African Badminton Championship in Algeria-Six picked for Algeria mission |01 December 2006

Accompanied by Chinese coach Luo and Seychelles Badminton Association chairman Michel Bau, the players, who jet out for Algeria today, are upbeat about their chances of conquering their opponents on the court for at least a continental crown.

Juliette Ah-Wan and Georgie Cupidon, the country’s number one female and male players, will be at the forefront of Seychelles’ charge, especially after following a six-week training camp in China.

The two did not leave the task of talking about their chances to their coaches. They readily spoke to Sports Nation after their training session on Thursday night.

Women’s singles champion in 2002 in Casablanca, Morocco, former Sportslady of the Year Ah-wan is hoping that a return to North Africa could do the trick for her after relinquishing her title in 2004 in Mauritius and she even finished out of the medals ranking after losing in the quarterfinals.

Seychelles’ female trump-card Ah-Wan, 25, said the China training camp has been beneficial in many ways.

“I’ve learned a lot during the training camp in China. I really needed such intensive training to re-discover my old form after playing a lot of matches and training hard. I feel that I’m in good shape physically and ready to confront my opponents whom I know very well. My aim is to win a medal, preferably gold,” Ah-Wan told Sports Nation.

As for Cupidon, his target is to win a first medal for Seychelles in the men’s singles event.

Bothered by a leg injury while in China, 25-year-old Cupidon said that he had to lose weight and also concentrated a lot on improving his techniques and footwork as well as work on building strength.

“Even though I was injured, I didn’t just sit around when the others did physical training.

I worked on improving other parts of my game. I feel good right now and I feel that I can give a very good demonstration of Seychelles’ badminton in Algeria. I’ve been trying to motivate the team to think positively and to play tough. We need to improve on our result in the team event as I’ve had enough of winning the bronze medal. In the men’s singles, I hope to win a first medal for Seychelles. My main target is the mixed doubles gold medal. Coach Luo is pinning his hopes on Juliette and myself to win the mixed doubles gold medal. We can do it. The preparation has been right and I won’t blame anyone else other than myself if I don’t win a medal in Algeria,” Cupidon said.

Other than Ah-Wan and Cupidon, Shirley Etienne, Danielle Jupiter, Catherina Paulin and Steve Malcouzane are the other four badminton players who will defend Seychelles’ colours in the continental championship.

It is to note that Seychelles started making a name for itself in African badminton in 2000 when the duo of Cupidon and Nicholas Jumaye won the men’s doubles bronze medal.

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).

G. G.