RWANDA’s top seed Jean Claude Gasigwa will be among favourites of this year’s Real Insurance Lawn Kenya Tennis Open championship running from June 15 to 22 at Ngong Tennis club, Nairobi.

Gasigwa 30, who reached last year’s final but lost to Uganda’s Duncan Mugabe, is set to set-off for Nairobi today. His colleagues Olivier Havugimana and Mathieu Uwizeyimana left yesterday.

However, Rwanda’s number two Dieudonne Habiyambere will not take part in this year’s tournament, due to personal reasons.

The 2008 tournament champion Gasigwa will face stiff challenge from reigning champion Mugabe and Zambia’s 2012 winner Edgar Kazembe.

Uwizeyimana will be making his third appearance at the show, Havugimana making his second, and it will be Gasigwa’s eighth.

The winner will walk away with KShs90, 000, while the Ladies singles winner gets Kshs80, 000. The total prize money for the tournament is KShs1.2 million.