Shuttlers hand local coach first continental title
South Africa began the competition with two 5-0 victories against Tunisia and Zimbabwe.
Eastern Gauteng Badminton Association (EGBA) player and owner of the John Barrable Hall-based ShuttleStars Badminton Academy, Dillan Schaap, has added the juniors’ continental championship to his resume.
Schaap, appointed the national juniors coach last year, led the national U15 team to a 3-0 victory over Egypt in an enthralling final in Harare, Zimbabwe to win the All Africa mixed team U15 championship.
The Boksburg resident’s charges avenged their group-stage loss to the Egyptians with a dominant display started by the mixed-doubles team of Ricardo Vigario and Chloe Lai who beat Omar Elsabban and Nour Fikry.
The clash between the quartet unfolded in an entertaining manner with the South Africans asserting their dominance with a hard fought 21-17 win in the first set.
The second set was a tightly contested affair with only three points the difference as Fikry and Elsabban pushed Vigario and Lai to the finish but in the end the South Africans won by 21-18 to take the match and lay a good platform for their teammates.
“It’s very good. We laid a good platform for them. Chloe did really well in the net to get the attack for us. It was very good,” said the EGBA’s Vigario.
The boys’ singles saw Misha Bredell secure victory for South Africa with a comfortable straight set 21-19, 21-12 win over A Farw to give his country an unassailable 2-0 lead.
Yi Wen Li secured the championship with a 22-20, 21-15 triumph against Malika Mohammed in a thrilling girls’ singles contest that went the distance to hand her coach, Schaap, his first international title as the national coach.
South Africa began the competition with two 5-0 victories against Tunisia and Zimbabwe, respectively, in the round robin. They went down 3-2 to Egypt in the final group game but regrouped to claim a 3-0 victory against powerhouses, Algeria, in the semi-finals.
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