African U-14 tournament

First leg

Finals
Boys
H. Ndayishimiye (Bur) beat G. Teja (Ken) 6-1, 6-4

Girls
G.Umumararungu (Rwa) beat C. Wendy (Ken) 2-6, 7-6, 6-1

Rwanda’s seed three Gisel Umumararungu won the first leg of the Confederation of African Tennis (CAT) U-14 tennis circuit girls’ singles final played yesterday at Cercle Sportif. 

Umumararungu needed three hours to record a classic 2-6, 7-6, 6-1 victory over Chinese Kenyan-born Chen Wendy, who is seeded one for the tournament being held under the patronage of Rwanda’s First Lady Jeannette Kagame.

Umumararungu started poorly losing the first set 2-6 and Wendy looked on course to take the second set but the Rwandan came back from 0-4 to win 7-6 forcing the pair to go for a third set.

In the decider, Umumararungu improved on both her fore and backhand strokes to win the set 6-1 to earn Rwanda the victory in the first of the two-week long tournament.

In the Boys’ category, seed one Hassan Ndayishimiye of Burundi easily overcame Kenya’s seed two Gabriel Teja in straight sets 6-1, 6-4 to win the event. Meanwhile, by press time, both the boys and girls’ doubles events were yet to be played.

The first leg of the CAT U-14 event wound up yesterday and the second leg is set to start today and will climax on Saturday at the same venue.

The two-week long event whose theme is keep your eye on the ball and book as well as defeat HIV has attracted participants from Kenya, Burundi, Uganda, Tanzania and hosts Rwanda.

The event is sponsored by UNICEF, Rwandatel, BRD, Sorwathe, Sonarwa, Novotel, and RNOC to a tune of Frw22 million.

Ends