Comoros will organise the Indian Ocean Island Games in 2027

Comoros will organise the next Indian Ocean Island Games in 2027 followed by Maldives in 2031, according to an announcement made during the meeting of the International Games Committee (CIJ) on Thursday.

The committee will be writing to the Olympic Committee of Comoros and the country’s government to request formal confirmation.

Meanwhile, Seychellois swimmer Simon Bachmann won his third gold medal on the final day of the swimming competition in the Indian Ocean Island Games on Wednesday to bring the Seychelles tally to nine gold medals.

Bachmann took first spot in the men’s 400m individual medley in 4 minutes 58.90 seconds. In second place was a swimmer from Reunion, Jean-Baptiste Bernet, followed by Mauritian Marc Tranquille.

The Seychelles swimming team also won one silver medal and four bronze.

Team Seychelles’ Amos Ferley won silver in the men’s 50 lm freestyle and the bronze came from Felicity Passon in the 50m freestyle, Sofia Frichot in 800m freestyle, and Angelina Smythe in the 400m medley.

In the Handi-Sport duo, Richard Sophola and Rossie Coralie earned Seychelles first medals in the event by each grabbing a silver in the shot put event on the second day of the athletics competition.

In volleyball, the Seychelles women’s team reached the final that will take place on Sunday after defeating Reunion 3-0 on Thursday. They will face the winner of the semi-final between Mauritius and Madagascar.

The Seychelles men’s team will be up against Madagascar in the semi-final on Thursday.

At the end of the sixth day of the IOIG, Seychelles has 67 medals – 9 gold, 32 silver, and 26 bronze.

Madagascar still leads with 195 medals – 83 gold, 51 silver and 61 bronze, followed by Mauritius and Reunion.

Source: Seychelles News Agency

Indian Ocean Island Games: Team Seychelles wins 2 gold medals in swimming and 2 in weightlifting

Swimmers Felicity Passon and Simon Bachmann gave Seychelles its first two gold medals on Monday on the third day of the 11th edition of the Indian Ocean Island Games in Madagascar.

Passon won the women’s 200m individual medley in 2 minutes 28.64 seconds. Two swimmers from Reunion Mahe Gory-Lauret and Elisa Montrouge were second and third, respectively.

Seychelles President Wavel Ramkalawan sent a message of congratulations to Passon.

“Congratulations to our star swimmer Felicity Passon in bringing Seychelles its first Gold Medal. Well done! Thank you for raising the Seychelles Flag to the highest podium. Congratulations, Seychelles is beaming with pride,” he said.

Ramkalawan also congratulated swimmer Bachmann who won the second gold medal for Seychelles in the men’s 200m individual medley.

Bachmann won first place in 2 minutes 10 seconds ahead of Mael Dujoux from Reunion and third was Mauritian Matteo Tin Wan Yuen.

Seychelles also won two gold medals on Tuesday in weightlifting with Chakira Rose in the women’s +87 kg. She also won a silver medal.

Passon also won a silver medal in the 200m backstroke in 2 minutes 19.89 seconds.

Other medals for Team Seychelles on Monday were in weightlifting. Joelita Coloma won three silver medals in the women’s 76kg category while Terrence Dixie won 3 bronze medals in the 102kg category for men.

After the third day of the IOIG, Seychelles has 35 medals – 4 gold, 17 silver, and 14 bronze.

Seychelles is now in 4th place on the medals table which is being led by Madagascar with a total of 110 medals – 56 gold, 25 silver, and 29 bronze, followed by Reunion and Mauritius.

Team Seychelles expects more medals on Tuesday with five boxers in the final.

While Shane Boniface and Edrian Volcere had already qualified earlier, three others booked their spots on Monday.

Archild David won by 5-0 in the 51kg against Said Soufiane from the Comoros. Dashil Fanchette in the 80kg won by RSC – referee stopped contest – in the third round against Seraphin Maisa from Madagascar and Keddy Agnes in +92 kg also won by RSC.

