President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih and First Lady Fazna Ahmed have attended the opening ceremony of the 10th Indian Ocean Island Games (IOIG) in Mauritius.

They were accompanied at Friday evening’s ceremony by Foreign Minister Abdulla Shahid and Youth Minister Ahmed Mahloof.

IOIG is a multi-sports event held every four years and invites athletes from islands in the Indian Ocean to compete for medals across 14 different sports disciplines.

The President’s Office statedthat the inaugural edition of the IOIG, of which the Maldives is a founding member, was held in 1979. The objectives of the Games are to contribute to regional cooperation through sport, and to build friendship and mutual understanding between the island-nations of the Indian Ocean, continuing the best traditions of sporting diplomacy.

The Maldives won its first international medal in an international sporting event at the first ever IOIG, 40 years ago. Many of the Maldivian athletes representing multiple sporting fields will be competing for similar successes this year.

The Maldives is seeking to host the 11th edition of the IOIG due to be held in 2023. The results of the voting for the next host will be announced at the closing ceremony of the current games.

The President and First Lady will attend several of the games to be held in the upcoming days, to offer encouragement and support to the Maldivian athletes, who will be competing in football, basketball, volleyball, table tennis, athletics, kite surfing, badminton, sailing, and swimming.

Overall, Maldives won one gold, seven silver, and 14 bronze medals in the games, with the only gold having been achieved by the country’s fastest sprinter Hassan Saeed in the 100-meter dash.

Other islands competing in this year’s games are Mauritius, Comoros, Réunion, Mayotte, and Seychelles.