Friday saw the official opening of the 8th Indian Ocean Island Games being held in the Seychelles. It was the Seychelles President, Mr. James Michel, who had the honor of declaring these games open, which are always so contested between some 1,200 islanders coming from Seychelles, La Reunion, Mayotte, Comores, Madagascar, Mauritius, and the Maldives.
The President of the Maldives, Mr. Mohamed Nasheed, was also in Seychelles for the official opening of the games, accompanied by a delegation of ministers. Mauritius was also represented by their minister responsible for sports.
This is the second time that these games were organized in the Seychelles. The next one is now set to be held in La Reunion. Maldives is making a bid to host the games in 2019.
Football, basketball, volleyball, swimming, laser sailing, badminton, weight lifting, boxing, table tennis, cycling, and judo, among other diciplines, will be contested by the atheletes from all the Indian Ocean Islands. Minister Vincent Meriton from the Seychelles was the responsible person for these 2011 games. He worked alongside Mr. Jean-Francois Beaulieu, the International President for the games.
