While waiting for the official version of the Ministry of Youth and Sports which refuses to reveal everything about the JIOI of 2023, the number of Malagasy athletes is known.
Forty-four days before the opening of the eleventh edition of the 2023 JIOI that Madagascar will host from August 25 to September 3 in Antananarivo, everyone is currently wondering where we are? Would Madagascar be ready in time for this big meeting of the Indian Ocean islands? How many athletes will represent Madagascar? In a nutshell, no one dares to speak out whether it is on the sites under construction or at the level of the supervisory ministry, the Ministry of Youth and Sports for fear of reprisals. To shed some light on the number of athletes who will defend the Malagasy color during the 11th edition of the JIOI in 2023, a publication on Facebook with a COJI header gives the number of the delegation at 1,473 members, including 485 athletes (265 male and 220 women), 83 officials, 21 federation representatives, 25 team managers and 813 technical officials. Athletics is in the lead with a number of sixty people with equal parity (30 men and 30 women). Handball is in second position with 36 athletes, including 18 women and 18 men. The swim will feature 15 female athletes and 15 swimmers. Volleyball and Judo each send 14 men and 15 women to compete during the event.
Waiting around the corner
The eagerly awaited basketball at the turn after having participated in the World Cup of the discipline 3×3 and the U19 boys, will present 24 athletes for the 5X5 and 8 athletes for the 3X3. Petanque, a safe bet capable of shining at home, will feature 20 athletes, 10 of whom are male and 10 female. The same goes for weightlifting and wrestling. Paralympic swimming will be represented by eight athletes, half of whom are women. Football which will have the mission to win gold on home soil will field 23 players while tennis and table tennis will each field 12 athletes made up of half men. Karate is represented by 23 fighters of which 14 are made up of men and 9 women. The objective for Madagascar to play at home is to win first place in the final standings. But with the preparation which leaves something to be desired, a regrouping still awaited if there is any place or not for all the athletes on the part of the State, the mission risks being very difficult not to say that it will fall in the water because in sport, there are no miracles. Only we reap what we sow.