Football federation rewards its champions |13 December 2021
CEO Bibi and Mrs Moses have been awarded a gold medal each for their hard work
The Seychelles Football Federation hosted its gold medal national team winners for a reward ceremony at the Savoy Seychelles Resort & Spa last Wednesday evening in a gala event.
The players and management of the team who won the gold medal in the four-nation Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa trophy played in Colombo Sri Lanka, were present for this award ceremony in the presence of the Sri Lankan High Commissioner, Srimal Wickremasinghe, principal secretary for Youth and Sports Ralph Jean-Louis and the executive members of the Seychelles Football Federation. The staff of the football office were also among the guests present for this gathering.
Seychelles Football Federation (SFF) president Elvis Chetty welcomed the audience to this grandiose event as he thanked the whole team and their management for this great success.
“We are really proud of your achievement which has brought some much joy to our federation as well as to our football loving nation and more so to yourselves and your family,” said SFF president Chetty.
He also praised the players for showing true determination against all odds especially in the final to overcome a two-goal deficit versus hosts Sri Lanka in front of a partisan crowd to go and win in a penalty shootout 6-4.
“I was really in a depression at this point in the match but once we got a second goal, I had a feeling that we would come back which you did so brilliantly to lift the cup which was just an amazing sense of pride for all of us present in that stadium. Today, we are gathered here to reward you for all your efforts and to say a big thank you,” the SFF president stated.
He went on to express his gratitude to the Sri Lankan high commissioner for the support and high level accommodation as well as hospitality the team had been accorded during their two-week stay in Colombo.
For his part, SFF chief executive George Bibi also had words of praise for the team but also highlighted the dedication of the staff of the federation to assist the team behind the scenes to make this achievement become reality.
“I would like to congratulate the team on bringing this cup and gold medal and I also wish to thank my staff for all their hard work to cater for all the needs of our national team,” Mr Bibi told the audience.
CEO Bibi was awarded with a gold medal as a way of saying thank you from the team for all his endeavours to facilitate the team’s trip to Sri Lanka. The secretary of the football office, Kerin Moses, was also presented with a gold medal by the team’s head coach Vivian Bothe as a sign of recognition and appreciation of her work.
Afterwards the players and team management were handed their cash prize by team manager Michael Delpech along with all the executive members present.
Team manager Delpech thanked firstly SFF chairman Chetty for believing in the team from the onset and also expressed the team’s appreciation for all the support they received during their adventure in Sri Lanka which he admitted was quite tough but the players were committed and remained disciplined throughout to assure a very successful tournament. The sacrifice of the whole squad, manager Delpech claimed, culminated in cup success, which brought so much joy to the local fans.
The evening was preceded by a cocktail and light entertainment for the players and management as they enjoyed the rest of the two-hour event.
In the final, the boys of coach Vivian Bothe trailed 1-0 early in the match after Marvin Hamilton’s long free kick took a deflection off defender Don Fanchette to fly into the net. They managed to equalise with a header by Hubert Jean on the stroke of half-time.
Seychelles gave away another goal in the 50th minute as Mohamed Aakib volleyed into the roof of the net for a 2-1 score.
Qatari referee Mohamedh Alshammari gifted Sri Lanka as Waseem Razeek threw himself to the ground from inside the penalty in the box to con the official and he then picked himself up to shoot past goalkeeper Alvin Michel to make it 3-1. Substitute Elijah Tamboo pulled a goal back to make it 3-2 in the 82nd minute and scored another later after skipping past goalkeeper Perera to slide the ball home to bring the score level at 3-3 and send the game into a penalty shootout.
Two saved penalties by goalkeeper Alvin Michel helped the team to claim the championship and the trophy was handed over to them by Fédération internationale de Football Association (Fifa) president Gianni Infantino.
Seychelles were the only unbeaten team in the tournament after earning draws against Maldives (0-0) and Bangladesh (1-1) and defeating Sri Lanka on a 1-0 score to finish top of the table in a tournament played on a round-robin system with the top two teams progressing to the final.
Contributed
