Rwanda’s tennis prospect Anatole Bizimana has ruled himself out of the first leg of the Under-18 ITF Junior Circuit. The first leg runs from February 5-12 at Mombasa Sports Club and Bizimana has blamed his absence to inadequate funds.

However, Thierry Ntwali, the technical director of the local tennis federation has confirmed that the youngster will compete in subsequent legs which will be held at Parklands Sports Club and Nairobi Club from February 14-27.
The teenager is currently undergoing intensive training at Cercle Sportif.

The week-long event is expected to draw over 80 players from 30 countries.
Some of the high profile players in the tournament include South Africa’s Paul Dion, who is ranked 437, David Hudgetts of Britain (509), Sherif Abohabaga of Egypt (578), Tuki Jacobs of Namibia (620) and Christopher Heymon of Belgium (627) among others.Other countries, which have entered players in the boys’ category, are Zimbabwe, Cyprus, Greek, Singapore, Sweden and Ireland among others.

In the girls’ category, Kenya’s Nikita Dawda, who is ranked 647 globally, is the top seed as per the latest list of entries.

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