Hosting the 2022 Davis Cup Africa zone five qualifiers in Kigali is history in the making for the Rwandan Tennis, the local tennis governing body (RTF) Secretary General, Valens Habimana, has said. Rwanda will host the qualifiers, for a historic first time, on July 4-9 in Kigali. The tournament comes to Kigali for the first time, and Habimana, who is also the tournament coordinator, insists it is an honour to host a tennis competition of Davis Cup’s caliber. “It is history for our country to host such a big tournament because it shows how far the country has come in terms of hosting sports events. I hope it’s an opportunity for our players to improve on the court as well,” Habimana told Times Sport. Delphine Lemesle, the Event Manager at International Tennis Federation (ITF), is expected in Kigali to witness how the Davis Cup qualifiers go down. Ten international umpires have been named to handle the qualifiers. Rwanda has been paired against Angola, Botswana, Congo Brazzaville, DR Congo, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo and Uganda in the prestigious tennis qualifiers for Africa zone five. The country will be represented by five players namely Bertin Karenzi, Etienne Niyigena, Ernest Habiyambere, Joshua Muhire and Junior Hakizumwami. The players have begun camp where they are training daily from IPRC-Kicukiro Tennis Court, the same venue that will host all the matches. They are training under the tutelage of head coach Sylvain Rutikanga, assisted by mental coach Aimable Mbejuru and fitness coach Jean Paul Niyinkunze. It was under the coach that Rwanda was upgraded to Group C in the ITF rankings after the country finished second during the Davis Cup Zone V Qualifiers held in Congo-Brazzaville back in 2019. The hosts, however, dropped back to Group D a year later after struggling to impress in different continental assignments. “He has a group of talented players and I believe the home advantage is a good opportunity for our boys to regain the promotion to Group C,” Habimana said in an interview.
