RWANDA Tennis Federation has started preparing for life without the current senior players including men’s top seed Jean Claude Gasigwa and the women’s number one Gisèle Umumararungu.As part of their development programme, the federation is sending five players to the ITF junior circuit tournament that starts this morning, and runs till August 16 in the Burundian capital Bujumbura.

The tournament was originally supposed to last one week but it will now be held for two weeks to accommodate the second leg which was due to take place in Uganda but the country was suspended from tennis competitions due to non-payment of membership fees.

Brian Ndahiro and Fabrice Tuyishime will represent Rwanda in the U-12 category, Ernest Habiyambere and Jules Ndibwami in the U-14 category, while the only girl in the contingent, Olive Tuyisenge, will take part in the U-14 category.

Rwanda Tennis Federation chairman Theoneste Karenzi says they are putting more emphasis on developing youth talent in order to have a continuous pool of tennis players that can win continental tournaments in the near future.

Close to 25 players from Kenya, Sudan, Burundi, Rwanda and Seychelles will take part in the 14-day competition.