Mauritius is a privileged territory that invites to so many sports! Its geography and climate make it a dream destination for professional or amateur athletes. Under the tropical sky, the body can exult. On the sea and on the island’s varied terrain, the body can indulge in all, or almost, of the sports activities invented by the human brain… September, back to school, is a good time to talk about sport at Mauritius!
There is no doubt that you can play sports without a brain (we will not name anyone!). On the other hand, it is difficult to imagine sport without a body. If the test of the body is therefore the starting point of the notion of sport, the human mind nevertheless constantly thinks and transforms it, and in a thousand ways: invention of new games, places, equipment, new competitions, activities , rules, technologies, methods… Do you know kayak-polo, hybrid of kayak, water-polo, handball and basketball, born in the 70s? Do you know that you can build muscle without sport thanks to electrostimulation?
Sport, Body, Leisure
Be that as it may, sport is clearly linked to leisure, the time that an evolved and structured society can devote to an unconstrained activity. The Greeks, as we know, magnified sport within the life of the city. Nevertheless, historians believe that the sport originated in Egypt which offers, from the IIIe millennium before our era, many images of sports scenes, wrestling or archery competitions. As for the Romans, they may have created modern sport with its mass spectacles. If we have to conclude, we will argue that the Greco-Latin model of sport, both in its practice and in its imagination, is the one that has now spread to the whole planet…
Beyond the historical source, we can have fun evoking the psychological source. What desires activate the desire or the need for sport? The narcissism of the perfect body? Greek statuary – the famous Discobolus! – exposes the beauty of the athletic body. Health ? The holistic “mens sana in corpore sano” of the Latins remains valid!… Playfulness? In team sports, joy and pleasure accompany physical achievement. Megalomania? Isn’t wanting to be recognized as the most powerful in the world akin to it, particularly in the global media era?
The body, central object of sporting activity, does not therefore seem to be a simple performance machine whose sole purpose would be to endlessly validate a collective invention called “Sport”. We could believe it by noting the interventions of science to develop its power ever further, higher, faster. However, the athletic body, beyond its physical machinery, is largely a view of the mind that gets involved for better or for worse! It is the source of deity fantasies, aesthetic criteria, iconic references, fashions, public and private institutions, extra-sports fables and industries on which a complex psycho-socio-economic ecosystem has been built. with local and planetary ramifications, with multiple and diverse subsets… Mauritius, despite its specific attractions, is a tropical-western replica of this sprawling but colorful ecosystem.
Sports in Mauritius
There are a thousand ways to classify the whole Sport in Mauritius. We will limit ourselves to 4 dichotomies which will allow us to be more or less exhaustive on the subject.
Elite Sport/Popular Sport.
From this point of view, the British influence is undoubtedly for a lot in the strong development of the two parallel Mauritian passions for golf and football while one can imagine that the French influence and its egalitarian ideology is embodied in pétanque. or road cycling, both considered popular.
LMauritius, ranked third in the world for the practice of golf, has ten 18-hole golf courses and three 9-hole golf courses (a fourth soon in Azuri), some of which among the best in the world where international tournaments are organized throughout the year.
As for football, it’s a strange story being played out here. Mauritians have always lived it with fervor through the adventures of the English Premier League, formerly with their ears glued to the BBC, then during satellite TV broadcasts, but unfortunately they disdain local football even if it is common to see it practiced informally on the grounds scattered throughout the island! And many companies (CitySport, Vivo Energy…) have their own teams which compete frequently in tournaments.
Yachting, so British and exclusive, is embodied in the Grand Bay Yacht Club, but fishing pirogue regattas are frequent and very popular with tidimounn who can also learn to sail near Le Morne, at the Ti Regate sailing club.
Equestrian sport also has two sides: the wealthy classes practice it in the many equestrian centers on the island while the working classes experience it by proxy in the turf, so creator of passions!
For some events, the enthusiasm of Mauritians goes beyond social divisions. During the JIOI, for example, it is the whole nation that vibrates for its teams…
Sporting activities/Sports business.
