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Day: 16 May 2022

Prestigious jumping competition set to return to Monaco

by: Stephanie Horsman
16/05/2022

Jumping International de Monte-Carlo returns just in time to kick off the summer season, with some of the world’s best horses and riders competing in this, the 10th stage of the prestigious Longines Global Champions Tour circuit.

Just weeks after the excitement of Grand Prix, another much-anticipated event returns to Monaco. The Jumping International de Monte-Carlo, being held on Port Hercule from 30th June to 2nd July, will host its 16thedition in an event that features riders and horses combining both beauty and skill.

As the 10th stage of the Longines Global Champions Tour 2022, the Monaco competition offers one of the most beautiful settings of the season at the foot of the Prince’s Palace with a backdrop of glamorous yachts.

Over three days, riders will exhibit talent and dexterity culminating in the Longines Global Champions Tour Grand Prize from the Prince of Monaco on the final day.

In 2021, Irishman Darragh Kenny who won the Prize with his horse, Idalville d’Esprit. He beat out the other worthy riders who are ranked the best in the world, including recent winner of the Leipzig World Cup final, Swissman Martin Fuchs, who is third ranked, the eighth ranked Olympic Team Champion from London, Scott Brash, Frenchman Julien Épaillard, who is number 12 in the world, Simon Delestre, Olivier Robert, winner of two stages of the circuit in 2021 in Madrid and Rome, sixth ranked Brazilian, Marlon Modolo Zanotelli and Belgians Jos Verlooy, Olivier Philippaerts and Pieter Devos.

The Jumping International de Monte-Carlo has been affiliated with the Longines Global Champions Tour since 2016. The Global Champions League, a team competition, will take place in two rounds, the first on Thursday 30th June and the second on Saturday 2nd July.

Events at the national, amateur and professional level will be scheduled, with the Longines Pro-Am Cup as part of the programme, which brings together a five-star rider and a young talent to compete as a team.

The show will feature an exhibitor’s village, where craftsman and traders from the equestrian world will be available to show the public what it is they do and ask questions on their given topics.

Lest audiences grow hungry, dining options facing the track with the port in the background will also be possible thanks to the reception areas in the business and VIP boxes. Meals are also available from the Comptoir with its view of both the track and the paddock.

 

Photo source: LGCT

 

 

 

 

Roca Team prevail in thriller at the Beaublanc

by: Luke Entwistle
16/05/2022

AS Monaco Basketball stole victory at the death against Limoges (88-89) on Saturday in a match that erratically oscillated between the two sides.

The experience of Leo Westermann and Mike James were pivotal in digging Sasa Obradovic’s side out of a hole that they had themselves dug in the third-quarter (31-10). Going into the final-quarter with an 11-point deficit, Monaco took the victory in the dying seconds in improbable circumstances to ensure second-place in the Betclic ELite heading into the final game week of the regular season.

Obradovic fielded a strong starting five and got off to a promising start. James (21 pts) was not only a reliable source of points, but also a source of great creativity as he laid off assists that only he could make.

Although the Roca Team were clearly in control of the match by half-time, Limoges were still in the game and had begun to cut down the deficit (36-46). A tight, tit-for-tat type game was replaced by an incredible fluctuating affair, where momentum switched in dramatic and extreme circumstances.

Limoges were aggressive without the ball and efficient with it as they not only cut the deficit, but constructed a healthy lead in the third-quarter. The Sports Palace of Beaublanc was a cauldron of noise as the home-side ripped through this formidable Monaco team with apparent ease.

Going into the final 10 minutes, Obradovic’s men had to dig deep to drag themselves back into the tie. Up stepped Westermann (16 pts) with some incredible finishing outside the key to eat into the home-side’s advantage.

Having fought back over the course of the quarter, James looked to have launched the killer blow from outside the key with only 30 seconds on the clock (84-88). But Limoges weren’t done there, and a dramatic turn of events game them the chance to steal the victory at the death.

At 87-88, Dwayne Bacon missed two free-throws, before Will Thomas committed a foul giving the home-side a chance to win it with just two seconds left. Horace Spencer converted his first free-throw to level the scores, but what happened next was quite unbelievable.

Spencer not only missed the second, but Hugo Invernizzi fouled Westermann to give the Roca Team two free-throws to win it. Westermann took the first, to give Monaco a one-point advantage, before missing the second. On the buzzer, Limoges launched a three-pointer from deep inside their own half, but it agonisingly struck the rim, before, from Monaco’s point of view, bouncing to safety.

