Sports Awards of the Year 2005 |27 January 2006

Ronny Marie – athletics

HIS 2005 season came to an abrupt end with a severe ankle injury during a training camp in Mauritius ahead of the Jeux de la Francophonie.
Long-strided Marie was the overall winner of the cross-country at the start of the season and he also got the 4-km Seychelles record. During the Athletics Cup, he equalised the 1,500m manual best time of 3 minutes 52.6 seconds.
Internationally, he was placed sixth in the Southern Region Half-Marathon in Seychelles, finished 98th in the World Cross-Country Championship and won the 1,500m race of the Lucozade series in Mauritius.
“I’m not expecting to win the Sportsman of the Year title, but I’m hoping for a top-five finish,” said Marie who reached the final for the first time in 2001.

Thomas Collie – basketball

In 2005, playmaker Thomas Collie was instrumental in guiding a short-handed PLS Hawks squad to achieving a double.
PLS Hawks started the 2005 season with a third position in the Curtain-raiser competition, but went on to win four titles – the Charity match, the National Day Tournament, the League championship and the SBF Cup.
After sweeping the best-of-three SBF Cup final series, PLS Hawks brought their number of wins to four in six encounters against main rivals Premium Cobras in 2005.
They also achieved a League and Cup double for a second time in four years. The last time was in 2001.
Collie, 26, told Sports Nation that “I was not expecting to reach the final and I’m happy that I have done it. For the rest, I’ll let the selection committee do its job.”

Jovet Jean – boxing

YOUNG boxer Jean trained at the Tunisian Boxing Centre in Tunis, Tunisia in 2005 after receiving a 10-month scholarship from the Confejes (Conférence des ministres de la Jeunesse et des Sports des pays ayant le français en partage) and the Fonds Francophone pour la préparation olympique.
The hard-hitting pugilist made his debut at the Association internationale de boxe amateur (AIBA) XIII World Senior Boxing Championship in Mianyang city, China. He won by RSCB (Referee Stopped Contest Body) when leading 31-19 on points against Israeli Sergey Golovandu in the first round.
Jean’s adventure in the 69-kg category was stopped by American pugilist Boyd Arnold Melson, a crop-topped 2004 World Military champion, in the second round. He lost by RSCOS (Referee Stopped Contest Outclass Score) in the third of the four-round bout.
At the Jeux de la Francophonie in Niger, Jean won his first fight and then lost his second.
Chosen as the country’s best boxer for the first time, Jean, 21, told Sports Nation that “I’m happy to feature among the finalists and I would be even happier to get a top-five finish.”

Tony Lespoir – canoeing

AFTER being invited by the International Canoe Federation (ICF) to train in the Hungarian capital of Budapest, Lespoir, a 15-year veteran in the sport of canoeing, improved his personal best times during the 34th ICF Flatwater Racing World Championships Seniors 2005 in Zabreb, Croatia.
Lespoir registered personal best times which also went down as Seychelles records over two distances - K1 200m (43.713 seconds) and K1 500m (1 minute 56.724 seconds).
A 10-time canoeist of the year, Lespoir also participated in the African Canoeing Championships in St Louis, Senegal.
After finishing fourth overall last year, Lespoir, 29, had this to say:
“I hope I can do better than the fourth place achieved in 2004. But everything rests in the hands of the selection committee, I’ll wait for its decision.”
Lespoir won all local races – 100m, 200m, 400m, 500m, 800m, 1,000m and 1,500m – in 2005.

Hudson Mathieu – cycling

CYCLIST Mathieu has never won the Sportsman of the Year title but is a four-time runner-up to Benjamin Lo-Pinto in 1999, Allan Julie in 2000 and 2001 and Steven Baccus in 2003.
In 2004, Mathieu did not finish among the top-five, but the cyclist showed in 2005 that he remains the best local rider.
After training and competing in France, Mathieu won a record eighth National Championship in nine years, finished as runner-up to Belgian Gilles Devilliers in the annual Tour des Seychelles with one stage win.
He was the country’s best rider in both the Tour de Maurice (fifth place overall and winner of the green jersey) and Tour de la Réunion (33rd out of 62 participants after breaking the handlebars of his bicycle in one of the races).
A four-time young male athlete of the year in 1996, 1997, 1998 and 1999, Mathieu finished third overall in 2002 and fifth in 1998. He competed in the African Championship in Egypt, finishing eighth in the 15.8-km individual time-trial before abandoning the 116.8-km road race after the chain of his bicycle broke on the eighth of the 16-lap race.
First overall in the Grand Prix de Vierzon in France, 24-year-old sprint specialist Mathieu said that “I won’t say much. I’ll wait for the selection committee’s decision.”

