All Africa Badminton Championships in Algiers |20 February 2018

Ah-Wan, Camille take home women’s doubles title

Juliette Ah-Wan came out of semi-retirement to join forces with cousin Alisen Camille to once again be crowned the women’s doubles champions of the 2018 All Africa Badminton Championships in Algiers, Algeria.

In the final on Sunday at the Hacene Harcha Arena, the unseeded Seychellois pair of Ah-Wan and Camille edged the number one seed team of Doha Hany and Hadia Hosny from Egypt on a 2-1 (21-18, 13-21, 21-18) to win the title once again ‒five years after their first win in 2013 in Mauritius. The duo could not retain the title in 2014 in Botswana as they lost to a Mauritian pair in the final.

Because they were the only unseeded team in the competition in Algeria, the pair of Ah-Wan and Camille had to play five games in total compared to four for the other teams. They beat a Ugandan pair 2-0 (21-11, 21-7) in their first match, defeated an Egyptian duo 2-0 (21-8, 21-14) in their second game, earned a 2-0 (21-19, 21-15) victory against a Mauritian team in their third match and dispatched an Algerian pair 2-0 (21-16, 21-19) in the semifinals.

Ah-Wan and Camille are expected to touch down early this morning along with the five male players ‒Luo Jie, Jakim Renaud, Javis Renaud, Kervin Ghislain and Steve Malcouzane ‒ who failed to win any medal during the championship. The players were accompanied by coach Calixte Francourt.

Neighbours Mauritius won three gold medals at the championship. The gold medallists are Georges Julien Paul who beat Nigerian Habeeb Temitope Bello 2-1 (21-16, 15-21, 21-13) in the men’s singles final, Kate Foo Kune who triumphed in the women’s singles on a 2-0 (21-16, 21-19) score against Nigerian Dorcas Ajoke and the women’s team in the team event thanks to a 3-0 win against Nigeria.

The men’s team event was won by Algeria who made history by winning the title for the first time by edging Nigeria 3-2 in the final.

The men’s doubles title went to the Algerian pair of Mohamae Abderrahime Belarbi and Adel Hamek who beat another Algerian team of Koceila Mammeri and Youcef Sabri Medel 2-1 (21-18, 20-22, 21-18).

Koceila Mammeri then teamed up with Linda Mazri to win the mixed doubles title on a 2-1 (21-17, 15-21, 21-12) score against Nigerians Enejob Abab and Peace Orji to give Algeria their third gold medal of the tournament.

A total of 86 players from 19 countries took part in the men’s singles event, while the women’s singles was contested by 59 players from 14 countries.

As the best teams in Africa, the Algeria men’s squad will represent Africa in the Thomas Cup while the Mauritius female side will play in the Uber Cup.

The 2018 Thomas & Uber Cup (officially known as the 2018 BWF Thomas & Uber Cup) will be the 30th Thomas Cup and the 27th Uber Cup, the biennial international badminton championship contested by the men and women's national teams of the member associations of Badminton World Federation (BWF).

The tournament will be hosted by Bangkok, Thailand.

Denmark are the defending men's champions, and China are the defending women's champions.

G. G.