13th African Games in Accra, Ghana |21 December 2023
(From left to right) Mr Hoareau, CEO Arrisol and Mr Georges (Photo: Neil Sirame)
Seychelles to take part in seven disciplines
Seychelles are expected to take part in seven sporting events – athletics, swimming, women’s volleyball, weightlifting, judo, beach volleyball and boxing – at the 13th African Games from March 8-23, 2024 in Accra, Ghana.
It was National Sports Council (NSC) chief executive Marc Arrisol who made the announcement during a press conference on Tuesday afternoon at the council’s boardroom, Stade Linite.
Ghana won the bid to host the 13th African Games back in 2017, ahead of Nigeria and Burkina Faso, who also showed interest.
Subsequently, in 2021 Ghana signed an agreement with the African Union to host the event with the dates originally scheduled for August 4–19, 2023.The Games had to be postponed to 2024 following a disagreement between the competition’s major stakeholders.
Ghana’s efforts to host the Games had been hampered due to an impasse over marketing rights involving the African Union (AU), Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa (Anoca) and the Association of African Sports Confederations (AASC) who are the competition’s major stakeholders.
The impasse was resolved on February 19, 2023 in Addis Abba, Ethiopia and was facilitated by the President of Ghana, Nana Akufo-Addo. However, aside these issues Ghana had been struggling to complete the facilities required to host the games. The main arena for the games which is situated at Borteyman was well behind schedule. The construction of the University of Ghana stadium faced a similar situation.
Despite it taking place in 2024, the 13th African Games will still be called ‘Accra 2023’ as planned initially, said chairman of the local organising committee (LOC), Dr Kwaku Ofosu-Asare, in February this year.
According to reports, in December 2022, Ghanaian-based construction company Consar was told by parliament to complete the facilities planned for the Games. This included finishing the modernisation of the University of Ghana Stadium, which was the centerpiece of the Games and originally due to be handed over by the end of 2022. The venue, also known as the Legon Stadium, was completed in February, as hoped.
Plans to build a new stadium for the event were cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Funds were also released to complete the construction of the Borteyman Sports Complex, which was expected to host up to 11 sports during the African Games. Among the sports the complex was set to stage were aquatics, football, judo, taekwondo, weightlifting and tennis.
New disciplines in the competition are expected to include arms wrestling and rugby.
Accra, Kumasi and Cape Coast are expected to be the three cities to host the competition.
The multisport extravaganza will include 23 competitive events in athletics, badminton, cycling, swimming, table tennis, tennis, triathlon and weightlifting which will serve as Olympic qualifiers. The remaining events which are non-Olympic qualifying events include arm wrestling, beach volley, basketball 3×3, boxing, chess, cricket, football, handball, hockey, judo, karate-do, rugby, taekwondo, volleyball and weightlifting.
CEO Arrisol said they paid a working visit to Accra last month to see first-hand the infrastructures being built for the games. “It was very interesting as we saw some infrastructure of high standards and there are some which are still under construction,” said CEO Arrisol, who also mentioned that in early January they will be reviewing again the progress of these infrastructure in Accra followed by a meeting to find out more about the regulations and technicalities.
Head of the games’ desk within the NSC, Lucas Georges, said Seychelles has never missed the Games since its first involvement at the fourth Games in 1987 in Nairobi, Kenya.
“We are making sure to participate even though we received some documents late, but we have been able to work on those quickly,” said Mr Georges.
He mentioned that the selection format remains the same, meaning sports disciplines who won gold medals at the Indian Ocean Islands Games (IOIG).
“During the last meeting with the organisers of the games, the African Union Sports Council (AUSC) mentioned that the African Games should have relevance with the youths. This is why we decided to scout for young talents in the selected sports disciplines so that they could possibly make the team for Accra,” said Mr Georges.
With regard to uniform, Mr Georges said they are in contact with the Superior Uniform Group who designed the IOIG uniform.
Mr Georges also said they have put together an appeals’ committee to listen to grievances from athletes, particularly the selection process.
“In the past, athletes had no place to go when they had their grievances,” said Mr Georges, who added that a disciplinary committee has also been set up.
Acting director for competitive sports and aquatic section within the NSC, Steve Hoareau, said following CEO Arrisol’s meeting with the AUSC, NSC met with representatives of the selected sporting federations to inform them what needed to be done to finalise Seychelles’ participation in the games.
“We asked them three things – their pre-selection list and the deadline was November 27, their training programme and their budget for the Accra Games. Only five federations have responded with the required data,” said Mr Hoareau.
He also mentioned that they have recently received a communiqué that the women’s volleyball team must go through a qualifying stage, which was not the case before.
Neil Sirame
