Etienne Niyigena and Joselyne Umulisa on Sunday won the 2022 Tennis Genocide Memorial tournament that has been taking place at Integrated Polytechnic Regional College (IPRC) Kigali.

In the professional category, Niyigena beat Matayo Uwizeyimana 6-0, 6-4 while Umulisa defeated Megane Ingabire 6-2, 6-3.

"I am happy for the win today but I wasn’t surprised because I’ve won this tournament before. Today was special because I won against a tough opponent who is way more experienced than I am (Matayo Uwizeyimana).”

"The GMT tournament is good because I learn a lot about the history of the country and get to understand what the players we lost during the Genocide against the Tutsi.” the 26 year-old said.

In the men’s doubles, Serge Kayitare and Jean Karekezi defeated Don Rutagomwa and Theoneste Bahati.

Etienne Niyigena (left) receives the Men's singles trophy from former Rwanda Tennis Federation President, Charles Rudakubana.

Speaking at the end of the tournament, Theoneste Karenzi the President of Rwanda Tennis Federation explained to Times Sport the importance of the Genocide Memorial Tournament.

"We organised this tournament to remember tennis players that we lost during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. However, as a federation, we have a big number of young tennis players and we use this tournament to educate the young generation about the impact of the Genocide.” Karenzi said.

The week-long tourney 136 players from Rwanda and DR Congo.

The competition is part of memorial events organized by national sports federations every year under the sponsorship of Ministry of Sports and Culture and Rwanda National Olympic and Sports Committee in honour of sportsmen and women that were killed during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.