Chinese Ambassador to Rwanda Rao Hongwei (1st R) and President of the Rwanda Table Tennis Federation John Birungi (1st L) present awards to contestants of the Chinese Ambassador's Cup table tennis competition in Kigali, capital city of Rwanda, June 23, 2019. The Rwanda Table Tennis Federation held a table tennis competition on Saturday and Sunday under the sponsorship of Chinese Embassy in Rwanda. (Xinhua/Lyu Tianran)

KIGALI, June 23 (Xinhua) -- The Rwanda Table Tennis Federation held a table tennis competition on Saturday and Sunday under the sponsorship of Chinese Embassy in Rwanda, which provides a platform to promote friendship among people from different places.

The competition, named Chinese Ambassador's Cup, is divided into three categories including adult men's group, adolescent boys' group and adolescent girls' group. Besides Rwandan contestants, the Chinese community in Rwanda also contested in the competition, which is held for the second time in the central African country.

The competition provides players from different places with an ideal platform to demonstrate skills, learn from each other, get improved and enhance friendship, said Rao Hongwei, Chinese Ambassador to Rwanda, after presenting awards to participants.

Table tennis and the Rwanda Table Tennis Federation can contribute more in linking the peoples of China and Rwanda and boost people-to-people exchanges, he said.

President of the Rwanda Table Tennis Federation John Birungi thanked the Chinese embassy for its support to the federation.

He revealed that the federation is planning a project to further popularize table tennis in Rwanda, calling on people who love table tennis to support the project.