Athletes didn’t shy away from big expectations-Sports Review 2010 |31 December 2010
Among the highlights are the XIX Commonwealth Games silver medal won by female weightlifter Janet Georges, another silver claimed by high jumper Lissa Labiche at the African Senior Athletics Championship and Arsu’s record seventh IOCC crown.
Not everything went well this year. Seychelles lost one of its faithful sons – track and field athlete Danny Beauchamp, who always defended the country’s colours with verve and determination. He was 41 years old.
The former jumps specialist died on November 12, 2010 at the North East Point hospice. He had been confined to a wheelchair since he was involved in a road accident on July 4, 2004 at Anse Aux Pins. He was 34 at the time of the accident.
Sportsman of the Year 1993, Beauchamp was a double Indian Ocean Island Games (IOIG) long jump gold medallist in Seychelles (in 1993) and in Reunion (in 1998) and set the Seychelles record in the event with 7.86 metres in Mauritius on June 28, 1992 during the African Senior Athletics Championship to win the bronze medal.
The former all-rounder, whose personal best in the high jump is 2.13 metres, represented Seychelles at the Olympic Games in Barcelona, Spain, in 1992, finishing 37th out of 50 competitors with 7.44m in the long jump. In the high jump, he cleared the bar at 2.10m in the qualifiers to be ranked 38th.
On Friday June 4, Wilhem Boniface passed away. He was involved in football as a player before moving into administration as a member of the Seychelles Football Federation. Active in running the game here, Boniface served the SFF as ordinary member, treasurer and secretary general from 1979 to 2005 when he retired.
In October, the Deaf Sports Association (Seychelles) lost its chairman Rene Barbé. He had held the post since the launch of the association in October 2007.
Georges snatches Commonwealth silver medal
Georges, who became the first Seychellois woman to win a medal at the Games – a bronze with a total lift of 205kg – in Melbourne, Australia in 2006, climbed a step higher on the medals podium of the women’s 69kg weight category at the Jawaharlal Nehru Sports Complex in Delhi, India.
She edged Nigerian Itohan Ebireguesele (215kg) for the silver medal with a performance of 216kg (100kg in snatch and 116kg in clean & jerk).
Speaking to the Agence France Presse, police officer Georges said she could have done better.
"I went for 102kg in my third lift in the snatch. I usually lift that but today I failed. In clean and jerk also I did the same," she said.
Her result matches the previous best result achieved by boxers Roland Raforme (heavyweight) and Jerry Legras (light welterweight) after Canadian fighters dashed their gold medal dreams in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in 1998. Raforme lost 13-21 to Mark Simmons and Legras 8-16 to Mike Strange.
Labiche fulfils date with Seychelles athletics
In Nairobi, Kenya, Labiche fulfilled her date with Seychelles athletics with a silver medal won in the Nyayo National Stadium with a bar of 1.70m at the 17th African Senior Athletics Championship.
“I feel good and happy after winning the silver medal. I could have won the gold medal but my foot clipped the bar each time,” a beaming Labiche told Sports Nation when in Reunion, where she defended her gold medal at the 7th Jeux de la Commission de la Jeunesse et des Sports de l’Océan Indien (CJSOI).
Shot putters Marie-Helen Rose and Ronny Bristol helped spare Seychelles’ blushes with a gold medal apiece in track and field athletics during the 7th CJSOI Games, which were probably the biggest disappointment ever for the country. The medals tally was 17 – three gold, five silver and nine bronze.
Labiche also won the high jump silver medal after clearing the bar at 1.70m – 9 centimetres below her best effort of 1.79m – at the Southern Region Youth Athletics Championship in Gaborone, Botswana, to help the Seychelles team finish eighth out of 12 in the medals standings.
Jumps specialist Janet Boniface took the long jump title at the Southern Region Junior Athletics Championship in Maputo, Mozambique, with a best leap of 5.91m – a personal best – and 1cm short of Joanna Houareau’s junior record of 5.92m set here on June 4, 1998.
Arsu win record seventh IOCC title
In volleyball, a depleted but spirited Arsu team defended their IOCC crown to claim a record seventh title in Mauritius with a come-from-behind 3-2 (21-25, 19-25, 25-22, 25-22, 15-3) win over Tranquebar Black Rangers of the host country.
