Madagascar replaces Maldives as host of Indian Ocean Island Games 2023

Maldives has been replaced by Madagascar to host Indian Ocean Island Games which will be held in the year 2023 because of the concerns over the ongoing pandemic.

Maldives, however, requested pushing back the 2023 games to 2025 but the organizers decided to avoid the six years gap between the editions of the sports event.  

Maldives was given the responsibility of hosting the event in 2019 but the members of the Indian Ocean Island Games federation decided to move the games to Madagascar.

The decision by the organizers has been taken in the light of challenges faced by Maldives in organizing the event because of the pandemic.

Ahmed Marzooq, Secretary General of Maldives Olympic Committee, stated that the decision was a huge disappointment to the sport in the nation but we are facing the challenges due to the ongoing health crisis.

Indian Ocean Island Games:

It is a multi-sport event which is held in every four years among the athletes from the Indian Ocean Island Nations. The International Olympic Committee created the games in 1977. The event currently gather the island nations and territories of Comoros, Mauritius, Seychelles, Mayotte, Madagascar, Maldives and Reunion.

The number of athletes participating in the event have increased in the recent years. It went from 1000 athletes in 1979 to over 1500 athletes in 2003 and 2007 and over 2000 athletes in 2019.

The games saw the participation of 5 countries: Seychelles, Sri Lanka, Mauritius, Reunion and Comoros and they also drafted the charter of the games.

Indian Ocean Island Games: Events

•  Athletics

•  Badminton

•  Basketball

•  Boxing

•  Cycling

•  Football

•  Handball

•  Judo

•  Petanque

•  Karate

•  Sailing

•  Rugby

•  Table Tennis

•  Swimming

•  Tennis

•  Taekwondo

•  Weightlifting

•  Volleyball

•  Wrestling