Jonathan Bibi – football

CENTRAL defender Bibi was a rock in the La Passe defence, helping the La Digue-based team to retain their League championship title.
The 21-year-old took the runner-up position with La Passe in the President’s Cup won by Red Star.
He followed a two-month trial with professional side US Cremonese in Italy.
“I don’t think I’ll win the Sportsman of the Year title. I’m happy to feature among the finalists.”

Allan Julie – sailing

A four-time Sportsman of the Year in 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2004, Laser sailor Allan Julie told Sports Nation that “I stand a very good chance of retaining the title as I once again performed well in 2005. But I won’t say that I’m a 100% sure of winning it as I don’t want to suffer the same kind of disappointment as in January 2004 when they gave the Sportsman of the Year 2003 title to Steven Baccus. I felt really bad and bitter that night because I knew I deserved to win as I had performed very well. This is why I’m preparing myself for any kind of surprises.”
Once again, Julie, 28, did not compete in local competitions in 2005. His results in the single-handed dinghy Laser class worldwide were as follows: 2nd out of 57 competitors in the Barcelona Olympic Week, 3rd out of 88 competitors in the 2005 Laser Europa Cup in Italy, 3rd out of 105 competitors in the 2005 Laser Europa Cup in Marseille, France, 11th out of 126 competitors in the Semaine Olympique Française in France, 30th out of 112 competitors in the Spa Eurolymp Regatta, 19th out of 46 competitors in the Kieler Woche Regatta, 16th out of 121 competitors in the Warmemunder Woche Regatta, 42nd out of 129 competitors in the 2005 Laser European Championship, 30th out of 126 competitors in the 2005 Laser World Championship and 4th out of 19 competitors in the Fourth Al-Kharafi International Regatta.

Steven Mangroo – swimming

Young male athlete of the year 2003 and runner-up in 2002 and 2004, Mangroo won a bronze medal in the short course 17e Championnat de Natation de l’Océan indien in Reunion and broke two national records.
He captured six silver medals (five in individual events and one in the relay) and two bronze medals in individual and relay during the CJSOI competition in Seychelles.
Mangroo, 17, also participated in the World Championship in Montreal, Canada and broke two Seychelles records.
Locally, Mangroo competed in the Sprint Open Championship, Sacos National Championship, Sacos School Championship and National Open.
“I will be satisfied with a top-five finish as it is tough to challenge the other contenders. But I’m looking forward to reclaiming the young male of the year title,” Mangroo told Sports Nation.

Jean-Paul Lepathy  – volleyball

PLAYING as receptionist/spiker, Lepathy captained Premium Spikers to winning a first League and Cup double in 2005.
They lost the Super Cup and SVF Shield to Beau Vallon who achieved the double in 2004.
Lepathy could not be reached for his comments for his team Premium Spikers are participating in the Indian Ocean Club Championship (IOCC) in Madagascar.

Charles Siméon – weightlifting

STRIPPED of all his medals (three gold in the junior category as well as two silver and one bronze in the senior division of the 69-kg division in Kenya in 2002) after testing positive for a banned substance and automatically banned for two years by the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF), lifter Siméon made an impact on his return to competition in 2005.
Competing in the 77-kg category, he lifted a total of 250kg in the Open Championship and 260kg in the National Championship.
During the African Senior and Junior Weightlifting Championship held concurrently with the fourth edition of the East African Championship in Uganda, Siméon snatched 108kg and then clean-and-jerked 146kg for an Olympic total of 254kg to win three silver medals.
Asked about his chances to win the Sportsman of the Year title, the 23-year-old replied:
“I can’t give you a definite answer but I feel that I performed well in 2005. I’m also sure of finishing among the top-five.”

Compiled by G. G.