11th All-Africa Games - Badminton bronze for Seychelles |07 September 2015

Seychelles has claimed its first medal – a bronze – at the ongoing 11th All-Africa Games through the badminton team.

Juliette Ah-Wan, Cynthia Course, Alisen Camille, Steve Malcouzane, Georgie Cupidon and Kervin Ghislain are the six players representing Seychelles in badminton at the All-Africa Games which officially opened on Friday in Congo Brazzaville.

The team’s quest for the gold medal was stopped in the semifinals when they lost 0-3 to South Africa.

Drawn in the final fourth group, Seychelles finished at the top as they won all their three matches, beating Algeria 4-1, Democratic Republic of Congo 5-0 and Ethiopia 5-0. In the quarterfinals, they beat Algeria 3-1 to progress to the semis.

After whitewashing Nigeria 3-0 in the other semifinal, Mauritius went on to edge South Africa 3-2 in the final to win the gold medal.

Thirteen teams took part in the competition.

Led by Sportswoman of the Year Clementina Agricole, Team Seychelles joined roughly 50 nations at Friday night’s opening ceremony in Brazzaville.

The Games were officially declared open by the President of the Republic of Congo Denis Sassou Nguesso.

There was a celebration of eclectic costumes and music from the countries represented at the games. There were smiles and laughter. And as is now tradition at such events the skies were lit up by a myriad of fireworks.

Meanwhile, the women’s volleyball team have registered two wins in as many matches at the Henry Elende Hall in Brazzaville.

After edging Senegal 3-2 in their first match, Seychelles booked their second win in pool A of women’s volleyball competition after they took over the solid Botswana team 3-1 (25-16, 25-21, 21-25, 25-23) in a thrilling encounter lasting 121 minutes.

According to reports from Brazzaville, for the second match in a row Seychelles’ big gun Marielle Bonne led her team scorers with 19 points to also lead the competition scorers at the end of day three. She got 29 points against Senegal.

Egypt also collected a second win against hosts Congo Brazzaville 3-0 (25-9, 25-6, 25-6), while African giants Senegal rebounded after their opening loss to Seychelles to win their second match against Ghana 3-1 (25-16, 18-25, 25-21, 25-23).

Egypt lead pool A with 6 points (2-0), followed by Seychelles 5 points (2-0), Senegal 4 points (1-1), Ghana 3 points (1-1), Botswana and Congo Brazzaville 0 (0-2).

On Saturday, the men’s basketball team, table tennis players and disabled athletes joined the rest of the 110-member Team Seychelles in Brazzaville.

G. G.