African Senior Badminton Championship-What a feat! |13 December 2006
Despite their new found fame, Juliette Ah-Wan and Georgie Cupidon, Seychelles’ new African queen and king of badminton, had their feet firmly on the ground but did not miss the opportunity to wear big smiles on their faces for the photo session.
Outside the airport, only their parents, relatives, boyfriends and girlfriends were there to 
The two shuttlers won the mixed doubles gold medal with a 2-1 (21-16, 17-21, 21-16) final victory against the South African duo of James Doram and Michelle Edwards after having worked wonders.
Not even seeded at the start of the championship, Ah-Wan also delivered on her promise of returning home with the ladies’ singles gold medal, four years after claiming the same title in Casablanca, Morocco.
Sportslady of the Year 2000 Ah-Wan, who played at 60% of her capacity according to Seychelles Badminton Association (SBA) chairman Michel Bau who also made the trip to Algeria, beat South African Stacey Doubell 2-0 (21-10, 21-12) in the final.
The Seychelles team won three other medals – a silver and two bronze.
The silver medal was won by the ladies’ doubles pair of Ah-Wan and Catherina Paulin who lost 0-2 (12-21, 21-23) to Steffy Doubell and Michelle Edwards of South Africa in the final.
Cupidon and Steve Malcouzane were eliminated on a 1-2 (13-25, 25-23, 13-21) score by the Dednam brothers – Christoffel and Roelof – of South Africa at the semifinal stage of the men’s doubles individual competition to take the other bronze medal.
The last bronze medal was won in the team event after the six-player Seychelles team of Ah-Wan, Cupidon, Shirley Etienne, Steve Malcouzane, Paulin and Danielle Jupiter fell 2-3 to hosts Algeria in the semifinal.
Seychelles first won medals in the championship in 2000 when the duo of Cupidon and Nicholas Jumaye won the men’s doubles bronze medal. Two years later (in 2002), Ah-Wan won the ladies’ singles gold medal and then teamed up with Catherina Paulin to capture the bronze medal in the ladies’ doubles.
In 2004, Seychelles won two bronze medals in the ladies’ doubles (Ah-Wan and Etienne) and team event (Cupidon, Ah-Wan, Jumaye, Etienne, Malcouzane and Jupiter).
What a feat for the Seychelles team!
What the African champions said:
Juliette Ah-Wan – ladies’ singles and mixed doubles gold medallist
“I’m very happy to be African champion once again. I’ve not only reclaimed the ladies’ singles title, I’ve added the mixed doubles crown to it. The six-week training camp in China really helped. I worked hard in training and made a lot of sacrifices to now reap the reward. I remained concentrated all along during the championship and the coach’s advice really helped. Reaching three finals is also a big achievement.”
Georgie Cupidon – mixed doubles gold medallist
“I don’t understand why it has taken us so long to win the mixed doubles gold medal. I’m happy now that we’ve done it. I hope that we will be able to retain the title in the next championship. In the team event semifinal against Algeria, we were let down by some biased officiating. It’s not fair for a host country to cheat just to reach the final. I’m sure that we would have won the gold medal had we reached the final against South Africa. There will always be a next time.”
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The results
Team event
Seychelles won against Uganda (4-1), Zambia (4-1), Ghana (5-0), Morocco (4-1) and Mauritius (5-0) to win pool A. They then lost 2-3 to Algeria in the semifinal.
Men’s singles
Malcouzane beat Roelof Dednam of South Africa 2-1 (22-20, 21-23, 21-18)
Malcouzane lost 0-2 (15-21, 13-21) to Zambian Eli Mambwe in the quarterfinal
Ladies’ singles
Ah-Wan beat Ryma Boudalaa of Algeria 2-0 (21-9, 28-26) in the first round
Ah-Wan beat Alaa Youcef Fathy of Egypt 2-0 (21-12, 21-15) in the second round
Ah-Wan beat Kerry Lee Harrington of South Africa 2-0 (21-7, 21-8) in the quarterfinal
Ah-Wan beat Karen Foo-Kune of Mauritius 2-0 (21-9, 21-17) in the semifinal
Ah-Wan beat Stacey Doubell of South Africa 2-0 (21-10, 21-12) in the final
Jupiter lost 0-2 (13-21, 13-21) to Charne Dupreez of South Africa in the first round
Paulin beat Manyazewal Mistre of Ethiopia 2-0 921-4, 21-4) in the first round
Paulin lost 0-2 (12-21, 9-21) to Amrita Sawaram of Mauritius in the second round
Etienne lost 0-2 (13-21, 19-21) to Raja Rochdy of Morocco in the first round
Mixed doubles
Cupidon and Ah-Wan beat Tewodros and Mekdes of Ethiopia 2-0 (21-10, 21-9) in the second round
Cupidon and Ah-Wan beat Amrita Sawaram and Vishal Sawaram of Mauritius 2-0 (21-8, 21-17) in the quarterfinal
Cupidon and Ah-Wan beat Roelof Dednam and Kerry Lee Harrington of South Africa 2-0 (21-11, 21-19) in the semifinal
Cupidon and Ah-Wan beat James Doram and Michelle Edwards of South Africa 2-1 (21-16, 17-21, 21-16) in the final
Men’s doubles
Cupidon and Malcouzane beat Owono and Kodo of Cameroon 2-0 (21-11, 21-6) in the second round
Cupidon and Malcouzane beat E. Ramy and Sayed Mohamed of Egypt 2-0 (21-10, 21-19) in the quarterfinal
Cupidon and Malcouzane lost 1-2 (13-25, 25-23, 13-21) to Roelof Dednam and Christoffel Dednam of South in the semifinal
Ladies’ doubles
Ah-Wan and Paulin beat Dupreez and K.L Hamington of South Africa 2-0 (21-12, 21-14) in the second round
Ah-Wan and Paulin beat Marquer of Mauritius and Zni Pangila of Zambia 2-0 (21-13, 21-15) in the quarterfinal
Ah-Wan and Paulin beat Alaa and Hadia of Egypt 2-0 (21-3, 21-10) in the semifinal
Ah-Wan and Paulin lost 0-2 (12-21, 21-23) to Stacey Doubell and Michelle Edwards of South Africa in the final
G.G