Thirty years old. The last Malagasy medal in badminton at the Games of the Islands dates from 1993, a bronze in the Seychelles. Madagascar has already won five others, three silver and two bronze in 1990 on Malagasy soil. After the four months of high-level training in China, “our preselected say they are confident of winning medals,” reassures Jean Aimé Ravalison dit Mota, president of the Malagasy Badminton Federation. Eight badminton players, five boys and three girls, benefited from the course on Chinese soil. Seven gold medals will be at stake, those in men’s and women’s singles and team, and in men’s, women’s and mixed doubles. Badminton has been since the first edition of the Games in 1979 dominated by Mauritians. The pre-selected have been training since Monday and until next Monday in the small hall of the Sports Palace in Mahamasina. The room will no longer be available from next week for rehabilitation.
an expatriate
Therefore, “we will again be looking for another room to train. Our concern is that a Chinese expert will arrive on July 7 to take charge of the final regrouping of the selection”, underlines the boss of the federation. “Our minister coach, Edgard Razafindravahy, has already received us twice. The latter and his collaborators have promised to find a solution to this room problem before the kick-off of the last grouping”, indicates the president of the federation. The pre-selection has followed collective training since June 2022. “It was not really a regrouping because the players were still going home”, explains the president. The pre-selected train initially, two to three times a week, at the National Sports Academy “thanks to the partnership with the ANS which authorized us to use the gymnasium”. The national team will be reinforced by an expatriate from France. “He is well ranked in the French regional championship. He is only waiting for the kick-off of the final regrouping to join the group. His little sister has also been asked, but she will not be able to come, ”he says without wanting to give more details about the expatriate. The federation should submit to the Ministry of Youth and Sports, before July 7, the final list of twenty selected badminton players, ten boys and ten girls including four substitutes and four substitutes as well as four coaches. A final classification test is scheduled for this weekend in order to complete the list of those selected for the games.