| The Gendarmes will play against Cosfa this evening at the Mahamasina Sports Palace. |
This Friday, it’s time for the semi-finals of the zone 7 club championship. Two Malagasy clubs will face each other in the boys’ final.
The best are yet to come. The semi-finals of the 28th edition of the Zone 7 club championship promise to be electric. Favorites of the competition, four teams from Reunion are still in the running, three for the Big Island and one for the Seychelles.
Two Reunion clubs, Saint-Denis Olympique and Tampon Gecko, will compete for both boys and girls. On the Malagasy side, the National Volleyball Gendarmerie (GNVB) will be opposed to the Armed Forces Omnisports Club for boys (Cosfa). And the other girls’ semi-final will be between the GNVB women’s team and the Seychellois de l’Anse Royale.
The second boys’ semi-final, scheduled for this Friday at 6 p.m. at the Palais des Sports, will be the umpteenth remake of the national summit final between GNVB and Cosfa. On paper, the Gendarmes, five-time holders of the regional title with eleven national crowns, are in a favorable position. Their elements almost formed the national selection at the last Island Games. The Military are also multiple winners of the Indian Ocean Cup, the last title dating from 2007.
The first men’s half, scheduled for 2 p.m., will be a clash between the two leaders of the Reunion championship, Saint-Denis Olympique and Tampon Gecko, respectively reigning champion and his runner-up. SDO completed the podium at the last zonal tournament in Mauritius, while TGV climbed to the top step.
Second attempt
The final duel will therefore be between a Malagasy team and another from Reunion among the boys. The GNVB women’s team will play its second semi-final in this zone 7 competition. The Betongolo girls will play at 4 p.m. against Anse Royale Ladies, vice-champion club in 2023. Defeated in a classification match for third place Last year, the Gendarmes were satisfied, in their first participation, with fourth place.
The first women’s semi-final, scheduled for noon, will also be an affair between the two best clubs on the Little Island, Saint-Denis Olympique, defending champion in the Reunion championship, and its runner-up, VBC Saint-Denis. SDO, which has seven Indian Ocean Club Cup titles, was ranked third during the previous edition of the Zone 7 summit in Mauritius. This Reunion club eliminated the GNVB in a classification match.
The finals, preceded by the classification matches for third place, will take place on Saturday.
12 hours (Ladies) Tampon Gecko (Reunion) – Saint-Denis Olympique (Reunion);
14 hours (Men) Tampon Gecko (Reunion) – Saint-Denis Olympique (Reunion);
16 hours (Ladies) National Gendarmerie (Madagascar) – Anse Royale (Seychelles);
18 hours (Men) National Gendarmerie (Madagascar) – Cosfa (Madagascar)
Serge Rasanda