In Mauritius, there are countless sports activities practiced by amateurs and top athletes! It must be said that they are stimulated by the three exceptional areas of the island: land, sea, air. Big success, all classes combined, trails or cycling races but there are so many other ways to move your body! Athletics has had a dream setting since the last JIOI: the Côte d’Or National Sports Complex. Indoor sports, individual or collective, are not left out: padel (the latest Mauritian passion), squash, badminton, table tennis, bodybuilding, fitness, sports in the gymnasium with volleyball, basketball and handball, and all forms of Martial Arts. And tennis is played on dozens of courts spread across the island… For children, there are multidisciplinary clubs such as the Moka Rangers Sports Club, where you can even practice fencing or archery, itself highly developed among adults in various archery clubs !
Diving, surfing, water skiing, deep-sea fishing, sailing, windsurfing, kayaking, kite surfing, canyoning and stand-up paddleboarding can be enjoyed on the impressive bodies of sea or fresh water.
If the body is not fulfilled on land or at sea, it is always possible for it to get laid. In Mauritius, you can practice paragliding, ULM, parasailing and parachute jumping (accompanied or not).
To satisfy this sporting demand, a large commercial offer is constantly developing: international brands of clothing and equipment for all disciplines are represented in shopping malls or perfectly stocked boutiques, more and more fitness rooms are springing up all over the island and the sailboats themselves have their brokers, accessory shops, wintering places…
Private/public sports institutions.
The State, like private companies, compete in initiatives to promote sport in Mauritius but also develop many private-public partnerships.
The very title of the Ministry of Youth Empowerment, Sports and Recreation marks an ambition beyond mere sporting exploits. To this end, it appoints the Mauritius Sports Council to deploy its actions, among which we note the interesting Active Mauritius to promote a national culture of sport, health and physical well-being at all ages.
Private companies are essential supporters of major sporting events. We will mention the Ferney Trail of the CIEL group since 2008 or the famous Moka Trail of the ENL group which will celebrate its 10th anniversary this year. Banks like to generously sponsor golf and therefore have a strong economic impact in the country: the MCB and son MCB Tour Championship Mauritius ; AfrAsia Bank sees even beyond l’AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open by creating a golf school for Mauritian children. Mauritius Telecom had a brilliant idea by setting up MUGAs in various villages on the island: these sports and wellness complexes for families, from the youngest to the oldest or those with reduced mobility, are enjoying enormous success. The insurance companies, they have an energetic predilection for the organization of tennis tournaments: from the MUA Tennis Open to the Swan Tennis Open which will see its 16e edition in October 2022. As for Kitesurfers, they have a blast, among other things, au Red Bull Wind Riders !
Interstate partnerships are also part of this history of Mauritian sport: China participated financially in the creation of the Côte d’Or complex. The French Embassy promotes Mauritian athletes in view of the 2024 Games in Paris…
High level sport/amateur sport.
As we have seen, Mauritian sport thrills fans of all stripes, but it is also officially organized according to international standards. Many sports federations govern the sport and some shine with their results in competitions international!
Above all, we must pay tribute to the disabled sports federations and especially to their high-level athletes, including Noemi Alphonse, Anaïs Angeline, Brandy Perrine, Roberto Michel, Tessa Perrine, Denovan Rabaye, Brigila Clair and other Trinity Telvave!
Mauritian athletes returned from the Commonwealth Games with good results (3 silver medals and 2 bronze, in women’s weightlifting, boxing and judo) which still bode well for the 2024 Olympics in Paris. Mauritian women’s rugby is world-class and began a great medal hunt in February in a tournament between 6 African nations. Olivier Lafleur has been the assault world champion in French boxing since July! The men shine internationally in Thai boxing, the women in cycling. Mauritian archers take part in international competitions… Caroline Mamet has stood out abroad for her results in fencing… In water sports, the Open Africa-Middle East championships have just opened in Mauritius itself where, among other things, the quadricolor Julie Paturau will be on the way to qualifying in Kitefoil for the Paris 2024 Olympics.
Competitions organized by private institutions also rise to the highest level. The Necker Mauritius Open organized at the RM Club receives the gratin of world squash. The Mauritius Golf Open attracts the best golfers on the planet. The latest craze, Kitesurfing promoted by C Resorts received the world champions of its discipline to make spectacular demonstrations of a sport that will eventually impose competitions at the highest level on the island…
