Badminton-Cupidon/Ah-Wan pair pin down Olympic spot |23 May 2008

The country’s illustrious mixed doubles duo maintained their position in the Badminton World Federation’s newly released rankings to finish first in Africa with 10,700 points.

The score is 2,820 more than the total of the South African pair of James Dorian and Michelle Edwards, who settled for second place.

Of the 16 pairs who have qualified for the XXIX Olympiad, slated for August 8-24 in Beijing, China, the Ah-Wan/Cupidon duo is the lowest ranked – 75th in the world.
 
The top 11 pairs worldwide qualified automatically for the Olympics, and the remaining five teams come from the five continental confederations.

Now they have pinned down a spot at the Games, it remains to be seen if the Seychelles duo will compete in Beijing. This is because reigning Sportslady of the Year Ah-Wan is expected to give birth to her first baby next month.

Speaking to Sports Nation, Ah-Wan, 26, had this to say: “This is a chance of a lifetime. I’m looking forward and would love to compete in Beijing, but not everything depends on me. I’m expected to give birth in June, leaving me with less than two months to get ready for the Games.
 
“Normally, a woman resumes training three months after giving birth. Right now, I’m doing some individual work in the gym to stay fit. All will depend on how I feel after giving birth.
“This is why I am not setting myself any high targets and deadlines. Also I don’t want to let other people down, especially my partner Georgie.”

As for 26-year-old Sportsman of the Year Cupidon, he said that “it’s every athlete’s dream to compete at the Olympic Games. We’ve qualified for the Games, but we now have to wait to see if we will compete. Although we stand almost no chance of winning medals, it’s going to be interesting if we compete. I hope Juliette gets back in good form after giving birth. But if that is not the case, I will have to accept that we will not be able to make the Games.”

Cupidon and Ah-Wan enjoyed a superb 2007 season in mixed doubles competitions. In Mauritius in April, they successfully defended the African Championships mixed doubles title they had won in Algiers, Algeria, in December 2006.

The two players won a second gold medal – this time at the Ninth All-Africa Games in Algiers. Inside the OMS El Biar Hall in Algiers, the Seychellois pair showed their opponents that they were still the best on the continent with a 2-0 (21-14, 21-17) win against the Nigerian pair of Grace Daniel and G Okuongahe in the final.

They also took part in the World Badminton Championships in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, the China Open Badminton Championships, the French Open and the Hong Kong Open.

With Cupidon and Ah-Wan having qualified for the Games, Seychelles’ number of qualifiers has now reached five.

The other three are javelin specialist Lindy Leveau-Agricole, Laser sailor Allan Julie and canoeist Tony Lespoir.

Two-time former Sportslady of the Year Leveau-Agricole beat the ‘B’ qualifying standard of 56m with a throw of 56.49m in her second attempt, which earned her the silver medal at the Ninth All-Africa Games last year. This will be her first Olympics.

Julie will be making his fourth Games appearance after 1996 in Atlanta, USA (36th overall), 2000 in Sydney, Australia (27th overall) and 2004 in Athens, Greece (20th overall).
Although this will be his fourth Olympics, it is only the third time the Laser sailor, who won the silver medal of the standard class in Algiers, has actually qualified as he received an invitation when he first took part in 1996.

The 30-year-old achieved the Olympic qualifying standard in Portugal during the ISAF World Sailing Championship held just before the All-Africa Games.

Lespoir earned his qualification for the Olympics after taking second place and the silver medal in the K1 500m race during the Fifth Africa Canoe-Kayak Championship held in the Masinga Dam, Kenya, in January.

The 30-year-old 12-time canoeist of the year made his first appearance for Seychelles in the Olympiad in Athens, Greece, after receiving a wild card. He reached the semifinal of the K1 500m flatwater competition at the state-of-the-art Schinias regatta centre.

G. G.