Rwanda’s opponent in this year’s Davis Cup Euro/Africa Zone IV championship has pulled out of the event which got underway yesterday in Yerevan, Armenia.

The late withdraw of Libya from the championship comes after a month when Malta and Mauritius withdrew, which leave the number of participating teams at five.

The participating countries including Rwanda, Iceland, Namibia, San Marino and hosts Armenia will battle in the one-week event, which climaxes on May 4. The five countries will play in one-robin pool and the top four teams will be promoted to Group III for 2009 edition.

Rwanda’s team comprised of seed two Jean-Claude Gasigwa, Dieudonne Habiyambere, Olivier Nkunda and Thierry Ntwali (coach) left for Armenia over the weekend.
The trio have been training intensively at Kigali Sports Club, Rugunga and promised a better show before departure.

"We have trained well enough for the last one month and I hope we shall be able to do better this time round and possibly qualify for Group III,” Gasigwa, the most experienced of the trio said before departure.

Gasigwa finished fourth in the Kenya Open and also took part in the East African Money circuits, winning the Rwanda and Burundi money circuits.

However, with the late withdrawal of underdogs Libya, Rwanda will find a hard task overcoming the any of the participating countries though they only need to record a single victory to be able to book a group III.

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