10th Indian Ocean Island Games (IOIG), Mauritius July 19-28, 2019 |22 July 2019

Designated Minister Mondon in the stands at Saturday’s basketball match

Designated Minister Mondon satisfied with the athletes’ accommodation and condition

Despite some minor issues which should not directly affect the performance of our athletes at the 10th Indian Ocean Island Games (IOIG), all of them are in good form with a high moral and ready to defend the country’s colours, Designated Minister Macsuzy Mondon has said.

Representing the government at the event, Designated Minister Mondon, who is also responsible for sports, made the comment after visiting the athletes at their accommodations. She also attended most of the sporting events in which Seychellois athletes have taken part in so far.

During her visit, Mrs Mondon had the chance to interact with athletes and listen to whatever concerns they had.

Sports NATION caught up with her at the Phoenix Gymnasium on Saturday when she was attending the men’s basketball match between Seychelles and Madagascar and according to her, all athletes are well and all the feedbacks regarding issues such as accommodation and training venues were positive, despite signs of some early hiccups earlier on.

“They were all positive and they all agreed that their living conditions are good,” said Minister Mondon.

One concern she raised though was the disadvantages of staying in hotels.

She noted that apart from eating everything, compared to a more sports’ appropriate diet at a Games’ Village, the other issue is that it prevents the athletes from mingling with each other, thus limits the spirit of friendship and exchange which are crucial elements of the IOIG, other than the sports competition.

Regarding the overall Games, Minister Mondon noted there are some issues which could have easily been prevented with better organisation.

She mentioned issues of lateness and also delay in the delivery of accreditation badges which has been causing quite a bit of confusion, at both sports venues and other official events.

In fact, she received her accreditation badge late as well and she attended the opening ceremony without an invitation, where she had to identify herself at the gate.

Minister Mondon added that she hopes things get better as the Games progresses.

Commenting on our athletes’ performance at the Games, Minister Mondon who attended the football match between Seychelles and hosts Mauritius and also the first two days of swimming where Felicity Passon and Mathieu Bachmann won gold medals for Seychelles, said so far she is very satisfied with the performances, although it is evident that in some sports disciplines, our neighbours are better than us.

Text and photos Roland Duval in Mauritius