10th All-Africa Games in Maputo, Mozambique – September 3-18-Team Seychelles in high spirit despite early hiccups |05 September 2011

After spending the night in Kenya on Thursday, the Seychelles delegation flew to Maputo early Friday morning, only to get stuck at the Maputo International Airport for more than four hours, due to technical problems.

Several members of the delegation – including head of delegation Alain Volcère, who is also the National Sports Council (NSC) chief executive – were said to be not registered on the system.

Mr Volcère said NSC’s sports management and development director Robert Auguste who is the chef de mission, confirmed that everything was in order and the necessary formalities had been completed. But Mozambican officials at the airport said that several members of Team Seychelles were not registered.

It took several hours of negotiating before the whole Team Seychelles were given the green light and were driven to the Games’ village, where the boxing team and the two volleyball selections had already settled in after their early arrival.

Sports Nation learned on arrival that the volleyballers were held for a while at the Mozambican border after an eight-hour drive from South Africa on Wednesday, before they were able to settle down at the Games’ Village.

Communication is one of the main concerns surrounding the Games. Boxing coach Rival Payet told Sports Nation that until Friday he had not received any official document regarding the competition.

He added that he only hears gossips from other boxing officials. Despite these hiccups, the Seychellois boxers are looking forward to compete, added coach Payet.

Texts by our journalist in Maputo, Roland Duval
Photos by Joena Bonnelame in Maputo