Squash: UCPS tournament-Suleman, Alphonse, Durup winners |18 December 2006

Samad Suleman (open competition), Rene Durup (plate competition) and Eva Alphonse (women’s competition) are this year’s only winners as the Seychelles Squash Association (SSA) does not have any other competition on its calendar for the year 2006.

The finals were played last Friday at the Mont Fleuri courts after five days of competition.
A 3-2 winner against Tessie Derjacques in last year’s final, Alphonse did not have to break a sweat this time to retain her title after Selma Lewis, the only other female competitor to register for the competition, failed to appear for the final.

With no female opponent, Alphonse decided to enter the men’s draw after Emmanuel Labiche was forced to withdraw his participation due to a hip injury. The reigning female player of the year beat Naveen 3-0 in her first match before losing 2-3 to Rod Thorrington in the quarterfinals.

Despite being bothered by a sore right thumb, Samad Suleman, who is also the SSA chairperson, triumphed against last year’s plate winner Ridvan Prosper in the open competition final.

After coming close to upsetting Klaus Pragassen – who has not been practising the sport lately – in last year’s final only to lose 2-3, Suleman engraved his name on the UCPS tournament winners’ list with a 3-1 (11-7, 11-9, 6-11, 11-4) victory against former swimmer Prosper.

To reach the final, Suleman beat Debroy (walk over in first match), Nigel Pillay (3-1 in the quarterfinal) and Charlie Morel (3-0 in the semifinal).

The plate final was disputed by Rene Durup and Guillaume Albert, with the former recovering from dropping the opening set to triumph 3-1 (3-11, 11-3, 11-6, 11-6).

It is to note that plate competition was contested by all first round losers.
Speaking to Sports Nation after the competition, SSA chairperson Suleman said that 2006 has been a disappointing year for squash in Seychelles.

“We haven’t been able to organise the many competitions as we did in the past. This is because of a lack of sponsors and a reduced number of players. Most of the actual players have their best years behind them already and we don’t have a coach to train young players. The number one Mauritian player is ready to come and work here as coach and I’ve had talks with the National Sports Council about the matter, but I’ve still not received a reply,” said Suleman.

G. G.