XX Commonwealth Games, Glasgow - Seychelles just misses out on its first medals |28 July 2014

Weightlifter Clementina Agricole and judoka Brigitte Rose lost out on giving Seychelles its first medals on Saturday at the ongoing XX Commonwealth Games being held in Glasgow, Scotland.

Judoka Rose was competing in the -78kg class and managed some good performances earlier before losing to eventual silver medallist Gemma Gibbons of England in the quarterfinals. This meant she now had to compete for the bronze medal, but she lost to Canadian Ana Laura Portuondo by ippon in less than 15 seconds.
 

Naddy Jeanne was also in action for Seychelles on Friday and he lost in the round of 16 to Northern Ireland’s Eoin Fleming. Jeanne had won his earlier bout by ippon against Gervas Leonard Chilipweli of Tanzania.

Jeanne cast doubts on his future in judo after the fight, saying: “I may not fight again, my friends have told me to continue, but I may not fight again.”
Also in action was reigning Sportsman of the Year Dominic Dugasse and he lost by ippon against Scotland’s Euan Burton in the -100kg category. Dugasse had earlier defeated Northern Ireland’s Mark Montgomery by ippon.

Scotland flag bearer Euan Burton went on to win the gold medal in the -100kg class as his English wife Gemma Gibbons had to settle for silver.  Burton overcame Shah Hussain Shah of Pakistan, while Wales' Natalie Powell overcame Gibbons for the -78kg gold.

In weightlifting, Clementina Agricole was holding much of Seychelles’ hope on her shoulders and she almost made us proud as she only just missed out on a bronze medal in the 58kg weight class.

She managed to lift 88kg in the snatch event before going on to lift 111kg in clean & jerk for an Olympic total of 199kg, which was just 3kg less than the total achieved by third-placed Michaela Breeze of Wales. The gold medal went to England’s Zoe Smith who lifted a total of 210kg for a new Commonwealth Games record.

Ruby Malvina was also in action in the same category and she managed to lift 75kg in snatch and 95kg in clean & jerk for a total of 170kg, which was good enough for a 10th place finish.

Meanwhile, in swimming, our swimmers had better times at the pool on Friday and Saturday, taking better finishing positions in the heats, despite not making it to the finals.

Felicity Passon finished the women’s 50m freestyle heat in eighth place with a time of 27.52 seconds, which was not enough to see her through to the semifinals.

On Saturday, Felicity managed to finish third in her 50m butterfly heats, behind a Jamaican and Kenyan swimmer respectively. Her time in this event was 28.95 seconds which again did not put her in the semis as the slowest qualifying time was 27.62 seconds.

Male swimmer Dean Hoffman managed a fifth place finish in the 200m freestyle heats in 2:14.60, far behind the slowest qualifying time of 1:48.98. Australian Cameron McEvoy had the fastest time of 1:46.39.

Hoffman also finished seventh in the 100m freestyle heats event with a time of 58.07 seconds while Adam Viktora claimed a second place finish with 55.10 seconds. They both did not qualify for the semis. The slowest qualifying time for this event was 50.84 seconds, with Australian James Magnussen getting the fastest time of 48.47 seconds.

Hoffman did manage a first place finish though in his 50m backstroke heat where he managed to finish in 30.87 seconds, a time that still was not enough for a semifinal berth.

Adam Viktora also finished seventh in his 200m freestyle heat in a time of 2:04.65. The slowest qualifying time was 1:48.98 and again Cameron McEvoy of Australia got the fastest time of 1:46.39.

Meanwhile, in boxing, Andrique Allisop has impressed the Scottish fans with his all-action display against Tom Boga from Papua New Guinea in the 60kg round of 16 bout which he won 3-0.

It’s well worth noting that Allisop seems to be a popular figure in Scotland as the Scottish already knew his reputation in the ring even before he stepped in.

On Friday night, Keddy Agnes was in action and he lost his round of 16 +91kg fight on points – 0-3 – to England’s Joyce Joseph.

On Friday night, Seychelles’ badminton team played their final group C match and despite battling hard they suffered a 3-2 defeat at the hands of Guernsey. First the team of Georgie Cupidon and Juliette Ah-Wan set the tone by defeating Stuart Hardy and Gayle Lloyd 2-1 (21-23, 21-11, 21-11), before Guernsey equalised through Daniel Penney who defeated Kervin Ghislain 2-1 (21-16, 22-24, 21-17).

Guernsey took the lead when Elna Johnson defeated Alisen Camille 2-0 (21-14, 21-13) and Seychelles then equalled the contest as Cupidon teamed up with Steve Malcouzane to defeat Penney and Hardy 2-0 (21-16, 21-14).

Seychelles could not take the win however as Ah-Wan and Camille could not win against Johnson and Lloyd. The score was 2-1 (21-17, 16-21, 21-19) which gave Seychelles a third defeat in the same number of outings at the Emirates Arena.

Text and photos Sedrick Nicette in Glasgow