Badminton: Curtain-raiser competition-Ah-Wan and Cupidon continue dominance |29 May 2006

They dominated the finals of the Curtain-raiser tournament played on Saturday at the La Promenade Gymnasium.

After having participated in the qualifiers of the World Championship, les Internationaux de Maurice and the Commonwealth Games, local badminton players were in action for the first time here with Ah-Wan and Cupidon winning the singles titles for a record eight consecutive year.

A former Sportslady of the Year recipient, Ah-Wan had a rather easy win in the ladies’ singles final, beating Shirley Etienne 2-0 (11-4 11-0).

As for Cupidon, he was challenged all the way by Steve Malcouzane who played on a par with him. Malcouzane displayed some interesting plays throughout the final but Cupidon’s experience paid off. He used all the tricks in the book to avoid an upset, picking himself up from a set down to dispose of his opponent 2-1 (10-15 15-10 15-11).

Cupidon then partnered Joel Dubel in the men’s doubles and they won the final over the unlucky Malcouzane who played with the young Richie Course. The final score was 2-0 (15-10 15-1).

The ladies’ doubles provided Ah-Wan with her second title of the day. She joined forces with Shirley Etienne to upset the duo of Mona Cadeau and Catherina Paulin who was making her comeback in the sport after a two-year absence.

Cupidon gained the upper hand over Ah-Wan - in terms of number of titles won on the day - when he paired with Etienne in the mixed doubles final. They defeated Ah-Wan and Malcouzane 2-0 (15-11 15-13) in a close encounter.

G. J.