AFTER capturing the ladies' singles bronze medal of the 5th All-Africa Junior Badminton Championship and the ladies' singles gold of the Commission de la Jeunesse et des Sports de l'Océan indien (CJSOI) badminton competition last year, young Catherina Paulin has added another piece of silverware to her prized collection.

Paulin, a student of the School of Health, returned home recently from participating in the prestigious South Africa International Open competition, played at the Nutting Hall in East London, with a silver medal won in the ladies' singles competition.

Playing in the bottom half of the draw of the singles competition, Paulin beat South African Marika Daubern 3-1 (2-7 7-0 7-3 7-1) to reach the quarterfinals where she met another South African, Chantel Beaurain, winning 3-0 (7-4 7-2 7-0) this time. In the semifinals, Paulin faced a real test as she came face to face with Mauritian number two Sharma Aboobakar who had beaten her in the Kenya Open earlier this year.

The 17-year-old, who defeated Aboobakar on her way to winning the singles bronze medal of the 5th All-Africa Junior Championship last year, brought her number of wins against the Mauritian to two with a 3-0 (7-1 7-5 7-1) victory in the semifinal.

In the final, she clashed with South African number one Michelle Edwards, who is also the African continent's top female player, and lost 3-0 (2-7 2-7 0-7).

"I, a junior player, am very happy to have won a silver medal in a senior competition. The competition itself was tough and I was not expecting to finish among the medallists at first. My 3-0 victory over Aboobakar was sweet and it will help in boosting my confidence for future competitions," said Paulin.

Two other Seychellois ladies – Juliette Ah-Wan and Shirley Etienne – were among the 15 entries in the women's singles competition. Former Sportslady of the Year and Seychelles number one Juliette Ah-Wan was stopped in the semifinal by eventual champion Edwards on a 0-3 (5-7 1-7 2-7) score.

Ah-Wan, a two-time Kenya Open winner, had walked over Nigerian Grace Daniel – the gold medallist of last year's 5th All-Africa Junior Badminton Championship in her first match before overcoming the challenge of Mauritian number one, Amrita Sawaram, 3-0 (7-3 7-4 7-1) in the quarters.

As for Etienne, she walked over South African Charné Du Preez and was the first of gold medallist Edwards' three Seychellois casualties when she was beaten 0-3 (1-7 2-7 0-7) in the quarterfinals.

Men's and women's doubles bronze

Apart from Paulin's silver medal, local badminton players also returned home with two bronze in the men's and women's doubles events.

In the women's doubles, the duo of Paulin and Ah-Wan beat South Africans Jackie Boshoff and Lynette Turner 3-0 (7-6 7-1 7-2) in their first match to meet compatriot Etienne and her South African partner, Chantel Beaurain, in the quarterfinals.

Paulin and Ah-Wan came out victorious on a 3-1 (7-0 7-1 3-7 7-1) score but they failed to make it to the final after losing 1-3 (7-5 5-7 6-7 1-7) to the South African pair of Chantal Botts and Michele Edwards who went on to take the gold medal in front of compatriots Marika Daubern and Antoinette Uys.

The duo of Georgie Cupidon and Nicholas Jumaye also grabbed a bronze medal in the men's doubles event.

After winning a bye straight into the second round, Cupidon and Jumaye then walked over the South African pair of Morne De Beer and Herbert Miles to meet the fierce Mauritian duo of Stephan Beeharry and Vishal Sawaram, whom they beat 3-2 (3-7 3-7 7-3 7-1 7-4) in the quarters.

The Seychellois' journey was stopped in the semifinals by Stewart Carson and Doram James of South Africa who beat them 3-1 (7-8 8-7 7-3 7-5).

The other Seychellois duo of Steve Malcouzane and Allen Azemia collected just one win over South Africans Anne De Bruyn and Juan Swart on a 3-0 (7-1 7-3 7-2) score before losing 1-3 (7-2 1-7 6-8 5-7) to Richard Vaughan and Chris Van Der Westhuizen.

In the men's singles which saw 28 entries, Cupidon lost his first round encounter 0-3 (5-7 5-7 4-7) to Mauritian Vishal Sawaram, Azemia fell 1-3 (4-7 7-5 1-7 0-7) to South African Herbert Miles, Jumaye walked over Zambian Juma Muwowo before losing 0-3 (6-8 2-7 1-7) to South African Johan Kleingeld and Malcouzane beat South African Juan Swart 3-0 (7-2 7-0 7-1) before falling 0-3 (2-7 6-8 3-7) in front of Chris Dednam, another South African.

The other event our flagbearers participated in was the mixed doubles. Malcouzane and Etienne won a bye into the second round where they beat South Africans Jackie Boshoff and Clive Einkamere 3-1 (7-2 5-7 7-6 7-1). They then lost 0-3 (0-7 5-7 6-8) to Mauritians Stephan Beeharry and Sharma Aboobakar.

Cupidon and Ah-Wan also won a bye into the second round but they lost 1-3 (6-8 2-7 8-6 2-7) to South Africans Johan Kleingeld and Marika Daubern in the quarters.

Like the other two Seychellois pairs, the duo of Jumaye and Paulin also won a bye but could go no further in the competition after losing 0-3  (1-7 2-7 4-7) to South Africans Chris Dednam and Antoinette Uys.

It is to be noted that the local badminton players, who faced their former coach – Chinese Luo – now coaching the Mauritians, were using the South Africa International Open competition as preparation for next month's All-Africa Championship in Morocco.