France’s Maxime Gouge eliminated Brian Hirwa Karenzi at the ongoing ITF junior World Tennis tournament on Sunday, 13 February at IPRC-Kigali tennis Grounds in Kicukiro.

Karenzi had on Saturday given hope to the home fans after beating India’s Harshith Srivatsav Reddy Anugonda in three sets. 

Anugonda proved too strong for Karenzi at the start of the match, winning the first set 6-2, but the Rwandan came back stronger in the second set winning it 6-3 to tie the match at 1-1 and later won the tie set 10-5.

"This was my first major tournament and I think I got nervous. But I am satisfied with the experience I gained today. I will work on winning more games at the next tournament,” Karenzi said.

Meanwhile, 12 Rwandans (10 boys and 2 girls) will on Monday start competing against 61 other junior tennis players from various countries.

The Rwandan players are; Delphin Iradukunda, Claude Ishimwe, M. Manishimwe, Gentil Munyekuzo, Ivan Ngarambe, Raoul Ishimwe, David Manzi, Christian Kwizera, Kelia Keza, Shema Mbaruru and Carine Nishimwe and N. Niyonsenga

The ITF Junior World Tennis Tournament has attracted 83 players from 33 countries and will come to a close on 26th February. 

The ITF Junior tournament gives players aged 18 and below the opportunity to travel to different parts of the globe and develop their talent in Tennis.