Badminton: 11th Indian Ocean Islands Games – Madagascar |25 May 2023
Anticipating fruitful results in Madagascar
The Seychelles Badminton Association has high expectations for the forthcoming 11th Indian Ocean Islands Games 2023 scheduled to take place in Madagascar from August 23 to September 3, coach Juliette Waye-Hive has told Sports NATION.
She made the prognostic based on the players’ performances in tournaments, as well as their explosive efforts and commitment during training.
A former player herself, coach Juliette Waye-Hive (formerly Ah-Wan) said they have some promising young athletes who are committed and well-focussed on their training.
She said they are planning to name their selection at the end of this month, before heading for 30-day training camp in India, end of June.
Coach Way-Hive said the players are constantly training and competing in regular overseas tournaments. In February, five players, namely Jakim Renaud, Luo Jie, Aaron Malcouzane, Ryan Boniface and Alissen Camille took part in the African Senior Championships held in South Africa.
She said the federation launched its calendar with the Curtain-raiser tournament in April, where the winners received cash prizes.
Alisen Camille won the ladies’ singles, with Luo Xiang finishing as runner-up, while in the men’s singles, the winner was Jakim Renaud, pushing his older brother Jervis Renaud into second place.
Luo Xiang teamed up with Alissen Camille to win the ladies’ doubles, while Waye-Hive who paired up with Shirley Etienne finished as runners-up.
Yohan Didon and Steve Malcouzane won the men’s doubles, with the Siva Godandaraman duo finishing as runners-up.
In the mixed doubles Liana Bedier and Steve Malcouzane finished first, ahead of Ryan Boniface who teamed up with Etienne.
Coach Way-Hive noted that they already have a preselected team, but the tournament offered some insights on who will make the final selection of six male and six female athletes.
She added that there are newcomers and they are all training hard to make the team, and together with coach Joel Dubel they are observing and analysing their performances.
At the last games in 2019 in Mauritius, Seychelles won only three medals ‒ one silver and two bronze.
The silver medal came courtesy of Camille in the ladies’ singles, while the two bronze medals were won by Camille and Danielle Jupiter in the ladies’ doubles, and Kervin Ghislain and Jie Luo in the men’s doubles.
Neil Sirame
