Badminton: Curtain-raiser competition-Ah-Wan closes in on double-digit singles wins |27 February 2007

On the men’s side, Nicholas Jumaye is the singles winner, stopping Georgie Cupidon’s winning run at eight as the African king and reigning Sportsman of the Year sat in the high chair to officiate as he did not figure in the men’s singles and men’s doubles draw as  he was late in handing in his participation form.

On the court, Ah-Wan beat young Cynthia Course 2-0 (21-13, 21-15) in the final of the ladies’ singles event contested by five players only after two other contestants – Danielle Jupiter and Catherina Paulin – were not included in the draw as they missed the deadline to hand in their participation forms.

“I didn’t push myself too hard inside an extremely hot gym. But I played hard enough to win,” said Ah-Wan, who also won the ladies’ doubles alongside Shirley Etienne with a 2-0 (21-18, 21-18) victory against the pair of Cynthia Course and Catherina Paulin.

One win shy of reaching double digits in the singles event, former Sportslady of the Year Ah-Wan was asked by Sports Nation if she can reach the milestone and she replied:
“Of course yes. I’ll be all out to achieve the feat next year.”

In the men’s singles final, Nicholas Jumaye had no difficulty beating 41-year-old coach Gerald Bibi 2-0 (21-15, 21-10), getting him to believe that he can get back to his best after a long lay-off.

“I wanted to play Georgie (Cupidon) in the final to test my fitness level and also my level of play. Although there was a lot of pressure on me to beat Gerald (Bibi), I took a lot of pleasure in playing against him. It feels good to be playing competitive badminton again although I still have to improve my game at the net,” the 25-year-old told Sports Nation.

Jumaye then teamed up with young Allan Low to win the men’s doubles final on a 2-0 (21-10, 21-8) score against the duo of Ron Clarisse and Mervin Sedgwick.

Sportsman of the Year Cupidon did make an appearance in the last final of the day – the mixed doubles – after he was entered by his partner Shirley Etienne. The pair won 2-0 (23-21, 21-19) against the duo of Ah-Wan and Allan Low.

The singles winners won R300, while the runners-up got R200. In the three doubles events, the top prize was R200 and R150 for the losing finalists.

G. G.