Volleyball: Commonwealth Games beach volleyball African qualifiers |30 October 2017

Team Seychelles lose to Rwanda in semifinals

The Seychelles duo ofHilary Nourrice and Angelique Adeline lost yesterday’s semifinals of the Commonwealth Games beach volleyball African qualifiers in Sierra Leone and were to meet Mauritius in the third place playoff.

After losing 0-2 (12-21, 21-23) to Nigeria and 0-2 (10-21, 12-21) to Rwanda on day one, the Seychelles team registered two wins on the second day as they beat hosts Sierra Leone 2-1 (21-18, 14-21, 15-8) and Mauritius 2-0 (21-13, 21-19) to finish among the top four in pool ‘A’ after the round-robin system and make it to the semifinals.

In yesterday’s semifinal they came up against Rwanda and lost again and at the time of going to press they were to meet Mauritius in the third place playoff encounter. The final was to be contested yesterday.

Five teams ‒ Nigeria, Mauritius, Seychelles, Rwanda and hosts Sierra Leone ‒ played in pool ‘A’.

Hilary Nourrice and Angelique Adeline who both play for Praslin Girls were drafted in to represent Seychelles at the last minute after the mother and daughter duo of Jerina and Marielle Bonne decided not to accept the Seychelles Volleyball Federation’s offer to compete at the qualifiers in Freetown, Sierra Leone.

According to reports, Charlotte Nzayisenga and Denyse Mutatsimpundu of Rwanda under coach Christophe Mudahinyuka were the favourites to qualify for the Commonwealth Games which will be held in Australia next year in April. This will be the first time beach volleyball is included on the programme.

Mutatsimpundu and Nzayisenga won a gold medal at the 2017 CAVB beach volleyball cup in Maputo, Mozambique in May. In 2012, the duo, while playing at the junior level, won gold at the Africa Championships in Togo but failed to take part in the World Championships in Canada after the hosts denied the Rwandan team entry visas.

Back to the saga involving the Seychelles Volleyball Federation and the mother and daughter duo of Jerina and Marielle Bonne, the volleyball body confirmed late Friday that it had inflicted five-year bans on the two players who play for both Arsu and the country’s national team.

In a press release dated Friday October 27, 2017, Seychelles Volleyball Federation (SVF) secretary general Terry Servina said the federation stated the following in a letter personalised to the respective players: “It is with regret that we are informing you that SVF is imposing a ban effective volleyball season 2018 for a period of five years for participation in any volleyball or volleyball related activities locally. This decision is in line with Article 5.4 – a – ii of the SVF Constitution whereby it is concluded that such behaviour not only detriment to our much loved sport but in such case it was to represent the Seychelles on a national level.  The success of Seychelles volleyball has been greatly contributed by yourself and hence we feel that your influence and behaviour is imperative to our future volleyball players. It is in that line that we feel that as much as you have or could have further contributed may hinder the future of the sport.”

The press release adds that SVF chairman (Ronald Wong) and secretary general (Terry Servina) were among the lot who fought for inclusion of volleyball at the Commonwealth Games last year at the FIVB Congress in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Eventually such was accepted and we are proud of it. However, it is a sporting defat for Seychelles not to take part in the qualifying games. 

G. G.