Habiyambere knocked out in AJC pre-tourney semis

Rwanda’s teenager Ernest Habiyambere was knocked out in the semi finals of the warm-up event ahead of the Africa Junior Championship on Saturday at Nairobi club.Habiyambere, who was the only Rwandan remaining in the tournament, fell to Madagascar’s seed eight Ratsimandresy in three sets 6-3, 5-7 3-6.The 14-year old had dispatched Morocco’s Herres 6-3 6-3 in the quarters, Tunisia’s Youssef Dabbebi 2-6 6-2 6-4 and Kenya’s Sheil Kotecha 6-2 6-0 in the first and second rounds respectively.Rwanda was represented by three players at the start but only one survived past the first round of the warm up ahead of the main tournament that begins on Monday.In the under-16 category, David Uwimana suffered a first round knockout to Morocco’s Simohamed Hirs 6-0 6-2, while Olive Tuyisenge was eliminated by South Africa’s Nadine De Villiers also in straight sets 6-0 6-1.The main championship kicks off on Monday after a week long warm up tournament. Close to 120 players assisted by over 50 coaches from 27 countries are expected to take part in the championship that will be played on all the nine murram courts at the Nairobi Club and six others at the adjacent Public Service.Countries that have confirmed participation are Cameroon, Burundi, Lesotho, Rwanda, South Africa, Malawi, Mauritius, Egypt, Benin, Ethiopia, Morocco and hosts Kenya.