The five Seychellois finalists will be aiming for gold in the finals on Tuesday.

Seychelles will also be in action in athletics, which starts on Tuesday.

As for the team sports, Seychelles women’s volleyball team will face Mauritius and the men’s side will be playing against Mauritius as well.

The men’s basketball 5×5 will also play against Mauritius.

Source: Seychelles News Agency

AFCON 2024 qualifiers: Clinton Njie says hard work brought him back to Lions’ den

Indomitable Lions head coach, Rigobert Song Bahanag on Tuesday, August 29, 2023, made public a list of 24 players ahead of their last AFCON qualifiers game against Burundi scheduled for September 12, 2023, at the Rhumde Adja Stadium in Garoua, Cameroon.

The list is made up of 3 goalkeepers, 8 defenders, 7 midfielders, and 6 attackers. There is the conspicuous comeback of Clinton Njie, André Onana, and Harold Moukoudi. One of the major absences is that of Fai Collins.

Clinton Njie’s recent brilliant performances with the Turkish club, Sivaspor is the main reason for his coming back to the national team since the 2021 AFCON in Cameroon.

The 30-year-old has already netted 1 goal and provided an assist in 3 league games and has scored 4 goals and provided an assist in his last 6 club games. The player is rated 7/10 by Sofascore.

On his official Instagram account, Njie wrote that “hard work and patience” have brought him this far.

If things are smiling for Clinton Njie, the contrary should be said for Fai Collins who does not feature in Song’s list.

The defender’s last appearance with the Indomitable Lions was on June 11, 2023, when the team played a 2-2 draw with Mexico in a friendly

The 31-year-old’s last game at the club level with Saudi Arabian side AL Tai was on May 31, 2023. He is currently a free agent.

Other major absences are Nicolas Nkoulou, Jean Charles Castelleto, Kunde Malong, and Jean Pierre Nsame.

The Lions are currently ranked second in group C with 4 points. The same number of points with Burundi which are third. The group is currently headed by Namibia with 5 points who will be on standby.

Cameroon needs a win to finish as group leaders and qualify for the group stage of the Africa Cup of Nations in Côte d’Ivoire.

Source: Cameroon News Agency

Seychelles wins 22 medals at Indian Ocean Island Games

Team Seychelles has won 22 medals in total after the second day of the 11th edition of the Indian Ocean Island Games taking place in Madagascar.

After day 2 of the IOIG, Team Seychelles won 10 silver medals and 12 bronze medals.

The Seychelles swimming team won most of the medals for the first two days.

Seychelles first medal came from swimmer Felicity Passon who finished second to win silver in the women’s 200 metre freestyle.

She received her medal from Seychelles’ First Lady Linda Ramkalawan who said: “It was a moment of great emotion for both Felicity and myself. Congratulations to our flag bearer for once again leading the team. We continue to support our athletes in Team Seychelles.”

Passon, the best sportsperson of Seychelles in 2019, won six medals in total. She also won two silver medals in the women’s 50m and 100m butterfly, and a bronze in the 100m backstroke.

She also won medals with the relay women’s 4×100 freestyle, which included Khema Elizabeth, Sofie Frichot, and Aaliyah Palestrini, and the 4×100 mix medley with Adam Moncherry, Simon Bachmann, and Khema Elizabeth.

Another swimmer who won 4 medals was Simon Bachmann. He won silver in 200m freestyle and bronze in 400m freestyle. Bachman was also in the relay men’s 4×100 with Adam Moncherry, Amos Ferley and Nathan Nagapin. The team came out third to win the bronze. He was also part of the mixed medley that won a bronze medal.

Swimmer Adam Moncherry also won an individual silver medal when he finished second in the men’s 50m butterfly. In Handi-Sport swimming, Frederick Gappy won the silver medal in the men’s freestyle 50m.

