The national junior tennis squad leaves tomorrow morning for Bujumbura to take part in the East African Zonal junior championship qualifiers that run from January 6-12. The seven-man team that leaves by road includes the experienced duo of Mele Bizimana and Fils Ntakirutimana, Hamisi Gatete, Patrick Mwizerwa, Cyiza Sidhawusi, Gisele Umumararungu and head coach Thierry Ntwali. After two weeks of intensive training, Ntwali believes that his team is ready to compete in the six-day tournament. Similar to last year’s edition, the event is expected to attract over twelve countries which include; Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Zanzibar, Seychelles, Djibouti, Somalia, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Libya and hosts Burundi. According to Ntwali, Rwanda’s major hopes lie in the experienced duo of Bizimana and Ntakirutimana. “Recently, Bizimana has been in splendid form while Ntakirutimana, a younger brother to Rwanda’s tennis ace Eric Hagenimana also boasts of sound experience at this level,” he said. Last year, the youngster landed a one-month ITF sponsored training camp in Pretoria, South Africa after an excellent performance in the U-14 East African circuit that was held in Kenya. Ntwali, who also doubles as the technical director of the Rwanda Tennis Federation (RTF) disclosed that the federation would handle the team’s expenses for the qualifiers. “For now, we can handle the team’s expenses. But if we fair well in these qualifiers, we shall need some financial support from the government during the Africa Zonal junior championship,” he explained. The junior championship will be staged in Botswana at the end of May. Last year, Rwanda sent two juniors to the championships. Lyze Karenzi and Bizimana qualified for the championships after a series of good performances in the E. African zonal qualifiers that were staged in Nairobi. However, the pair failed to match that performance in Botswana after being eliminated in the first round. Ends