Captain Jerina Bonne was voted the Most Valuable Player of the tournament while teammate Marie-Antoine Gilbert won the best defender title and Cascade’s Sandra Joseph took the best setter award.
Unfortunately, Arsu did not fare well on the local scene as Friends won the first division league title for the first time and Cascade claimed the Seychelles Volleyball Federation Cup.
Coach Bernard Denis’ Premium Spikers completed a second league and cup double in history, and also won the Division One cup and the Curtain-raiser trophy.
HotShots and PLS Hawks extended their stranglehold on local basketball by completing another league and cup double – a feat not many teams have achieved and can only aspire to do so.
Hawks also finished third in the IOCC in Madagascar.
In boxing, featherweight fist-fighter Andrique Allisop won a bronze medal at the Dan Pozniak Cup in Vilnius, Lithuania, and was rewarded with a silver after losing 8-10 to Moroccan Malek Said in the 57kg final of the maiden All-Africa Youth Games in Morocco. He had won on points – 15-3 – against Togolese Hounkpatin Jomlangam in the semifinal.
Swimmer Shane Mangroo won two bronze medals in the pool of the Mohamed V Swimming Complex at the same Games. The reigning Young Male Athlete of the Year finished third in the 100m butterfly, stopping the clock at 1 minute 01.83 seconds (1:01.83) to improve his personal best time by 4 seconds, and in the 50m freestyle in a time of 25.38 seconds.
In football, St Michel reclaimed the Barclays league division one title and St Louis Suns captured the Land Marine Cup.
Sultan wins table tennis gold at Anoca Games
At the 2nd Anoca (Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa) Games in Mauritius, table tennis player Godfrey Sultan won the singles gold medal with a 3-0 (11-8, 11-7, 11-4) win over Mauritian number one Warren Li Kam Wa.
Badminton players Kervin Ghislain and Cynthia Course won a silver medal each in the men’s and women’s singles. They then paired together in the mixed doubles to win a bronze medal and finish second for the silver medal in the team event.
Judokas Brigitte Rose and Naddy Jeanne were ranked second in the team event. Rose also took the silver medal in the +63kg class, while Jeanne finished third in the +76g category.
Rose then entered the Tournoi de Noël in Mauritius, triumphing in the -78kg division. Other local judokas also took part in the Mauritius Open, winning eight medals – 2 gold, four silver and 2 bronze.
The gold medallists were Michel Vidot (boys minime 42kg) and Marie-Annette Vidot (women’s -70kg), while the silver medals went to Mario Brigillia (boys benjamin 40kg), Dominic Dugasse (men’s 100kg), Alexander Marie (boys’ cadet +100kg) and Amanda Payet (women’s -70kg). Paddy King (women’s 57kg) and Francis Labrosse (men’s 66kg) finished third to win a bronze medal apiece.
Table tennis player Sultan was ranked third in the men’s singles event of the internationaux de l’île Maurice – SIMS International Tournament – losing the semifinal 0-3 (5-11, 4-11, 8-11) to Reunionnais Cédric Agathe who went on to beat Mauritian Warren Li Kam Wa 3-1 in the final.
At the 2nd Jeux de l’Espoir in Mauritius, young local athletes won eight medals – 4 gold, 3 silver and 1 bronze. The gold medallists were Chlorie Cadeau (girls’ singles badminton), Stephanie Underwood (3,000m in 12:48.02), Stephanie Agathe (long jump with 5.08m) and Ryan Govinden (50m backstroke in 34 seconds).
Govinden also won two silver medals in 50m freestyle (28 seconds) and 50m butterfly (32 seconds) as well as a bronze in 50m breaststroke. Table tennis player Dario Laurence won the other silver medal.
Sensei Athanasius becomes international knockdown judge
In karate, Sensei Erna Athanasius was certified as an international knockdown karate judge by the International Karate Organisation Kyokushinkaikan (IKO). A third dan black belt holder, Athanasius is the first Seychellois woman karateka to achieve such a feat and is so far the only certified woman judge on the African continent. She took her exams in Japan while taking part in the 2010 International Youth, Female and Senior Tournament.
