The Togolese national Tennis team were crowned champions of the Davis Cup by Rakuten Africa Group IV tournament after beating Rwanda in the playoff final to clinch victory on Saturday at the Ecology Tennis Club. Rwanda progressed to the final of the tournament after finishing at the summit of Group A ahead of Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda and a win against Togo in the final would see them promoted to the Group III of the ITF rankings. However, Togo’s display proved to be on a far more advanced level than Rwanda’s with the team dominating the hosts with a 3-0 victory after winning in both singles and doubles. Liova Ayite Ajavon won the first match for Togo after beating Etienne Niyigena 2-0 (6-3, 6-4). Niyigena was playing his first singles in this year’s tournament, replacing national team skipper Bertin Karenzi in a tactical change made by head coach Sylvain Rutikanga. All eyes were on Ernest Habiyambere as Rwanda was hoping for a win from him in the second match against Thomas Setodji to keep their hopes alive prior to the doubles match. But the Togolese, who was participating at the tournament as a player-coach, outsmarted Habiyambere in a comfortable 2-0 (6-0, 6-2) victory to help Togo book a ticket to the Group III. M’lapa Tingou Akomlo and Hod’abalo isac Padio also beat Niyigena and Habiyambere 2-0 (6-2, 7-6) to help the Togolese finish the tournament unbeaten. Togo’s Ajavon told Times Sport that a promotion to Group III on the ITF rankings is motivation to him and the team in general but warned a tough challenge is awaiting them. Etienne Niyigena was playing his first singles match in the just-concluded Davis Cup tournament in Kigali-courtesy “We are excited to win this tournament. We had a tough campaign throughout this week but we managed to win it. We are aware that a tougher challenge awaits us and we need to keep working hard to improve our performance,” the 23-year-old said in an interview. Final ranking 1. Togo 2. Rwanda 3. DRC 4. Sudan 5. Tanzania 6. Botswana 7. Angola 8. Uganda 9. Congo Brazzaville
