10th Indian Ocean Island Games in Mauritius from July 19-28, 2019 |09 July 2019

Beach volleyball teams pit skills against South Africans

With just 10 days left before the start of the 10th Indian Ocean Island Games in Mauritius from July 19-28, 2019, the country’s men’s and women’s beach volleyball teams will only get the opportunity to play friendly matches for the first time this week.

The local teams will pit their skills against those from South Africa at the Cable & Wireless Beach Arena at Roche Caïman.

Both Seychelles and South Africa will be represented by two women’s and two men’s teams.

The Seychelles women’s team A comprise Nathalie Agnes-Sauer and Terryl Songoire, while Team B are made up of Marie-Antoinette Labiche and Ingrid Frederick. They are both coached by François Magloire.

Coach Roy Dijoux’s men’s teams are as follows: Guilly Bijoux and Jerry Lozaique (Team A), and Danny Marie and Henrico Ernesta (Team B).

Elsia Vidot is the team manager.

Other than matches, there will also be joint training sessions.

Speaking to Sports NATION, coach Magloire said he will be using the matches to see the real level of the two women’s teams.

“We know very well that the beach volleyball practised in Seychelles cannot be compared with competitive beach volleyball. We have trained the teams but needed matches to know if the players have mastered the techniques. As the level of beach volleyball in South Africa is quite high since they have taken part in the World Championships and Olympic Games, we decided to invite them here as sparring partners to train and play against our teams. The idea is not to win the matches, but use the games to polish our mistakes and get our tactics right,” said coach Magloire.

Asked if the friendly matches haven’t come a little too late, coach Magloire replied: “Yes, but we tried and were unsuccessful in our bid to get sparring partners earlier in the year. First, we tried to get in touch with the Kenyan volleyball authorities since March but we were not successful. Secondly we were told that the Reunionnais delegation who came here lately would have both beach volleyball and indoor volleyball teams, but unfortunately they only brought indoor volleyball teams. This is when we decided on the South Africans.”

Despite the hiccups and acknowledging the fact beach volleyball had been left in the dark, coach Magloire is confident his players will give a good show and win a medal.

As for coach Dijoux, he said he will be using the friendly matches to test his teams.

“This will be a good opportunity to see the weaknesses of my players. We need these matches to test ourselves,” coach Dijoux told Sports NATION.

He added that “since beach volleyball will be featuring in the IOIG for the first time, we expect to give a good performance to win a medal, possibly a gold.”

The following are the fixtures of the friendly matches between Seychelles and South Africa:

Tuesday July 9                   

5.30pm Seychelles A v/s South Africa B (ladies)

6.30pm Seychelles A v/s South Africa B (men)

Wednesday July 10

5.30pm Seychelles B v/s South Africa A (ladies)

6.30pm Seychelles B v/s South Africa A (men)

Thursday July 11

5.30pm Seychelles A v/s South Africa B (ladies)

6.30pm Seychelles A v/s South Africa A (men)

Saturday July 13

5.30pm Seychelles B v/s South Africa A (ladies)

6.30pm Seychelles B v/s South Africa A (men)

G. G.