Badminton: All-Africa Under-19 Championships - Seychelles team return empty-handed |08 September 2016

The Seychelles team have returned home empty-handed from the All-Africa Under-19 Badminton Championships held in Casablanca, Morocco last month.

Ginessa Ravigna, Noelisa Remie, Stephany Henriette, Jie Luo, Fabian Gerry and Jakim Renaud are the six players who represented Seychelles at the championships which took place late last month and they did not fare too well, although the experience of testing themselves against the top young African players will surely have done them a world of good as they keep looking to improve their abilities.

In the team event, Seychelles could only finish bottom of group A, a group which comprised South Africa, Egypt and Uganda.

Seychelles lost 0-5 against both Egypt and South Africa, and then narrowly lost out 2-3 to Uganda as Noelisa Remie and Ginessa Ravigna grabbed wins for the team.

It was Egypt who finished as the team event winners.

In the singles competitions, Seychelles managed a few victories but still missed out on the medals.

In the men’s singles, Fabian Gerry got a 2-0 (21-6, 21-11) win over Imrane Bellamou of Mauritius in the first round, but lost 0-2 (9-21, 13-21) to Brian Kasirye of Uganda in the second round.

Jakim Renaud did not do better as he lost his first round tie against Egypt’s Youssof Essam Bahnasy on a 0-2 (15-21, 11-21) score, while Jie Luo also lost in the first round to Mauritius’ Melvin Appiah on a 0-2 (5-21, 14-21) score.

It was Egypt’s Adham Hatem Egalmal who won the gold medal after he defeated Zambia’s Kalombo Mulenga on a 2-0 (21-13, 21-13) score in the final.

In the women’s singles, Stephany Henriette lost in the first round against Egyptian Rahma Mohamed Saad Eladawy 0-2 (13-21, 13-21), while Noelisa Remie also suffered a first-round defeat. Remie fought hard but still lost 1-2 (21-19, 19-21, 17-21) against Zani Van Der Merwe of South Africa.

Ginessa Ravigna did better though as she won her first match 2-0 (21-3, 21-14) against Côte d’Ivoire’s Aicha N’Dia, before losing 1-2 (26-24, 12-21, 14-21) to Ganesha Mungrah of Mauritius.

Here it was Algeria’s Halla Bouksani who won the gold medal after defeating her fellow Algerian Linda Mazri 2-0 (21-10, 21-9) in the final.

In the men’s doubles, the Seychelles team of Fabien Gerry and Jakim Renaud were knocked out in the first round on a 1-2 (21-18, 9-21, 13-21) score by South Africa’s duo of Dillan Schaap and Ruan Snyman. It was Algeria’s Yacine Belhouane and Samy Khaldi who won the gold medal, beating Uganda’s Brian Kasirye and Davies Senono in the final on a 2-0 (21-14, 21-13) score.

In the women’s doubles, Ginessa Ravigna and Noelisa Remie received a bye directly into the quarterfinal where they lost to Egypt’s Farida Mostafa and Hana Tarek Mohamed on a 1-2 (19-21, 21-17, 10-21) score.

It was the South African duo of Johanita Scholtz and Zani Van Der Merwe who won the gold medal on a 2-1 (23-21, 18-21, 21-16) score against Sirine Ibrahim and Linda Mazri of Algeria.

Seychelles had three teams in the mixed doubles event, where Fabien Gerry and Noelisa Remie were the better performers as they made it to the quarterfinal where they lost to eventual gold medallists Yacine Belhouane and Sirine Ibrahim of Algeria on a 0-2 (6-21, 14-21) score.

They had earlier defeated South Africa’s Pieter Brand and Tarryn Jacobs on a 2-1 (21-12, 20-22, 25-23) score in the second round.

Jakim Renaud and Ginessa Ravigna also made it to the quarterfinal. After defeating Côte d’Ivoire’s Alex Zolobe and Aicha N’Dia 2-0 (21-16, 21-13) and Morocco’a Imrane Bellamou and Khawla Makrane 2-0 (21-11, 21-15) in the first and second rounds, they lost 0-2 (7-21, 18-21) to Mauritians Melvin Appiah and Kobita Dokhee.

Meanwhile, the Seychelles duo of Jie Luo and Stephany Henriette lost their first round tie to Egypt’s Adham Elgamal and Hara Mohamend on a 0-2 (11-21, 14-21) score.

It was Algeria who finished atop the medals table, with three gold and four silver medals.

S. N.