XXII Commonwealth Games in Birmingham Team Seychelles attend welcome ceremony |27 July 2022
Already landed, Team Seychelles at the 2022 Commonwealth Games scheduled to take place from July 28 to August 8 in Birmingham, England were officially welcomed on Monday during the traditional pre-Games team welcoming ceremony.
As part of the ceremony, representatives from all 72 nations will receive the gifts, carrying a message of welcome from one hand to another, in their Birmingham 2022 welcome packs.
According to Arts and crafts organisation Craftspace, the lives of locals and athletes alike can be changed by 4600 gifts – a special Commonwealth Games gift project – with 4600 hand-embellished gifts, lovingly made from upcycling locally sourced materials by the people of Birmingham for each athlete competing at the Games.
“The definition of a gift is something you give where you don’t expect anything in return, so it’s a very powerful idea,” said Craftspace director Deirdre Figueiredo who further added that everyone has a gift to give and the aim is to give a message of unity, friendship and togetherness.
“It’s from one human hand to another and we wanted that to be our warm welcome from the city,” he added.
The opening ceremonies of the 2022 Commonwealth Games are scheduled to be held at Alexander Stadium, and director Iqbal Khan said the ceremony would aim to showcase the "vivid and vibrant confidence" of Birmingham.
The ceremony is scheduled to be headlined by Birmingham-based new wave band Duran Duran, while Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath, who is also a Birmingham native, will perform alongside Soweto Kinch during a segment of the ceremony.
Seychelles is being represented by the following athletes:
Athletics – Ned Azemia (men's 400m hurdles), Sharry Dodin (men's 100m and 200m), Dylan Sicobo (men's 100m and 200m), Iven Moïse (men’s 1,500m), Denzel Adam (men's 100m and 200m) and Natasha Chetty (women’s high jump)
Boxing – Keddy Agnes (over 92kg – super heavyweight), Shain Boniface (over 67kg-71kg – light middleweight) and Fabio Roselie (over 60kg-63.5kg – light welterweight)
Cycling – Yohan Monthy (men's road race and time trial), Mario Ernesta (men's road race and time trial), Stephen Belle (men's road race, sprint and 15km scratch race)
Judo – Jean-Michel Vidot (men's -66 kg), Dominic Dugasse (men's +100 kg)
Squash – Marcus Adela (men's singles)
Swimming – Mathieu Bachmann (men's 50m butterfly, 50m freestyle, 100m butterfly, 100m freestyle, 4 x 100m freestyle relay, 4 x 100m medley relay, 4 x 200m freestyle relay, mixed 4 x 100m freestyle relay), Simon Bachmann (men's 200m butterfly, 200m individual medley, 4 x 100m freestyle relay, 4 x 100m medley relay, 4 x 200m freestyle relay), Adam Moncherry (men's 50m butterfly, 50m freestyle, 100m butterfly, 100m freestyle, 4 x 100m freestyle relay, 4 x 100m medley relay, 4 x 200m freestyle relay, mixed 4 x 100m freestyle relay), Tyler Fred (men's 50m backstroke, 50m butterfly, 100m backstroke, 100m freestyle, 200m freestyle, 4 x 100m freestyle relay, 4 x 100m medley relay, 4 x 200m freestyle relay), Aaliyah Palestrini(women's 50m backstroke, 50m butterfly, 50m freestyle, 100m freestyle, 400m freestyle, mixed 4 x 100m freestyle relay), Therese Soukup (women's 50m backstroke, 50m butterfly, 50m freestyle, 100m freestyle, 400m freestyle, mixed 4 x 100m freestyle relay)
Weightlifting – Romentha Larue (women’s 87kg), Clementina Agricole (women’s 59kg)
Table tennis – Godfrey Sultan (men's singles, men's doubles, mixed doubles), Mick Crea (men's singles, men's doubles, mixed doubles), Laura Sinon (women's singles, women's doubles, mixed doubles), Christy Bristol (women's singles, women's doubles, mixed doubles)
The accompanying photo were taken during the welcome ceremony.
Roland Duval
