In 18 months, athletes from Mayotte will take part in the 11th Indian Ocean Island Games in Madagascar. The steering committee met on Saturday to take stock of the preparations and set the objective to be achieved: 5th place and 30 medals.
18 months before the opening ceremony to be held at the Mahamasina stadium in Antananarivo in Madagascar, Mahoran athletes are already in the starting blocks. The date is important to them. Even if for the moment, they cannot be entitled to the tricolor and the Marseillaise on the podium, all have checked the dates of the events on their calendar. And for the CROS (Regional Olympic and Sports Committee) and the political and administrative leaders of the island, it is out of the question to go to the Big Island as a tourist. Representing Mayotte is an honor and it requires preparation.
CROS president Madi Vita intends to take 5th place in the JIOI this time around.
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This is why the sports leagues and committees, the departmental council and the DRAJES (Regional Academic Directorate for Youth, Engagement and Sports) formed a steering committee and met this Saturday at the headquarters of the CROS in Cavani. Each league and committee was able to take stock of the preparations and explain its work plan until the departure for Madagascar.
We deal with the lack of infrastructure, this is nothing new. But we were promised renovations which will be finished in April. But we have a specific plan to prepare.
Madi Vita, president of the CROS of Mayotte
The big change is the introduction of 6 new disciplines, which will bring the total to 24 disciplines. Mayotte should have lined up competitors in 18 of them. She normally relies on combat sports like kickboxing. And of course on taekwondo and karate which are making a comeback and judo which had brought back 9 of the 16 Mahoran medals from Mauritius.
With the Covid-19, it was difficult to prepare because we are a contact sport and an indoor sport. It will be difficult to do as well as in Mauritius. The challenge will be difficult, but it will be a great challenge.
Rachid Abdou Moussa, president of the Mayotte judo committee
The judo committee is in a new dynamic with recognition obtained from the French judo federation. The culmination of the work of a whole team and which therefore hopes to continue with good results in Madagascar.
The Mayotte javelin had gleaned two medals in Mauritius: gold with Soultoini Ali and bronze with Zoubert Combo.
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In athletics, we count on Nasrane Bacar and Djassim Ahamada, medalists in 2015. They have also taken a license in Mayotte to be able to be selected. For the 2019 edition, due to a change in regulations, they had been deprived of the Mauritius Games. But the former Soultoini Ali is still there in the javelin and the hopeful Kamel Zoubert is starting to achieve interesting times in the sprint. And in table tennis, Kilomo Vitta is still there.
Kilomo Vitta (with the red t-shirt) won two medals for table tennis in Mauritius in 2019, including one gold in singles.
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Team sports are no exception. Bronze medalist football in Mauritius intends to go for gold in the men’s category. Among the ladies, we intend to do as well as in Reunion in 2015, since in 2019 in Mauritius, women’s football had not been retained. Basketball will try to place itself in the men’s category as in 2011 and 2019 when they won the silver medal. Ditto for the hand which had risen to the final for both men and women against the Reunionese in 2015.
The Mayotte delegation parading at the opening of the 2015 Ocean Island Games in Reunion.
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In all, the objective of the CROS is therefore to win at least 30 medals and to finish in 5th place, ie at the head of the small delegations, ahead of the Maldives and the Comoros. For the moment, it will be difficult to find Reunion, Madagascar, Mauritius and the Seychelles which have many more participants in the individual disciplines, those which deliver the most medals.
- New Disciplines: archery, beach soccer, 3×3 basketball, kick-boxing and surfing
- Other disciplines: athletics, badminton, 5×5 basketball, boxing, cycling, football, weightlifting, handball, judo, karate, wrestling, swimming, petanque, sevens and fifteens rugby, taekwondo, tennis, table tennis, sailing, volleyball, beach- volleyball.
- Demonstration sports: fencing, teqball, billiards and motorsport
Note that disabled sports will be represented in athletics and swimming. And beach soccer, cycling and surfing will only have male competitors.
The list of its disciplines is provisional. For it to be definitively registered in the program, at least 3 participating countries out of the 7 (Reunion, Madagascar, Mauritius, Comoros, Seychelles, Maldives and Mayotte) are required.
