The history of artistic gymnastics in Mauritius, an island state off the African coast, is not very long. In December, only the sixth national artistic gymnastics championships took place. The competition gathered over 250 gymnasts ranging in age from 5 to 29 years old from around the country, more than half of all the artistic gymnasts currently training in the country.
Deevyash Beedaseea from the Flacq Sly Ninjas Gymnastics Club and Shania Graçie Echazar from the Grand Baie Northern Tumblers Gymnastics Club became the MAG and WAG national champions.
The Mauritius Gymnastics Federation is quite new but they see great potential of gymnastics in the country. At the moment, they are still trying to get support from the government and often have to do with limited equipment. For example, the country doesn’t have a spring floor, so gymnasts use tumble tracks for their floor routines. Some of the equipment, such as balance beams, is locally made.
According to Sarvesh Lutchmun, the federation’s secretary, “gymnastics is less known in Mauritius. However, it is one of the fastest growing sports in the country. More and more people, especially girls, are signing up for gymnastics classes and parents are very happy to see their kids practicing gymnastics. It is expected that over the next two years, the country will have over 1000 gymnasts at the various levels.”
Mauritius is only a short flight away from another island that is well-known in gymnastics community. Reunion, where Elvire Teza and Marine Boyer were born, had representatives on multiple French national teams. Gymnasts from Mauritius were able to go to training camps to Reunion and to competitions in South Africa and Thailand.
Photos courtesy of the Mauritius Gymnastics Federation
