Table tennis - South African junior team win friendly |27 March 2018
Seychellois Mario De Charmoy Lablache and South African Simeen Mookrey were the best male and female table tennis players with three gold medals each at the friendly tournament played here.
The South Africa under-18 table tennis team met their Seychellois counterparts and came out victorious with four wins in seven events last week at the Omnisports Gymnasium, Roche Caïman.
Youth, Sports and Culture Minister Mitcy Larue as well as youth and sports principal secretary Fabian Palmyre were among the guests who presented medals to the winners.
The South Africans dominated the girls’ category, winning the team event, girls’ doubles, mixed doubles and the girls’ singles. Seychelles was stronger in the boys’ category as it won the boys’ team event, boys’ doubles and boys’ singles.
In the singles final last Saturday, the Seychellois boys showed why they have been the strongest all along as young promising Mario De Charmoy Lablache eliminated South African Yukail Naidoo 4-1 (11-5, 10-12, 11-7, 12-10, 11-8) and Nicholas Esther eliminated the other South African Cade Peters 4-2 (7-11, 11-4, 11-6, 11-6, 3-11, 12-10) in the semifinals for an all Seychellois final. De Charmoy Lablache won the singles gold medal on a 4-2 score (14-12, 11-7, 8-11, 11-5, 7-11, 11-6). Cade Peters and Yukail Naidoo from South Africa took the third places and the bronze medals.
The girls’ singles final was an all-South African affair as Mushfiquh Kalam beat compatriot Keshmika Sivnarain 4-0 (11-8, 11-8, 16-14, 11-9) to win the gold medal. The bronze medal went to Lekeasha Johnson and Simeen Mookrey also from South Africa.
On the first day of the competition last Thursday, the Seychelles ‘B’ team of Mario De Charmoy Lablache, Byorn Mousbé and Nicholas Esther won the first gold medal for Seychelles as they beat Naidoo, Sivnarain, Peters and Keenen Jooste who took the silver medal in the boys’ team event. Team Seychelles ‘C’ of Dorian Banane, Ellicks Rapide and Chris Esparon won the bronze medal.
The girls’ team event was won by the South African side comprising Kalam, Johnson, Mookrey and Sivnarain with the Seychelles ‘A’ team made up of Zahira Khattab and Aurelie Toussaint taking the silver medal. Emma Bristol and Fatima Boniface of Seychelles ‘B’ took the bronze medal.
De Charmoy Lablache and Esther continued on the winning streak on Friday as they again teamed up to beat Kivesh Sivnarain and Jooste 3-1 (11-7, 8-11, 11-9, 11-12) in the best-of-five final to win another gold medal in the boys’ doubles.
In the semifinal De Charmoy Lablache and Esther dispatched the South African pair of Peters and Naidoo 3-0 (13-11, 11-5, 11-3), while South Africans Sivnarain and Joost eliminated the other Seychelles team of Byorn Mousbe and Dorian Banane 3-0 (11-9, 11-5, 11-5). The losing semifinalists picked up the bronze medals.
The girls’ doubles was won by the South African team of Simeen and Lekeasha after beating compatriots Sivnarain and Kalam 3-0 (11-5, 11-9, 11-2) in the final.
The two Seychelles teams of Khattab / Toussaint and Boniface / Bristol took the bronze medals.
The mixed doubles final was an all-South Africa affair as the team of Cade Peters and Simeen Mookrey beat team of brother Kivesh Sivnarain and sister Keshmika Sivnarain 3-0 (11-8, 11-9, 13-11) for the gold medal.
The South African under-18 team left Seychelles on Sunday.
What they said:
Girls’ singles winner Mushfiquh Kalam: “The competition and training was a good experience for me. I still need to make some improvement and I will take home the experience and learn from it. The Seychellois players are good but they still need to improve.”
Triple gold medallist De Charmoy Lablache: “The exchange was good as it gave me the opportunity to rate myself against the other international players, but the competition was tough and I had to work hard, but I am very happy that I won. The South African male players are good but I think our level is a little bit higher than theirs.”
Seychelles coach Jimmy Vel: “The training and competition was very fruitful. We have seen our strength and weaknesses and we will work on these before the Jeux de la Commission de la Jeunesse et des Sports de l’Océan Indien (CJSOI) in Djibouti next month. The South African players seem to have more international experience and are more comfortable playing than our players.”
South African coach Sipho Vika: “The training was very good. At first we had a problem with the heat but as the days went by we adapted to the heat. The friendly tournament was very competitive and the guys from here, their standard are very high. We will go back and try to address some of the things that we have learned here.”
P. J.