Welcome to the Comoros!

ATHENS (GRE) - The International Military Sports Council is delighted to welcome a new Member Nation: the Comoros. After having participated in the 72nd General Assembly and Congress of the CISM in Athens (GRE) as a non-member nation, the Comoros has been admitted within the Grand CISM Family following a positive vote by CISM delegates to become the CISM 136th Member Nation! The African Continent now has 46 members within the CISM.

Here’s the reaction of Hilmy Aboud-Said, Executive Director of the Comorian Federation of Military Sport:

CISM - What are your feelings after this vote of admission into the grand family of the CISM?

“A feeling of honor and pride first and foremost. Military Sport has always occupied an important place in the world of sport in general and is becoming ever more important with each year. In certain countries, it is also considered as more important than other large sports federations. And today, the Comoros has the privilege of belonging to the grand family of the CISM and I’m certain that this will influence the growth of military sport in our country.”

CISM - What are the factors that encouraged your country to become the 136th Member Nation of the CISM?

“The Comoros has wished to join the CISM for several years. Chief of Staff, Youssouf Idjihadi, has always pushed for Comorian military sport to be a part of the grand family of the CISM but adverse national circumstances and his own activities had delayed membership.

Furthermore, the emergence of the Coelacanths, the national team of Comoros, who has started to make a breakthrough on the African stage, has also benefitted the quest for membership. Indeed, our Chief of Staff is the Vice-President of the Comoros Football Federation and that has certainly helped to speed up the process. With this in mind, he called for help and expertise from other fans of military sport as well as sports officials, including the President of the Comorian Athletics Federation. Hilmy Aboud-Said, Executive Director of the Comorian Federation of Military Sport and a member of the Confederation of African Athletics, thus took it upon himself to push through the application in collaboration with the CISM and to make membership a reality.

Elected as President of Comoros in May 2016, Colonel Azali Assoumani, who is a good sportsman himself, has also been totally in favor of membership and has motivated the decision-makers to accelerate the process.

The potential of military sport in the Comoros is real and we hope to benefit from this opportunity to create bridges between the national sports federations and the FCSM.”

CISM - Can you describe the actual situation of military sport in your country? In what way can CISM membership help things to go forward?

“The Comorian Federation of Military Sport is still at the embryonic stage but some disciplines such as football, judo, boxing or basketball are already well-developed and competitions are organized on a regular basis.

But as for any budding sports federation, technical and logistic assistance is necessary. In this sense, the assistance of the CISM, through its development programs, is crucial in order for us to prepare ourselves at a local level. We also have as objective to participate in the near future in international competitions organized by CISM.

The FCSM needs to have a clearer vision not only of what is possible to undertake but also needs to create strategic partnerships with the help of the CISM and to undergo development with the aim of being able to program top-level activities for its members on a regular basis.”

CISM - Do you already have some plans to participate and/or organize CISM events in the future?

For sure, the FCSM hopes to be able to quickly join CISM programs and to take part actively in its competitions.

Regarding the question of the organization of events, international football games are already organized. With the construction of a large football stadium and an athletics track planned for 2019, we can possibly look ahead to organizing a big football and athletics competition in a few years!

But at this stage, we must, above all, think about preparing the way and acquiring experience by participating in CISM events!”

Source: David Vandenplas (CISM Media and Communication Director)

Pictures: Maxime Morlet (CISM Media and Communication Assistant)