The first International Table Tennis Federation-Africa Eastern Regional Juniors Championships in Kigali came to a climax on Sunday with Team Rwanda emerging the overall winners of the three-day showpiece at Green Hills Academy. Rwanda reigned supreme among five national teams, winning the boys doubles, girls’ and boys’ team events, as well as the boys’ singles. Eritrea won mixed doubles, plus the girls’ singles, while Uganda won girls’ doubles. In the boys’ singles, Patrick Masengesho from Rwanda started on a good note before progressing to the final. He then beat Joel Milkael from Eritrea to walk away with a trophy and gold medal in the final match. Sarah Menghistab (ERT) beat Rwanda’s Hervine Tumukunde to finish as runners-up in the girls’ event to walk away with a bronze medal. While in the team event, Rwanda Team A girls and boys were impressive, winning both categories, Uganda finished as runners-up in both categories. In the boys’ mixed doubles, Rwanda’s Patrick Masengesho and Bonneur Irakiza beat Uganda’s Mirro Diouf and John Madanda. The girls’ event was won by Amina Namaganda and Patricia Mbabazi from Uganda. Eritrea won the mixed doubles when Joel Mikael partnered with Sarah Mengistab to beat Uganda’s duo of Miiro Diouf and Amina Manganda. In total Rwanda won four titles while Eritrea scooped two and Uganda one. Kenya and Tanzania were the other participating countries. Mauritius pulled out at the last minute because of travel documents, according to RTTF. Fourteen countries including Somalia, Eritrea, Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya, Sudan, Seychelles, Mauritius, Burundi, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Comoros, South Sudan, and Rwanda comprise the ITTF-Africa Eastern region. editorial@newtimes.co.rw
