SEED two Dieudonne Habiyambere is eager to make amends by winning the 2013 Real Insurance Kenya Open Tennis Championship tournament which begins this Saturday at the Nairobi Club. Habiyambere goes into this championship after failure to guide Rwanda to Division two of this year’s BNP Paribas-sponsored Europe/Africa III tennis tournament held in Egypt early this month. After losing all their Group C rubbers against Namibia and Madagascar, top players Jean Claude Gasigwa and Dieudonne Habiyambere performed poorly in the play-offs as they lost 0-3 against Cameroon to finish 11th. Speaking to Times Sport yesterday, Habiyambere said, “I want to use the experience gained in Davis Cup to try and win the Kenya Open Tennis Championship,”“It is not going to be easy and I must put in alot of effort to win this title,” added Habiyambere.Besides Habiyambere, Rwanda will be represented by top seed Jean Claude Gasigwa, Olivier Nkunda and Mubarak Harelimana in the championship which will end on June 2. Defending champion Zambia’s Edgar Kazembe is expected to defend the men’s single title having defeated crowd favourite Ugandan Duncan Mugabe in the finals last year.Participants at the 2013 Kenya Open Tennis Championship have more reason to smile after title sponsors Real Insurance upped the prize money from Shs800,000 [Rwf. 6m] to Sh1.2 million [Rwf. 9.1m]. Already, 110 senior players (70 men and 40 ladies) and 120 juniors have entered the competition. She also said for the first time foreigners will compete in the men’s wheelchair event. The event serving off on May 25 at Nairobi Club has already attracted 129 entries. Seventy-seven have registered to take part in the men’s competition, 42 in the ladies event and 10 in the wheelchair category.
