Seychelles will host the 13th edition of the Indian Ocean Youth and Sports Commission ( CJSOI ) Games in 2025, a senior government official has said.
The announcement was made by Sports Minister Marie-Celine Zialor on Tuesday during the sending off ceremony for the Seychelles team, which will travel to Mauritius for this year’s games.
“I have a very exciting announcement to make. During the closing ceremony of this year’s games, the CJSOI flag will be passed to Seychelles, which means that we will be the next host of the games in 2025,” said Ms. Zialor.
It will be the third time that Seychelles, an archipelago in the western Indian Ocean, has hosted the games after doing so in 1999 and 2008.
Hosting such a major sporting event means that proper facilities will need to be in place. Seychelles already faces a number of problems with its sports facilities, in particular the Unity Stadium, which has been deemed unsuitable to host international matches by the Confederation of African Football (CAF).
“Even before taking this decision, we had already started talking to everyone involved locally, about the work that needs to be done with the sports infrastructure in the country,” the minister told SNA.
She said many works have already been approved and are underway such as the works of the national stadium, Unity Stadium, where new running tracks are to be installed and the football field is also to be redeveloped.
Ms. Zialor said that there are plans to create a complete sports complex in the southern district of Mahé, at Anse Royale. Work will be carried out to improve other sports venues in the country, not only for the games but also for the benefit of sports development in Seychelles.
“One thing we’re also looking at is having temporary venues, like Qatar’s makeshift 974 Stadium which is made up of containers, a stadium that will be dismantled after the FIFA World Cup is over. We’ve already had some discussions about it and we are moving quickly to see how we can have something similar in Seychelles,” she said.
The CJSOI Games , introduced in 1994, have the main objectives of promoting friendship among the youth of the participating nations and fostering regional cooperation.
It includes Seychelles, Mauritius, Madagascar, La Réunion – a French overseas department – Djibouti, Mayotte and Comoros as participating countries, with sports and cultural exchanges as part of the event.
This year the games are being held from December 4-11 with the participation of a delegation of 200 athletes, coaches and officials from Seychelles.
Source: Seychelles News Agency