Seychelles also won medals in judo with Amanda Payet winning silver and Dominic Dugasse getting a bronze medal.

In weightlifting, Rick Confiance grabbed three silver medals in the 73kg class, 121kg in snatch, and 145kg in clean and jerk.

Leeam Robert also won 3 bronze medals in the 61kg category for weightlifting.

In boxing, Shain Boniface in the 67 kg category and Adrian Volcere in the 76 kg reached the finals after winning their semi-final bouts.

Boniface defeated Malagasy Velomarompianoa on points and Volcere by RSC – Referee Stopped Contest – against another Malagasy Eric Mbake.

Two other boxers, Fabio Roselie in 57 kg and William Mohamed lost on points to Reunion and the Comoros respectively.

The President of Seychelles, Wavel Ramkalawan, sent words of congratulations to all the other Seychellois athletes who have clinched medals in various disciplines.

Meanwhile, in the team sports, Seychelles won both first matches in the men’s and women’s volleyball competitions.

The women’s team, who are the defending champions, won its first match 3-0 against the Maldives in group B, while the men’s side defeated Comoros 3-1.

“Congratulations to our Seychelles women’s volleyball team on their win 3-0 against Maldives!,” said Ramkalawan.

He also congratulated the Seychellois judokas and boxers who have qualified for the finals.

“We are proud of your efforts and will keep supporting you all the way! Keep up the team spirit,” said Ramkalawan.”

Seychelles lost in the basketball 3×3; Seychelles 21-17 to Mayotte and the ladies 17-21. In the basketball 5×5, the Seychelles women’s team lost 109-21 against Reunion.

In handball, Seychelles lost 43-13 to Reunion in the men’s competition and also in the women’s event 99-19 against Madagascar.

After the first two days of competition, Seychelles is fifth on the medals table, which is led by Madagascar with 70 medals – 42 gold, 14 silver, and 14 bronze. Reunion is second followed by Mauritius.

In the last competition in Mauritius in 2019, Seychelles finished 4th with 111 medals which included 28 gold medals.

Source: Seychelles News Agency

KCAA Retain Top Position In KECOSO Games

Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA) has retained the championship trophy for the just concluded 42nd edition of Kenya Communications Sports Organization (KECOSO) that was held in Narok County.

The announcement was made by Narok Deputy Governor Tamalinye Koech who presided over the colourful closing ceremony at the William Ole Ntimama stadium.

KCAA retained the seat they have held for the last one year after scoring 84 points, followed by Communication Authority of Kenya (CA) which garnered 73 points while Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) took position three with 71 points.

Other organizations that participated in the games included the Ministry of Roads and Transport, Kenya Airports Authority (KAA), Ministry of Youth Affairs, Sports and the Arts, Postal Corporation of Kenya (PCK), Narok County Government, Kenya Maritime Authority (KMA) and Bunge.

The competitive games saw KCAA lead in swimming, pool and scrabble as CA led in basketball while KPA led in golf, snooker and swimming for persons with disability.

PCK topped in most games; athletics, football, netball and satellite but failed to grab the top position because they did not participate in several other disciplines like dart, basketball, scrabble, snooker, swimming, table tennis, and volleyball.

Koech lauded the organizers for choosing Narok County to hold the games saying the games have boosted trade in the town as well as entertaining the residents.

He observed that the sports were vital for talent building and enhancing cohesion as the participants were from different backgrounds.

KECOSO Secretary General Omole Asiko said the games attracted many spectators who came to be entertained free of charge.

‘We were not charging anything for the residents to watch the games of their choice. The residents were left to enjoy themselves as they keenly followed their best teams,’ he said.

When asked what the requirements for a county to hold such games were, Asiko said the counties only needed to have good facilities that could accommodate over 3, 000 participants and a standard playing field.

However, going forward, the Secretary General revealed that counties would be forced to bid for the games to be held in their counties as the host counties enjoyed massive economic benefits.

Source: Kenya News Agency