Badminton: Thomas and Uber Cups preliminaries in Uganda-Disappointing tourney for women’s team |03 March 2010

Speaking to Sports Nation yesterday, he said the competition in Uganda was a disaster organisation-wise.
“It’s sad that such a big competition was organised in such a way,” he said.

“The competition was not played according to the schedule and there was no light in the gymnasium. Play started at 7am and sometimes ended at 11pm. Because of that players had to wake up at 5am.

“It was a real nightmare, and our women’s team lost their first match by a walkover against Burundi, the weakest team in the competition.

“There were too many misunderstandings and changes in the schedule and they cost us the match,” added Mr Bau.

 “We made a formal appeal, but because people who sit on the technical committee were stuck in the African Badminton Federation’s annual general meeting, which was also a chaos, a decision could not be taken immediately. By the time they came to a conclusion, the referees had gone on with the competition and Burundi had played their second match. They just could not reverse the decision.”

The unfortunate circumstances annoyed the players, according to Mr Bau, and they lost their concentration.
“It has been a disappointing outing for us. We expected a lot from such a very good Seychelles women’s team,” he said.

The women’s team comprised three-time African senior women’s singles champion Juliette Ah-Wan, Katherina Paulin, Alisen Camille, Cynthia Course and Jessy Mancienne.

Ah-Wan said she cried with rage every day over the unfortunate situation.
“This is my worst experience. I feel there was a set-up against us and it’s a sad situation for African badminton,” she said.

As for the men’s team made up of senior players Steve Malcouzane and Georgie Cupidon and two juniors – Richie Course and Kervin Ghislain – Mr Bau said he was very happy with their showing.
“They impressed me and could have made the medals round had they not lost 2-3 to South Africa in the quarterfinal,” he said.

South Africa (women) and Nigeria (men) earned the right to play with the world’s best in Malaysia with victory over Egypt and Mauritius.

Seychelles did win a medal – a bronze – in Uganda in the first Africa Individual meet played from February 24-26.

It was the pair of Alisen Camille and Juliette Ah-Wan who grabbed the bronze in the women’s doubles event.

 After winning a bye in the first round, the two cousins beat the Foo Kune sisters – Karen and Kate – from Mauritius 2 -0 (22-20, 21-17) in their first match. In their quarterfinal encounter, they eliminated Seychellois Mancienne and a Mauritian 2-0 (21-14, 21-15) before taking a bow against a Nigerian duo 1-2 (21-19, 14-21, 19-21) in the semifinal.

G. G.