12 Rwandan tennis players with disabilities on Friday, July 29, concluded a five-day wheelchair tennis clinic in Kigali that is meant to boost their tennis development in different aspects. Organised annually by Rwanda Tennis Federation (FRT) in collaboration with the International Tennis Federation (ITF), the wheelchair tennis clinic aims to promote Wheelchair Tennis and encourage persons with disabilities to participate in the sport around which their lives can be impacted positively. The clinic, held at the Ecology Tennis Club from Monday July 25 to Friday July 29, brought together players of both gender and from different ages. Participants were trained by some of the local wheelchair tennis coaches on a daily basis with experienced tennis player-coach, Aimable Ndejuru leading the course. According to Jean Luc Dusengimana, one of the participants, the skills package that he learned from the just-concluded Wheelchair Tennis Clinic is going to help him grow in the game during future training and competitions. I was so privileged to be given this opportunity to learn more tennis skills, especially wheelchair tennis. With more clinics, I hope to become a better player on and off the court, he said Through the clinics, Rwanda Tennis Federation aims to promote wheelchair tennis in order to support inclusive sports, as emphasized by federation Secretary General Valens Habimana. “We want to see these players grow and improve their performance through these clinics which is also a way of making the Tennis sport inclusive. It’s important that we continue to organize more clinics because it has been so impactful to the development of the game among persons with disabilities,” Habimana told Times Sport. Some of the Wheelchair Tennis players used the clinic as part of their ongoing preparations for the future international competitions slated in October in a yet-to-be-confirmed country between Poland and Turkey. Rwanda will be represented by three players including skipper Ernest Ndayishimiye, Emmanuel Hakizimana and Emmanuel Imanishimwe.
