11th Indian Ocean Islands Games: Women’s volleyball |02 September 2023
The Seychelles women’s volleyball team will be making a seventh consecutive appearance in the final (Photo: Roland Duval)
Forgotten history as Seychelles enter seventh consecutive IOIG final
- Fourth final for Marielle Bonne
While the whole country is behind the women’s volleyball team for the final on Sunday against hosts Madagascar, most people, if not all, are not aware that Sunday’s match is history in the making as Seychelles will be playing their seventh consecutive Indian Ocean Islands Games final.
It is also the fourth final for Marielle Bonne.
It all started in 1998 in St Denis, Reunion during the fifth Games when Seychelles won their first title beating host Reunion 3-2.
The adventure continued at the sixth Games in 2003 in Mauritius, where the Seychellois players successfully defended their title, beating Madagascar 3-0 in the final
The march for a hat-trick of wins was halted in 2007 in Madagascar during the seventh Games when Seychelles lost 2-3 in the final against Reunion.
In 2011 on home soil during the eighth Games, Seychelles re-launched their gold medal campaign by going back to winning the final after defeating Reunion 3-0 in front of an exhilarated home crowd.
At the ninth Games in Reunion in 2015, the Seychellois ladies managed to defend their title by beating their Malagasy opponents, making it two wins in a row, before achieving a first – a hat-trick of gold medals – when they came from two sets down against Madagascar to win 3-2 at the 10th Games in Mauritius in 2019.
The Seychelles women’s volleyball team entered the Indian Ocean Islands Games (IOIG) history books then by becoming the first ever selection to win three consecutive gold medals, following their come-from-behind victory against Madagascar.
Four years later, Seychelles are going for another historical win – this time a fourth consecutive gold medal. Will they achieve it?
The question will be answered at the end of Sunday’s final.
Among the players for tomorrow’s final is Marielle Bonne who is making her fourth appearance in an IOIG final, after making her debut in 2007 in Madagascar. Unfortunately for her, it was a bad start as the team lost to Reunion in the final.
In 2011 on home soil, she won the gold medal, before defending it again in Reunion in 2015.
In 2019 she was not part of the team as she was serving a ban imposed on her by the Seychelles Volleyball Federation (SVF).
In total, tomorrow’s final will be her fourth, and the seventh for Seychelles.
Roland Duval