Rising badminton talent Samiya Karim had a losing start to her badminton campaign at the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games in Senegal, yesterday.
Mere hours after enjoying a proud moment of carrying the country’s flag during the opening ceremony of the Games on Saturday evening (October 31), Karim lasted 18 minutes on court at the Dakar Arena before being swept aside by Chihyun Cheng of Chinese Taipei 2-0 in the Women’s Singles division.
Nerves seemed to have been her biggest challenge as the usually dogged Karim was disposed of in the opening set 21-1, a match that lasted eight of the 18 minutes of the game. In the second set, Karim did settle her nerves somewhat, but was still beaten 21-5.
National coach Zeudi Mack said the level of badminton in Chinese Taipei is one that they are unaccustomed to.
“It possibly could have been some nerves in the first match, but also I think the level that Chinese Taipei has is something that we're not accustomed to on our side of the world. As you probably would know, they are tops in the world. And the score really does reflect the performance because I could say that she had a good few rallies, but there were some shots that she was beaten with. But she managed to rally most of the points, some of the points, a few unforced errors, but she tried her best,” Mack said.
Only the top player moves on from the group. Apart from Cheng, the group comprises Matyame Cisse of the host nation Senegal, and Neela Lengue te of France.
Also yesterday, the French player pulled off a similar 2-0 triumph over Cisse, progressing 21-4 in the first set before closing the door on the victory 21-6. Karin will play her second match of the round-robin affair today against Lengue te, which Mack said will be another uphill task.
“I think that there's a disparity between the levels that they're accustomed to playing in. And of course, they would have on their side of the world so many more tournaments and whatnot. So they would get a lot more exposure and have more experience. But you can't fault her for it. It's an experience for her. So I think that she would be able to enjoy it and just work hard as best as she can,” Mack explained further.
Mack is targeting at least one victory, saying they're looking at the Senegalese to pull off a victory, but they are not sure. "I'm not too certain what we're hoping for, but the best is with those last two matches, especially against Senegal.”
Also Monday (November 2), swimmer Breanna Belmar will be in action also at the Dakar Aquatic Centre, contesting the girls' 100 metres freestyle at 6.11 am (T&T time). T&T's other swimmer Jaden Mills will tackle the men's 50-metre freestyle, Tuesday (November 3) at 6.34 am.
