Tennis: President’s Cup-La Digue dominate for best island trophy |01 December 2011

Four squads – Praslin, La Digue, Mahe and International (made up of different nationalities Belgian French, Indian and Russian) – took part in the competition reserved for boys and girls of the under-10 and under-14 age groups.

Coach Guilmer Ladouce was happy to go back to La Digue with the best island 2011 trophy and a number of medals.

A spokesperson for the Seychelles Tennis Association said they hope that a new tennis court is built on La Digue so that coach Ladouce can produce more quality players.

La Digue won the boys’ and girls’ under-10 categories.

Myra Cousin, Hanelle Ah-Kong and Marshella Nibourette teamed up to beat the International team of Gaïa Greyson, Talia Dupont and Constance Levivier 2-1 in the girls’ under-10 final.

Myra beat Gaïa 10-4 and 10-2, Marshella beat Talia 10-0 and 10-4, while Hanelle lost 8-10 and 6-10 against Constance.

In the boys’ under-10 class, Christophe Pool, Didier Pool, Raphaël Nibourette of La Digue won the competition, whitewashing the Mahe team of Isaac Jean-Louis, Aneesh Ramani and Denzel Laporte 3-0 in the final.

Didier beat Isaac 10-8 and 10-4, Raphael beat Aneesh 10-3 and 10-2, and Christophe beat Denzel 10-5, 5-10 and 10-4.
Sylvie Nibourette from La Digue had for teammates Jana Duvenhage and Marion Bargain from Mahe in the girls’ under-14 category. Despite meeting for the first time on competition day, they won 3-0 against the International team of Bérengère Levivier, Ines Levivier and Louise Winandy.

Marion beat Bérengère 6-4, Sylvie beat Ines 6-4, and the duo of Marion and Jana beat the pair of Louise and Ines 6-0.

Academy players Theo Barois, Shaun Andriamaro and Damien Laporte, who all fall in the under-10 age group but played in the under-14 class, lost the final on a 1-2 score against the International trio of Titouan Roquain, William Robins and François Levivier.

Damien won 6-2 against William, Theo lost 0-6 against Titouan, and the duo of Shaun and Damien lost 0-6 against the pair of Titouan and François.

Other than Ladouce, Jamal Nibourette from Praslin, Clyvie Delpeche from Mahe and Frédéric Canale from International were the other coaches present on the day.

French national coach Canale and his assistant Delpeche were happy with what they saw during the competition.

“The young under-8 Praslin players who played in the under-10 category performed well despite losing and it is clear coach Nibourette is doing a fine job,” said coach Canale.

“Young players in Seychelles have great physical qualities and if we can organise more competitions for them, we will help improve the level of tennis in Seychelles,” he added.