African Senior Badminton Championship-Incredible Ah-Wan and Cupidon! |12 December 2006

At the forefront of Seychelles’ charge, especially after following a six-week training camp in China, Ah-Wan and Cupidon, the country’s number one female and male players, did not leave the task of talking about their chances to their coaches before leaving for Algeria.

On Sunday December 10, the two local shuttlers showed why they were brimming with confidence before their departure, mastering the shuttlecock to claim two continental crowns – the ladies’ singles and mixed doubles. Such a result is a first in the young history of Seychelles’ badminton.

There must have been a party in the team’s hotel rooms after the exploit of winning five medals – two gold, a silver and two bronze.

Ah-Wan did it ...again in the ladies’ singles. Having re-discovered her old form and in good shape physically after playing a lot of matches and training hard, Seychelles’ female trump-card Ah-Wan had, before leaving, promised to bring home the ladies’ singles gold medal and she has delivered on her promise.

Winner on a 2-0 (21-10, 21-12) score against South African Steffy Doubell inside the OMS d’El Biar Gymnasium, Ah-Wan’s success came four years after her first African ladies’ singles title won in 2002 in Casablanca, Morocco.

It seems that Ah-Wan, 25, performs well in North Africa as this is her second success achieved in this part of the continent.

It is to note that the Sportslady of the Year 2000 Ah-Wan relinquished her title in 2004 in Mauritius and finished out of the medals ranking after losing in the quarterfinals.

“My main target is the mixed doubles gold medal. Coach Luo is pinning his hopes on Juliette and myself to win the mixed doubles gold medal. We can do it.” Cupidon said this to Sports Nation before leaving and his predictions have been proven right.

The pair of Cupidon and Ah-Wan worked wonders to scoop the gold medal, thanks to a 2-1 (21-16, 17-21, 21-16) final victory against the South African duo of James Doram and Michelle Edwards.

Ah-Wan appeared in a third final – ladies’ doubles – with Catherina Paulin as partner, but they lost 0-2 (12-21, 21-23) to Steffy Doubell and Michelle Edwards of South Africa.

Other than the two gold and one silver medals won on the final day of the championship, the six-player Seychelles team also grabbed two bronze medals.

The first bronze was won in the team event after Seychelles lost 2-3 to hosts Algeria in the semifinal, while Cupidon and Steve Malcouzane were eliminated on a 1-2 (13-25, 25-23, 15-21) score against the Dednam brothers of South Africa at the semifinal stage of the men’s doubles individual competition to take the other bronze medal.

It is worth noting that Seychelles has won medals in the last four editions of the biennial championship. In 2000, the duo of Cupidon and Nicholas Jumaye won the men’s doubles bronze medal. Two years later (in 2002), Ah-Wan won the ladies’ singles gold medal and then teamed up with Catherina Paulin to capture the bronze medal in the ladies’ doubles.

In 2004, Seychelles won two bronze medals in the ladies’ doubles (Ah-Wan and Etienne) and team event (Cupidon, Ah-Wan, Jumaye, Etienne, Malcouzane and Jupiter).

 G. G.