Badminton: Mauritius Junior International |19 August 2017

Jakim Renaud, Jie Luo win doubles bronze

Seychelles was one of a number of African nations that responded to Mauritius’ invitation to compete at the Mauritius Junior International, where Jakim Renaud and Jie Luo won a bronze medal in the male doubles.

The two athletes were up against players from countries like Egypt, Ghana, Algeria, Uganda and hosts Mauritius and while both of our representatives were eliminated at the early stages of the male singles, they managed to team up to claim a bronze medal together.

Having eliminated three Mauritian teams in the first three rounds, the two young Seychellois once more met a duo from the host nation, who beat them and eventually went on to win this event. The team of Melvin Appiah and Tejrai Pultoo had a tough game against the Seychelles team, but ultimately came away with a 2-0 (21-18, 21-16) win after 23 minutes.

Despite this, the two athletes’ achievements have been overshadowed by an article written in The Independent newspaper of August 18, 2017 where Renaud expressed his disappointment that there was no representative from the sports authority to greet them upon their arrival on Tuesday.

Sports NATION decided to seek further clarification on the issue by contacting Michel Bau, the chairman of the Seychelles Badminton Association (SBA).

“First, what we need to understand is there are protocols to follow,” said Mr Bau. “The minister and chief executive officer do not have to come to the airport to greet athletes each time they come from an overseas competition. As long as the chairman is present this is fine. It also depends on the level of the competition and this was not on the same level as an African Championship and therefore my presence was enough,” Mr Bau told Sports NATION.

Mr Bau also revealed that on Thursday, the federation held a meeting with all their young athletes and both Renaud and Jie were present.

“Renaud and Jie were congratulated for their efforts and encouraged to do better and work hard to prepare for the African Junior Championships next year,” noted Mr Bau.

He added that in the article published in The Independent “there was also a mention that the federation only paid for the athletes’ airfares”.

“This is totally false. In fact, it was the National Sports Council that paid the athletes’ plane tickets, while we at the federation paid for their accommodation including meals,” added Mr Bau.

Mr Bau also stated that he believes The Independent should have contacted him on the matter too, instead of only getting one side of the story.

He has expressed his disappointment at the way this issue has been handled, but once more wishes to offer his congratulations to the two athletes for their achievements and hope that they do not let this affect their future performances.

S. N.