Local boat Hyundai, skippered by Frenchman Yann Eliès, clinched the Seychelles Regatta revolving trophy sponsored by the Seychelles Tourism Board (STB) – succeeding Michel Desjoyeaux’s Champagne Nicolas Feuillatte as champions.
Other than Eliès and wife Olivia Guichard, the Hyundai crew members were Paul Hodoul, Mervyn Cafrine, André Hoareau, Neville Humphrey, Cedric D’Offay, André D’Offay, Dianne D’Offay, Yann D’Offay Mancienne and Perry Mancienne.
"When Hyundai wins, it’s a win for Seychelles," said skipper Eliès, who described the week at sea as "memorable and full of discovery".
Praslinois Jean-Marc Gardette finished as runner-up in the 10th Mana Mana Amsla windsurfing championship of the Adeco Asian windsurfing tour in Singapore. He was second in the first and second races before finishing third in race number three and fifth in the fourth to amass 12 points – two more than the total of winner Bo Ruamsap of Thailand – an Asian Games gold medallist.
Tennis prodigy Laporte wins in Reunion
In tennis, young Damien Laporte took centre-stage, winning two cups in the 8-year-old category at the Open des Pirates tournament in Reunion. He also trained and competed in four under-12 tournaments on clay court in Bujumbura, Burundi, reaching one final which he lost 0-2 (4-6, 4-6). He made it to third place in two other tournaments after losing in the semifinals. The eight-year-old, who met star player Roger Federer recently, played only three of his five matches in the fourth tournament because he had to catch his flight back home and was ranked eighth out of 18 players after playing for 12 days in a row. Locally, he reached the STA singles final, losing to Selwyn Lespoir – 31 years his senior.
England-based Nick Baldwin was the winner of the Winchester Triathlon in the United Kingdom, completing the race, which comprised a 400m swim, 20-mile cycle and 5-mile run, in 1 hour 29 minutes 14 seconds, nearly three minutes faster than the runner-up.
The triathlete achieved his most accomplished performance to date according to him, when he finished 10th out of 38 in the 18-24 age group of the world’s best long-distance specialists in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii.
Making his debut in the event, Baldwin also achieved an overall placing of 252nd out of over 1,800 competitors, including 121 professionals, tackling the 2.4-mile ocean swim, 112-mile cycle and 26.2-mile marathon run in temperatures of 40 degrees. His time was 9h42:41.
Back to weightlifting, but this time at the 17th African Senior Weightlifting Championship in Yaoundé, Cameroon where Georges made a clean sweep of the gold medals – 111kg in the clean & jerk and 95kg in the snatch for an Olympic total of 206kg – in the women’s 69kg category.
Katsia Télémaque returned home with three silver medals after snatching 65kg and heaving 80kg – a new record – in the clean & jerk for an Olympic total of 145kg in the 48kg division.
Ruby Malvina settled for a clean & jerk bronze medal with 75kg on the bar in the 53kg category.
Terrence Dixie finished with two silvers in the clean & jerk (160kg) and snatch (126kg) in the 85kg class.
As Seychelles prepares to host the Eighth Indian Ocean Island Games (IOIG) slated for August 5-14, 2011, the organisers started receiving help from overseas partners in 2010.
They received equipment (two Xerox photocopiers, 30 desktops, six laptops, six laser printers and six 42-inch flat screens) worth US $100,000 from Libya, and a boxing ring and judo mats worth R200,00 from the People’s Republic of China. Seychelles expects to receive more sports equipment for the Games from the European Union, through France and Reunion.
Former boxer Jerry Legras was awarded the 2010 International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) trophy for Sport – inspiring young people. He received the trophy from Seychelles Olympic and Commonwealth Games Association (Socga) president Antonio Gopal.
G. G.
Allisop punched his way to a featherweight silver medal at the All-Africa Youth Games
MANGROO … twice bronze medallist in swimming at the All-Africa Youth Games
ARSU … record seven IOCC title wins
Young tennis player Laporte won two tournaments in Reunion
Jeux de l’Espoir gold medallists. From left to right: Govinden, Cadeau, Agathe and Underwood