Inter-school basketball tournament |25 October 2023
Mont Fleuri are the winners of the boys’ inter-school basketball competition (Photo: Neil Sirame)
Mont Fleuri, Plaisance secondary crowned champions
The Mont Fleuri secondary school boys’ and Plaisance girls’ teams clinched their first trophy in the revamped inter-school basketball tournament.
The finals took place last Saturday at the Victoria Gymnasium where Mont Fleuri triumphed over Praslin secondary 37-35 to be crowned the boys’ champions, while the Plaisance secondary girls’ team – PLS Suns – thrashed Anse Boileau secondary 19-6. There was also a shooting contest.
Mont Fleuri defeated Independent School 34-22 in the semifinal whereas Praslin collected a 40-35 win over Anse Boileau. In the girls’ competition, Anse Boileau and Plaisance finished top in their respective pool to move straight to the final as the other teams did not have the required number of players to stay in the competition.
Speaking to Sports NATION, Daniel Zialor of Mont Fleuri said they are proud of their well-deserved victory in the tournament. “We are very happy to win the tournament and make our school proud,” mentioned Zialor.
He also said they “received strong resistance from Praslin in the final but were able to persevere to get the win”.
“For the forthcoming league competition, we will be coming all out to win the title and we will keep on training and work hard to achieve our target,” added Zialor.
On behalf of PLS Suns (Plaisance secondary), Larisa Jacques and Anika Coopoosamy said they are satisfied with their performance in the final but felt they could have played better taking into consideration their level of training prior to taking part in the competition.
“We tried our best and it worked and it is worthy to note that our opponents played well too,” said Coopoosamy.
As for Larisa Jacques, she said the tournament was of a good level with a number of tough matches, but they were determined and thanks to their rigorous training they were able to improve and gradually overcome all their opponents to win the competition.
The pair stated that their team will stay together and in the future hopefully play for the country’s women’s national team. They mentioned that they support and motivate each other in training and competitions, adding that PLS Suns will continue to bring their best game to the fans and basketball lovers.
The Seychelles Basketball Federation in collaboration with the Ministry of Education launched the basketball competition on October 14, 2023 with the aim of re-kindling interest in the sport among the youth. Teams played in regional pools in the preliminary rounds. The other schools that took part were Anse Royale, Pointe Larue, International, Ile Persévérance, English River, Beau Vallon and Belonie.
The tournament was also a prelude to the inter-school league which will start next year.
Neil Sirame
