Nyarutarama Tennis Club president Damien Ngabonziza says they are bent on using sports as a perfect platform to unite Rwanda and Uganda.
The Rwandan club last weekend welcomed Kampala Club Limited in a tennis friendly game that took place at Nyarutarama Tennis Court on Saturday, February 18.
The Ugandans won the friendly by 10 against 9 for Nyarutarama Club.
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During the visit, Kampala Club visited the Kigali Genocide Memorial in Gisozi and the Campaign against Genocide Museum housed in the Parliamentary building in Kimihurura.
The visit came five months after Nyarutarama Tennis Club travelled to Kampala to play a similar friendly with the Kampala-based counterparts.
Besides playing tennis, the friendly is, according to Ngabonziza, aimed at cementing existing friendship between the two clubs but, on a wider scale, to strengthen cordial relations of Ugandan and Rwandan tennis fraternities.
Ngabonziza said that there has been cordial relationship between the two countries over the years and tennis won't only be used as a means of bringing together individuals but the nations in general.
"There has been a past memorandum of understanding between Nyarutarama Tennis Club and Kampala Club Limited and we are building on it." Ngabonziza stated during the visit of Kampala Club over the weekend
"We are not only linking Nyarutarama Tennis Club and Kampala Club Limited but we are linking Rwandans and Ugandans through sport"
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"Other sporting disciplines like Golf have been in Kampala several times but for us it was our first time and they decided to return the gesture," he added.
Ngabonziza further stressed that the two-day visit of the Kampala Club Limited was a big avenue to portray Rwanda in a positive way to the outside world.
"It is a big diplomacy to show the best side of Rwanda to people and it is very positive. People will like this to be expanded to other neighboring countries," he said.
Kampala Club captain Osmond Atwine was elated with the visit and is positive that it will go a long way to add value to the bond and also give a unique platform for both teams to build on it in the future.
"It was a very great experience for us as we visited places of great historical significance. This trip helped us to continue what was done by Nyarutarama Tennis Club when they visited us in Kampala in November 2022." Atwine told Times Sport.
"We can continue to build friendship and cooperation. It has been great to be here to play tennis also. The foundation has been laid down for this friendship to continue," he added.
"We must know that what we are accomplishing together as Nyarutarama Tennis Club and Kampala Club Limited is a foundation. We can build on it and extend it to all levels of our tennis."
Atwine further hinted that the plan is to expand the event so that in future it will include all tennis clubs in Uganda and Rwanda.
"In five years' time, we want to extend it so that it won't be Nyarutarama Tennis Club and Kampala Club Limited but it will be Rwanda Tennis and Uganda Tennis so that we include all the tennis clubs in both countries," he concluded.
