Seychellois swimmer Angelina Smythe wins 5th gold on final day of ANOCA Zone 7 Games

The beach volleyball girls team won bronze by beating Comoros in the match for third spot. (Seychelles News Agency)

(Seychelles News Agency) - Angelina Smythe capped off an impressive performance at the 2024 Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa (ANOCA ) Games for Zone 7 by winning a fifth gold medal for Seychelles in swimming on the final day of competition on Friday. 

Smythe’s final gold medal came in the girls’ 200m individual medley event, where she finished with a time of 2:34.84, to win the race ahead of Andrianaivo Ony of Madagascar, while Mauritius’ Alysson Yene Teck was third. 

On the final day, Team Seychelles gave a good performance and Smythe won another silver and bronze medal, while as a team, Seychelles won bronze in the 100m medley relay. 

Smythe won silver in the girls 100m freestyle race, where after a tight finish, she was just beaten to the finish line by Miranda Razafindrandretsa of Madagascar. Smythe’s time was 1:03.26. 

In the 50m butterfly race, Smythe earned a bronze medal after another very close race, where she was edged out by Chloe Ah Chip of Mauritius (30.28s) and Ony (30.36s). Smythe finished the race in 30.95 seconds. 

Seychellois Amos Ferley won silver in the boys’ 100m freestyle race, where another tight finish saw him finish second in 55.11 seconds, just behind Baritiana Andriampenomanana from Madagascar, whose time was 54.94.

In the girls’ 200m butterfly event, Seychellois swimmer Dorianne Bristol claimed a bronze medal, after finishing in 2 minutes 52.48 seconds behind Ah Chip of Mauritius (2:43.34s) and Yene Teck (2:47.96s). 

Seychellois Lihandro Pierre was the other bronze medallist after he finished third in the 200m butterfly event for boys in i2:45.63, well behind first placed Matteo Tin Wan Yuen (2:15.37s) and Andriampenomanana (2:20.26s). 

After the last day, in swimming, Seychelles remained third place on the final medals table with 27 total medals - 7 gold, 5 silver and 15 bronze - while Mauritius overtook Madagascar to first place, with 43 medals including 15 gold, 10 silver and 18 bronze. Madagascar came out second with 33 medals - 12 gold, 19 silver and 2 bronze.  

Seychelles’ swimming coach, Robert Suzette, said that he was very happy with the performance of the young swimmers. 

“In general, I think the swimmers performed to a good level, where it was also a good preparation for the upcoming competitions that they have,” said Suzette, who added that the medal haul for Seychelles shows that the athletes gave their all and worked hard. 

Aside from swimming, the ANOCA Games featured table tennis, beach volleyball and 3x3 basketball. 

In basketball, the Seychelles girls’ team was able to claim a silver medal, after losing the final to Madagascar on a 21-0 scoreline, while in beach volleyball, the girls' team was able to win the battle for bronze, by beating the Comoros 2-0 with a set score of 21-7 and 22-20. 

At the end of the ANOCA Games, Madagascar finished first on the overall tale with 43 medals, 19 gold, 22 silver and 2 bronze. Mauritius came third with 52, 15 gold, 13 silver and 24 bronze. Seychelles was third with 31 medals - 7 gold, 7 silver and 17 bronze. Comoros took 4th place with 3 medals - 1 gold, 1 silver and 1 bronze while Djibouti did not win any medals.

Updated 13/05/24