Rédaction Africa Links 24 with lexpress
Published on 2024-04-02 02:46:00
| Comorian Sports Minister Djaanfar Salim Allaoui received the COJI flag in Madagascar in 2023. |
For the XIIth edition of the JIOI 2027, the date of which is yet to be fixed, the Comoros archipelago proposes seventeen disciplines, most of which still face a major infrastructure challenge for the country.
Three countries that have never hosted the JIOI have positioned themselves for 2027, namely the Comoros, Mayotte, and the Maldives. Grande Comore was designated to host the twelfth edition. It immediately announced its proposal of seventeen disciplines for the major sports event of Indian Ocean athletes.
Three years prior to hosting this sports event, the Comorian organizing committee for the JIOI proposed a list of seventeen disciplines: football, athletics, badminton, basketball, boxing, cycling, weightlifting, handball, judo, karate, wrestling, swimming, petanque, taekwondo, tennis, table tennis, and volleyball.
The Comoros had previously proposed their candidacy, but were not selected due to lack of infrastructure. For the next edition, after the designation of their country, Inrahim Mze Mohamed, President of the Comoros Regional Olympic and Sports Committee, reacted positively: “It is a great joy and pride to have been chosen. It is a challenge that we are able to meet! We will have an Olympic swimming pool, an agreement has been signed with a Chinese company. And also a gymnasium. We already know that the seventeen sports in which we have athletes engaged this year (JIOI 2023) will be there. We will try to add beach sports. This would make about twenty sports in total.”
Gold Medal Provider
Out of these seventeen disciplines, five will pose a tough challenge for Malagasy athletes, especially in badminton (dominated by the Maldives, Mauritius, and Seychelles), swimming (largely dominated by athletes from La Réunion and Mauritius), cycling (dominated by Mauritius and La Réunion), handball, and boxing.
Regarding the latter discipline, no official competition has taken place in Madagascar for several years. To avoid humiliation in the ring, the Malagasy Boxing Federation, without waiting for the resolution of the internal problem affecting the International Federation, must undertake its preparation.
Of the remaining twelve disciplines, athletics must also wake up now, as Mauritius heavily dominated the last edition in Madagascar. For this twelfth edition of the JIOI, weightlifting will remain the top provider of gold medals for the Grande Ile and place it in the top 3 of the rankings. Provided that the preparation is done in better conditions and in a timely manner that will not disrupt Malagasy athletes. The Comoros won five gold medals at the XIth edition of the JIOI 2023 in Madagascar.
Donné Raherinjatovo
