Rwanda’s tennis ace Eric Hagenimana has been ruled out of this year’s ITF Men’s Futures tournament which unfolds on Monday here in Kigali.

According to the Rwanda Tennis Federation (RTF) technical director Thierry Ntwali, the 22-year-old along with his compatriot Pascal Uwimana Kazungu has returned back to his training base in Texas, USA.

"It’s just three to four weeks since they returned to the US so it would be costly for them to return so soon,” Ntwali says.

Since 2002 when Rwanda started staging the event, it’s the second time that Hagenimana is not getting involved; the first time having been back in 2002.

Hagenimana’s absence leaves Jean Claude Gasigwa as Rwanda’s top seed at the five-day event that gets underway on Monday at Novotel and Nyarutarama tennis courts respectively.

"Gasigwa will carry Rwanda’s load on his shoulders. He is the most experienced local player in the competition,” Ntwali said.

With the exception of Gasigwa and Dieudonne Habiyambere who are permitted to participate in the tournament after landing ITF wild cards, eight local players have  to go through the much-dreaded qualifying phase, which starts tomorrow.

Some of the players in this category include Cekina Niyonshuti, Fils Nshutimana, Mele Bizimana, and Olivier Nkunda.

"Most of these players have come up through the national junior team and it will be good to see how they fair in this tournament,” Ntwali further said.

Ends