11th Indian Ocean Island Games (IOIG) 2023 – Madagascar |22 June 2023

The meeting in full swing (Photo: Neil Sirame)

Local secretariat discusses costs and logistics

With barely two months remaining before the start of the 11th Indian Ocean Islands Games, scheduled to take place in Madagascar from August 23 to September 3, the Games’ local secretariat is in constant motion in finalising all the affairs for the trip.

In its last meeting held on Tuesday at the Roche Caïman swimming pool office building, the local secretariat discussed on Team Seychelles’ departure, precisely the cost and logistic for the trip.

The secretariat, headed by chief executive of the National Sports council (NSC) Marc Arissol, is made up of Alain Alcindor, Ruudy Joseph, Steve Hoareau, Bernard Denis, Jennifer Bonne, Gordon Boodna, Dominic Pillay, Lisette Nolin, Maria Dailoo and Gilly Jean.

Its task mostly involves working in close collaboration with all participating sporting disciplines in ensuring all selected athletes and officials have their paperwork ready by an agreed deadline.

Tuesday’s session was led by Mr Alcindor who will head the Seychelles’ delegation at the Games.

Mr Alcindor said their prime task is to make sure that all the athletes, the medical team, along with other delegates reach Madagascar for the Games.

He said they are still waiting on the final list from all federations for them to have a better idea on the total number of personnel they will be dealing with.

He said the daily maintenance allowance per athlete is €60, while for other delegate the daily cost is €70.

Mr Alcindor added that they are in constant communication with the sporting federations, acquiring daily updates to ease the accreditation process.

He added that they still have some concerns about the Games, since they are not being constantly updated regarding progress, with the Malagasy authority keeping everyone in the dark.

Mr Alcindor further noted that even the draw for team sports have not yet been done, while Antonio Gopal the president of Seychelles Olympic and Commonwealth Games Association (Socga), who also presides over the International Games Committee (CIJ), has requested that the draw be done virtually, instead of delegates from participating countries commuting to Madagascar.

 “There is a high probability that our team sports, especially football will play before the official opening ceremony of the Games, we therefore need the fixtures to know who they will be up against,” said Mr Alcindor.

The other issue Mr Alcindor mentioned was that the Malagasy authority has not yet confirmed if it has received any technical delegates from international federations for the different sport disciplines.

“We do not want two Malagasy technical representatives on the committee for every sport discipline, even if the regulations state that if a host country does not have international technical representatives, they could appoint their own, but in fairness for all countries, it will be appreciated if they seek international representatives from the internal community,” added Mr Alcindor. 

He added that they are also still in negotiations with Air Seychelles regarding airfares.

Neil Sirame