Seychelles and India strengthen friendship through badminton tournament |30 September 2015

Seychellois and Indian badminton players got together last week to compete in a tournament held to commemorate Seychelles-India Day which will be celebrated from October 3-5.

The tournament, now in its third year, attracted a good number of players who competed across six events from September 21 to September 26 at the La Promenade gymnasium.

The finals took place on Saturday, where in the men’s singles, Steve Malcouzanne defeated Kervin Ghislain 2-0 (21-15, 21-19). It was Malcouzanne’s second successive win at the tournament, as he defeated the same opponent in last year’s final. It was Ghislain’s third final, having failed to win in the previous two.

In the ladies’ singles, the final saw Cynthia Course make a first ever appearance at this stage of the competition and she made the most of the opportunity by beating three-time finalist Alisen Camille 2-0 (21-14, 25-23).

Nyoman Pryodi and Siva Godandaraman were the master’s singles finalists for the second year in a row and once again it was Pryodi who prevailed as he claimed the first set 21-13, before sealing the win with a 21-17 second set win for a 2-0 victory.

The men’s doubles final saw Siva Godandaraman and Deepak Radhakrishna team up to face Georgie Cupidon and Dr Murthy Pillay in a tense affair. It was the team of Godandaraman and Radhakrishna who took the initiative by winning the first set 21-12, before their opponents fought back to level matters at 1 set apiece (19-21). A third and final set was therefore needed to decide a winner and here it was Godandaraman and Radhakrishna who emerged victorious on a 21-17 set score to win 2-1.

Cynthia Course and Sheryl Lucas teamed up in the women’s doubles and it proved a successful partnership as the two ladies won the final against Alisen Camille and Perrine Llurens. The final score was 2-0 (21-17, 23-21).

The final event of the day was the mixed doubles final, which saw Camille and Ghislain partner up against Chlorie Cadeau and Malcouzanne. The first set saw Camille and Ghislain lose out on a close 18-21 score, but they soon found their feet as they routed their opponents 21-10 and 21-12 in the second and third sets respectively to claim a 2-1 victory.

S.N