The tennis fraternity was yesterday thrown into shock by the sudden death of the country’s top seed Jean Claude Gasigwa, who collapsed while training at Cercle Sportif sports complex.

The 31-year-old who has represented the country in different international and regional competitions like Uganda Open, Kenya Open, ITF/ Cash Money circuit, Davis Cup and ITF Men’s futures among others was said to be in high spirits when he arrived at the Cercle Sportif tennis courts.

Dieudonné Habiyambere, one of the top rated tennis players in the country and a very close friend was the last person to talk to Gasigwa and told of his shock after learning of his death.

"He found me at Cercle Sportif training kids but we didn’t talk for long because I was busy.

Gasigwa went on to jog like he always does before training.  After I finished training the kids, we left him still jogging and 30 minutes later, I was told that Gasigwa had collapsed and died,” a grieving Habiyambere said adding Gasigwa had not complained of any illness.

Anatole Bizimana, another colleague said he was saddened by the death of a role model while Olivier Havugimana said the country had lost a zealous and courageous tennis player.

Fidèle Kamanzi, the Tennis Federation’s Technical Director said Gasigwa was instrumental in the progress of tennis in the country and was recognised in the entire region as a threat every time he took part in any competition.

Gasigwa’s former coach Thierry Ntwali, who is now a tennis instructor in Burundi said the country has lost a very good tennis player that had been outstanding in his career but always stayed humble and eager to learn more.

"I have known Gasigwa since he was 14 years and I could see signs of greatness in his approach to tennis as he was growing up, he loved tennis and he kept on improving year after year and at 20 years he had already dominated the national tennis scene. It is a pity that he has died at the pinnacle of his career.”

Career

Gasigwa started playing tennis at age of 15 but never featured in the national team until he was 20.

His first tournament was the Davis Cup in Mombasa, Kenya in  2003 but the Rwandan team led by former number one Hagenimana did not perform well in the competition.

The 7-time ITF/ Money circuit champion was part of Rwanda’s Davis Cup team in seven different editions of 2003 in Mombasa (Kenya), 2004 in Moldavia, 2005 in San Marino, 2006 in Moldavia again, 2007 in Kampala (Uganda), 2008 in Gaborone (Botswana), 2009 in Turkey and 2013 in Cairo, Egypt.

Gasigwa holds the record of winning the ITF/Money circuit tournament seven times having won the first in 2007 and the seventh in 2013 at Novotel Hotel.

The departed tennis star is also a two-time champion of the Uganda Open of 2009 and 2013, a one-time winner of Kenya Open in 2008 and a beaten semi-finalist in 2010 and finalist in 2013 losing to Uganda’s elite Duncan Mugabe.

He also holds the Goma (DR Congo) Open title of 2012 among other foreign titles.

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