Westermann, the match-winner said post-match, “It was an extraordinary end to the match, for Limoges and for us. We won and today it fell on our side.”

Monaco next travel to Cholet on Tuesday to wrap up the regular season ahead of the play-offs.

 

Photo source: AS Monaco Basketball

 

 

 

Jardin Exotique impresses at Genoa plant show

by: Stephanie Horsman
16/05/2022

Monaco’s Jardin Exotique has been awarded eight prizes at the Euroflora show in Genoa, including seven first place honours.

For more than 50 years, Euroflora has been front and centre with regards to European flower and plant shows, offering colour, beauty and some would even say works of art at two locations, the Parchi and Musei di Nervi, in the Italian city of Genoa.

This year’s offerings were as spectacular as ever, with participants from all over the world putting their best blooms forward. Since its inception in 1966, 6,770 exhibitors have taken part with more than 5.5 million visitors passing through the site.

As one of the premier gardens in Europe, Monaco’s own Jardin Exotique took part, presenting 26 plants and garnering a total of eight prizes, including seven first place awards.

The preparation work to move some of these plants was incredibly laborious, as many are not only rare, but also delicate. An entire month was spent getting the plants ready to be moved to their temporary spots, using made-to-measure packaging fashioned from wood and coconut fibre, the same materials used in doormats, which has been used for nearly a century.

On the other end, gardeners from the Jardin Exotique were on site for an entire week, carefully unpacking the plants and placing them in their six-metre space. Now that the show is over, the same process will be happening in reverse, with the plants expected to be escorted home by the end of the month.

 

Photo source: Mairie de Monaco

 

 

 

 

Monaco receives four new ambassadors

by: Stephanie Horsman
16/05/2022

The Principality welcomes four more new Ambassadors, this time coming from Malaysia, the United Kingdom, Ivory Coast and Ghana.

At a lunch organised on 10th May at the Hermitage Hotel, Minister for External Relations and Cooperation Isabelle Berro-Amadeï met the newest diplomatic arrivals to Monaco. Dato’ Mohd Zamruni Khalid, Menna Rawlings, Maurice Kouakou Bandaman and Anna Bossman had spent the morning presenting their Credence Letters to Prince Albert II before being escorted to the welcoming event.

Dato’ Mohd Zamruni Khalid joined the Malaysian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1994 before having multiple experiences abroad, particularly in the Malaysian Embassies in Hanoi and Paris and in 2008, becoming Consul General of Malaysia in New York. He then held the position of Deputy Director-General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 2011 to 2016 before being appointed Ambassador to Vietnam and more recently to Portugal.

Joining the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office in 1989, Menna Rawlings was appointed Consul General in Washington DC in 2008, then Director General for Economic and Global Affairs at the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office before her appointment to Monaco.

After having been a professor of literature, Maurice Kouakou Bandaman began his political career. Elected mayor of the town of Taabo, he was then deputy to the National Assembly of Côte d’Ivoire, then Minister of Culture and Francophonie from 2011 to 2021.

Anna Bossman worked extensively in the oil, gas and energy sectors, notably as legal counsel. She was, from 2011 to 2017, Integrity and Anti-Corruption Director of the African Development Bank. Ambassador of Ghana to France and Portugal, she is also Ambassador and Permanent Delegate to UNESCO and the OECD.

 

Photo by Manuel Vitali- Communication Department

 

 

 

AS Monaco on the brink of the Champions League

by: Luke Entwistle
16/05/2022

Philippe Clement’s men pulled off a stunning remontada against Brest on Saturday, to leave them just a point away from ensuring Champions League football next with just one game remaining.

Wissam Ben Yedder was the hero. 2-0 down after just 23 minutes, all of Monaco’s hard work over the past two months looked like coming undone. But a Ben Yedder hat-trick turned the game around as Monaco sealed at least Europa League football for next season, and they go to RC Lens next week with the chance of securing a Champions League spot.

Monaco went into the final home game of the season as the most in-form side in Europe’s top-five divisions. There was a burgeoning expectation that they would continue their eight-game winning run against a Brest side, who despite being a tricky opponent, had nothing to play for but pride.

Prior to kick-off Monaco paid homage to Jean-Paul Chaude, unveiling a large tifo in memory of the former President of the Monaco supporters’ club, who died a year ago.

