Badminton: South African Open Championship

Far from convincing performances by local players

THE four badminton players – Juliette Ah-Wan, Shirley Etienne, Georgie Cupidon and Steve Malcouzane – who represented Seychelles in last weekend's South African Open Championship in Pretoria, have returned with far from convincing results.

The four players, who were accompanied by Chinese coach Luo, participated in the individual event – ladies' and men's singles, ladies' and men's doubles and mixed doubles.

Reigning male badminton player of the year Georgie Cupidon was the country's best performer at the championship, reaching the semifinal of the men's singles.

Cupidon was the country's best performer

Cupidon, Seychelles number one male player to date, won a bye straight in the second round of the men's singles where he defeated Zambian G. Muwowo on a 2-0 (15-13 15-9) score to book his ticket for the quarterfinals.

The 22-year-old, who easily won the season-opening Curtain-raiser tournament last month, continued in the same vein in the quarterfinal, defeating Mauritian K. Baboolall 2-0 (15-13 15-3) to qualify for the semifinal where he fell 0-2 (3-15 7-15) to C. Dednan of South Africa.

Former Sportslady of the Year Ah-Wan could only reach the quarterfinal, losing 0-2 (4-11 1-11) to South African Chantal Baotts.

To reach the last-eight stage, Ah-Wan, crowned women's singles champion of the All-Africa Senior Badminton Championship in Casablanca, Morocco, in 2002, beat Canbaca Holmes of the host country 2-0 (11-2 11-6). 

As for the other female representative, Shirley Etienne, she lost her first match of the ladies' singles 0-2 (2-11 3-11) to another South African, M. Baubern.

Steve Malcouzane, on the other hand, who played in the second half of the draw, won a bye into the second round of the men's singles where he edged South African A. Kriel 2-1 (15-13 16-17 16-1) before going down 0-2 (9-15 5-15) to E. Ekiring from the host country in the quarterfinal.  

In the ladies' doubles, Etienne and Ah-Wan managed to win their first round match against a South African pair on a 2-0 (15-10 15-7) score but unfortunately for them, their dream of progressing further in the competition was shattered when they lost their second game 0-2 (15-17 8-15 ) to Mauritians Aboubacar and Samara.

For their part, Cupidon and Malcouzane thrashed a Ugandan pair 2-0 (15-5 15-0) in their first match of the men's doubles before losing on the same score (7-15 11-15) to two South African opponents.

In the mixed doubles, neither Cupidon/Ah-Wan nor Malcouzane/Etienne could grab a win.

Cupidon and Ah-Wan, who usually make up a destructive pair, lost 1-2 (15-13 6-15 7-15) to a South African duo, while Etienne and Malcouzane fell 0-2 (7-15- 5-15) to two South Africans.

It is worth noting that the four players entered the South African Open Championship with the aim of doing their very best in the Olympic qualifier so as to score maximum points to improve their world rankings.

The fact that Seychellois players did not participate in Olympic qualifiers last year as all attention was on the Sixth Indian Ocean Islands Games (IOIG) in Mauritius, it is very difficult for them to qualify directly for the XXVIII edition of the Olympic Games in Athens, Greece.

Their only chance of making it to the biggest multi-sports competition is by qualifying through wild cards.

For their wild card applications to be granted though, the players need to give very good performances in the Olympic qualifiers they participate in to earn as many points as possible.

In April, the same four players will travel to Mauritius for two competitions, namely the Mauritius Open (April 15-18) and the All-Africa Senior Badminton Championship (April 19-25).

The Mauritius Open, it is to note, will also serve as Olympic qualifier.

C. J.