Novotel and Nyarutarama tennis courts have been confirmed as the venues for this year’s ITF Men’s Futures circuit.The confirmation was made by the Rwanda Tennis Federation (RTF) Secretary General and tournament director Freddy Somayire.“For the past editions, we have always used Cercle Sportfi but this year, we were forced to switch venues. According to ITF, the venue needs to have efficient internet and international telephone services which requirements perfectly suits Novotel,” Somayire noted.According to the tournament schedule, qualification matches will be staged at the two grounds (Novotel and Nyarutarama) but the main draw will be confined to Novotel. The ITF Men’s Futures Circuit is a three-legged annual tournament that is normally held in Rwanda, Uganda and Kenya.However, this year, the tournament will have two-legs after Kenya’s decline to stage the event early this year.Somayire, who also doubles as Rwanda National Olympics Committee Secretary General added, “We have been informed that Kenya is not going to stage the tournament which leaves Rwanda and Uganda as the only hosts”.Contrary to previous editions where Bralirwa under their Heineken brand have been the key sponsors, the government stands out as the lead sponsor for this year’s edition.The government through the Sports Ministry has bankrolled the event to a tune of eight million Rwandan Francs (Frw8 millions).Heineken and ITF have contributed Frw5millions and $9000 (Frw4.86M) respectively towards making the five-day event a success.“We are grateful to the government for their contribution. We are also grateful to our long time partners Heineken who have continued to show their support to us,” the official continued.The tournament officially ticks off November 10 and ends November 14 with $15,000 in prize money at stake for the winners.Ends
