis legend Yannick Noah lands in Kigali for ATP Challenger 50 Tour It ended on Sunday, March 10 and was won by Marco Trungelliti of Argentina who goes home with the trophy and 80 points, and good prize money. The tournament is yet another world sports event that Rwanda has hosted. This is not the first tennis tourney to be played here. Only the first on the ATP world tour and with sizable prize money (small change compared to the bigger ATP tour events). We cannot say it conquered many hearts in Rwanda, but it certainly served a fair amount of fun and joy to local tennis enthusiasts and added to Rwanda’s growing stature as a host to global sports events. Not many here know a lot about the ATP Tour or tennis in general. Now, more do, at least in Kigali, and probably across the country especially after seeing their president, Paul Kagame, at the close of the first week of the tournament. We are used to the other, more widely played sports in Rwanda – football, volleyball and basketball. You may call them the traditional, even national, sports. They have a huge, often fanatical, following across the country and social strata. ALSO READ: Historic moment as Habiyambere debuts at ATP Challenger 50 Tour Not all of them are doing well. Football, the number one national sport, has been in the doldrums for some time. Even with that situation, fans are not giving up on the national team, Amavubi, or their respective club sides. They will groan in anguish and curse their luck, and lament but will still go to watch them play. They will feel bitter and want to strangle the coach, referee and even players or anyone standing in the vicinity. Such is the depth of feeling that despair at their teams’ performance arouses. Still, no one is walking away. They will continue to troop to the stadium and go home dejected mostly, or in rare cases elated. They have kept faith with their teams and keep coming. Among sports fans, hope burns eternal. In recent times, Rwandan sports fans have found refuge in cycling which they have adopted as another national sport. For a while, Rwandan riders did well locally and in the region. Perhaps because the competition was still at a relatively low level. That has changed. The Tour du Rwanda is now an international event and attracts some of the world’s best riders and teams. You might say this country is naturally suited to that kind of cycling competition. The hills and winding roads in most of the country offer a challenge for strength, endurance and control. The plains of the east, chance for speed. Rwandan riders still participate but find the competition much steeper. Not a bad thing in itself. That should spur them to more training and developing a tough competitive spirit It is not all a loss, though. Local riders may be a long way down the leaderboard, but Rwanda’s visibility is high up there. Then came the Basketball Africa League (BAL) that brought to Kigali the top teams from across the continent. The country took to it immediately. The magnificent BK Arena that hosted the games added to the attraction. President Kagame’s regular attendance gave it more star status... Basketball is popular but remains largely an urban and elite sport. It has, however, found a huge fan base in the growing middle class across the country. Before that, there was cricket, although it seems to have gone quiet lately. Rwanda continues to hit big in bringing to the country more global sporting events. It has served another ace in getting international tennis to come here. Of course, tennis has been around for a long time and has many enthusiasts. But it has been played mainly for leisure or fitness in members’ only clubs. That is changing. The game is growing and developing at all stages, from under ten to adults. . You see kids across town playing it a lot more and entering various tournaments, some of them regional. Some of the players have turned professional. The just concluded Rwanda Challenger 50 tourney in Kigali can only add to this development. We can expect interest and participation in the sport to grow. Rwanda keeps serving aces and winning, and we are better and happier for it.

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Rwanda’s rising tennis profile: another ace served