But for the reinstatement of Axel Disasi at centre-back, Clement named an unchanged side. However, this season’s swansong at the Stade Louis II didn’t go to script. Jean-Kévin Duverne opened the scoring against the run of play, as Kevin Volland was slow to vacate the back-post following a corner, playing everyone onside, including Duverne, who tapped in from close range.

Monaco still dominated the play, but couldn’t find the finish. Disasi struck the woodwork with a bullet header from a corner, and had another header cleared off the line, but things would get worse for the Monégasques before they would get better.

The tricky Youcef Belaili caused Ruben Aguilar and Disasi issues throughout the half, and one of his mazy, driving runs ended in a goal, as he blasted past Alexander Nubel to shock the home fans into silence and double the lead.

It could have been three but for Nubel, whose finger-tip save was, in retrospect, the turning point of this crucial clash. Just minutes later, VAR awarded Monaco a penalty and Ben Yedder stepped up to halve the deficit going into the break.

Clement had to rally his troops at the break, and he revealed his method to Monaco Life post-match. “Around 10 days ago, after Real Madrid’s remontada against Manchester City, I showed some of the images to my players to show them that they must always believe. Like Real Madrid, we are a team that can score two or three goals in only a few minutes, and I evoked that at half-time.”

It certainly had the desired effect. In front of Prince Albert II and owner Dmitry Rybolovlev, two goals from Ben Yedder within 10 minutes of the break turned the match on its head. It was the French striker’s first for the club and – at least temporarily – it took him level with Kylian Mbappé at the top of the goalscorer standings.

That goal coincided with Lille equalising down the road at Nice, which as it stood, ensured qualification for European competition next season, whilst Marseille were two down at Rennes, pushing Clement’s men up to second.

Having taken the lead, the victory was a formality, they had broken the back of Brest and an onslaught on the visitor’s goal ensued. Volland slotted home a fourth after Ben Yedder’s attempt was parried, and Ismail Jakobs and Myron Boadu had chances to extend the lead further.

Ultimately, however, four was enough. Marseille’s defeat to Rennes and Nice’s defeat to Lille capped the perfect night. Victory against RC Lens would ensure second place, but only a draw is necessary to finish the season on the podium A turnaround as unbelievable as it is remarkable has manifested itself in the Principality, and although the final act is yet to be written, another European adventure awaits them next season.

 

 

Government reacts to Nice taxi protest plan

by: Stephanie Horsman
16/05/2022

The Monaco government says it is disappointed Nice taxi drivers plan to stage a protest on the Thursday of the Grand Prix weekend as talks continue between Monaco and the Prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes.

Monaco says they are protecting local professionals, France says they are being unfairly restricted and discriminated against. This is where the stand-off between taxi drivers on both sides of the border has been sitting.

To clear up the situation before it gets blown completely out of control, the government of the Principality alongside the French Embassy in Monaco and the Prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes have been in talks to find a balance between French expectations and the preservation of legitimate interests in Monaco.

It all began with taxi drivers from the Côte d’Azur issuing complaints about difficulties they were having entering Monaco.

“We have to declare ourselves when we go to Monegasque territory, we have to pay to go to Monegasque territory, we have to have quotas, and now a seasonality on the vignettes, so there are a lot of things that are not acceptable,” Fabrice Cavallera, President of the Nice taxi union told France 3.

On the other side, taxi drivers in the Principality feel like the French drivers are encroaching on their turf, taking fares that should be reserved for local drivers.

It’s a tense situation, especially in this run up to the busy summer season, the first in two years.

The Nice taxi union has filed a demonstration notice with the Prefecture, calling for a protest on Thursday 26thMay, coinciding with the start of the Monaco Grand Prix.

In response, the Monaco government has said they’re open to discussions to find middle ground, as demonstrated by talks on 13th May between Prince Albert II and Nice’s long time Mayor Christian Estrosi.

“The Prince’s Government takes note of the declarations of the Côte d’Azur VTC Committee and the French Federation of Provincial Taxis and invites them to favour the path of consultation and dialogue,” it said in statement. “The Prince’s Government could only regret that a promising start to the tourist season in Monaco, as on the whole of the Côte d’Azur, is compromised by protest movements as we are all emerging from two years of unprecedented health crisis to which an international conflict in Europe is added.”

Whilst both sides are saying all the right words, there’s no clear picture of what kind of compromises and solutions will be made in order to satisfy both sides.