L?ancien entraîneur national, Sylvain Hennequin, dont le contrat a expiré avec les Jeux des îles de l?océan Indien, a soumis un rapport accablant sur la performance de nos raquettes aux Jeux d?Afrique, au ministère de la Jeunesse et des Sports et aux membres du comité ad hoc de l?Association mauricienne de badminton (AMB).

Ce rapport englobe également la performance des nôtres aux Jeux des îles de l?océan Indien (JIOI), aux internationaux du Nigeria et les difficultés rencontrées dans ces contextes. Le successeur du directeur technique national (DTN), le Chinois Luo Guo, égratigne également les dirigeants de l?AMB dans son rapport.

S?il épargne Eddy Clarisse et Stéphane Beeharry dans ses critiques, par contre il se montre très sévère à l?égard d?Amrita Sawaram, de Shama Aboobakar, d?Anusha Dajee et d?Hyder Aboobakar pour leurs performances aux Jeux d?Afrique.

?He must accept to play all out every time because he often gives up when the match becomes too difficult. He is very unstable emotionally and this plays on his self confidence?, peut-on lire dans son rapport au sujet d?Hyder Aboobakar.

Dans le cas d?Amrita Sawaram, l?ancien entraîneur national est d?avis que : ? A. Sawaram had theoretically a bad draw when she was drawn against J. Ah Wan from Seychelles. When the match started, Ah Wan showed some difficulties to move on court due to a very bad knee and the match could be won by the Mauritian player. Amrita was too much in a hurry to conclude, thus doing many unforced errors and therefore missed the chance of going through to the next round.?

Shama Aboobakar a aussi fait l?objet de vifs commentaires de la part de son ancien mentor. Ce dernier a surtout fait référence à la performance de la joueuse en quarts de finale des Jeux d?Afrique. Un match qu?elle avait perdu facilement (en deux sets) face à la n° 1 du Nigeria, Grace Daniels. ?She needs to set up her mind on what she really wants and stay humble enough to accept that she needs to do an effort to improve her game and attitude overall. She develops too many theories to explain her performance and does not put in the commitment on court which would help her improve her game?, écrit l?ancien entraîneur national.

Anusha Dajee, qui avait osé critiqué ouvertement le choix de l?entraîneur national en ce qui concerne les entrées en double lors des récents JIOI, en a aussi pris pour son grade. ?Those who pretend to be doubles specialists should try to play better first, produce results and only then, can they affirm to be specialists?, note-t-on dans le rapport.

Pour rappel, Anusha Dajee, qui s?était associée à Shama Aboobakar en double dames, avait pris la porte de sortie en quarts de finale.

Nos filles avaient été battues en trois sets par la paire n° 1 du Nigeria.

En conclusion, toujours dans le contexte des Jeux d?Afrique, Sylvain Hennequin écrit : ?Overall the Mauritian team won 3 bronze medals. If we take into consideration the conditions faced by players (only those who stayed at the Games Village can testify, others had private transport and were staying in 5 stars hotel), it is more than a honest performance, not mentionning the conditions in which the selection was made, contested and dealt with.?

?It is not necessary to find scape goats to explain that performance, and that is what people who have little knowledge of sport and of badminton are trying to do. Critics to the fact that Mauritian badminton is in very bad situation because of ?poor? results have been expressed openly. Everyone (players, coaches, members of the MBA, officials from the Ministry, as well as journalists) must assume his responsibilities instead of sitting back in a chair and blaming others. Those who think a foreign expert will bring miracle are wrong. It must be recalled that the last foreign coach spent most of his time reading his newspaper and talking on his cellular phone during the training sessions of the National Squad. Instead of finding easy solutions, why not start thinking thoroughly to put back badminton afloat ??, poursuit-il.

Cependant, en ce qui concerne le chapitre des JIOI, Sylvain Hennequin est moins critique dans ses propos à l?égard des joueurs. Mais, encore une fois, il n?épargne pas les dirigeants de l?AMB. Il déplore l?absence d?une politique à long terme au sein de la fédération et confirme sa position par rapport à l?expertise étrangère.

?The fact that old players are still competitive shows that during a long time, nothing has been done to produce new competitive players (S. Beeharry for example still has to play 3 events) and no politics concerning coaching has been established because the Federation has no confidence in local qualified coaches, always begging for a foreign coach with the argument that foreign expertise is better. Members of the MBA have never asked themselves the good questions choosing to forget what is best for badminton rather concentrating on fighting power. They always find easy and short term solutions. This is the reason why the level of badminton in Mauritius is declining and will reach its lowest level ever if no long term strategies are thought over and implemented?, conclut-il.