Birungi to get Billie Jean King Cup boost in France

Success. Tayebwa (3rd L) and Birungi (3rd R) with officials at Lugogo. Photo/COURTeSY 

Winnie Birungi and Frank Tayebwa and inked their names in the history of local tennis as winners of the inaugural  inaugural Uganda National Tennis Championship that last  Sunday at the Lugogo Tennis Club, in the male and female categories respectively.
Birungi had to rally against Patience Athieno in three sets ( 4-6, 6-2, 6-0) to bag gold whileTayebwa beat training counterpart David Oringa after the latter retired with stomachache complaints midway through the second set. Tayebwa had taken the first set 6-2 and had a two games advantage in the second. The reward is a trip to France to experience something close to professional tennis while training and competing at the Association Familiae Turkerheim Club in France. 

This has all been made possible with the hand of Alain Gerard, a senior civil servant at the French Embassy and a police officer in France. The tennis  aficionado wants to be part of an era that will see Uganda soar the tennis skies again. “ We have already registered them in three French regional tournaments,” said Alaine.
Birungi leaves for France on June11 before connecting to North Macedonia for Group IV of the Billie Jean King Cup until July 9, Tayebwa also leaves on June11 and returns July 22 after competing in three tournaments.  The Billie Jean King Cup is an international women’s tennis team’s tournament. 

The France  trip was proposed to the Uganda Tennis Association (UTA) by Alain and it was bought, it is something both parties hope to carry on annually while growing the Uganda National Tennis Championship. 
“Our goal is to build a proper championship and working system ,  hopefully Uganda gets promoted to the next division . We also want to take this tournament to different cities like Jinja, Arua, Entebbe and Lira among others,” added Alaine.