New coaches for national team

The Malta Basketball Association (MBA) yesterday presented their new coaching tandem in charge of the men's national team. Italian Bruno Di Pietrantonio and local veteran Val Drury were named as successors to Joe Galea whose contract expired last year.

MBA president Antonio Mizzi said that after the disappointing performances of the men's team in the Malta GSSE, the association felt that the time was right to effect some changes in the set-up.

After the GSSE success by the women's team, under the guidance of Santino Coppa and assistant Carlo Farrugia, the MBA decided to repeat the same formula by appointing Di Pietrantonio and Drury who will be responsible for all men's selections.

"I think we have chosen the right persons with the required experience to do a good job," Magistrate Mizzi said.

"Galea was a dedicated person and his contribution was appreciated by the MBA.

"Di Pietrantonio is one of the scouts for the Italian federation. For us, Val is a basketball symbol. He has practically dedicated his entire life to the game. His knowledge will be of a great asset to the team."

It was announced yesterday that a 28-man squad will be preparing for three important international events in the next 18 months - the Promotion Cup in June, the European Championship qualifiers in September and the GSSE in Andorra in June 2005.

The squad features a blend of experienced and upcoming players with an average age of 24.

Di Pietrantonio is looking forward to start his new experience in Malta.

"Our main goal is to help the players improve their game," Di Pietrantonio said. "My first impressions were very positive. I think that with an all-round collaboration we can achieve good results. Obviously, we have a lot of work to do but the players seem to have a great desire to learn and that is very encouraging."

Drury has been involved in the game since 1962. He said he was honoured with the MBA appointment and hopes his experience will be of a benefit to the players and the game in general.

Turning his sights on the administrative scene, Magistrate Mizzi said delays in works at the Ta' Qali pavilion, badly damaged by last September's floods, was severely hampering the future of the game.

"Our association is facing bleak times," he said. "With our pavilion out of order the revenue at present is next to zero. We are forced to fork out hundreds of liri each week to hire venues and stage our competitions and national team training.

"Since September we've met government officials who all approved funds for our projects and the laying a new flooring at Ta' Qali. But even though we got the green light from the authorities, works have not started yet for reasons we don't know about.

"We expect those responsible to do something urgently about it because the MBA cannot carry the burden any longer. Certainly, these are bad days for us and the situation does not augur well for the future."

Malta squad

R. Vella (Depiro); M. Naudi, J. Naudi, M. Zammit, E. Bezzina, O. Said, D. Cuschieri (Pembroke); A. Bonnici, C. Sammut, A. Heiuzer (Footwork); A. Tabone, I. Terribile, A. Sultana, S. Pace, D. Camilleri, J. Jetson (Hamrun); M. Pisani, S. Schembri, N. Farrugia, A. Portelli, A. Micallef, R. Mifsud, J. Gatt, D. Schembri (Siggiewi); M. Mercieca, D. Falzon, S. Cassar, A. Bianchi (Luxol).

Pembroke face in-form Hamrun

With only a few games to go for the end of the Kinnie League first phase, leaders Pembroke Tumas Group face in-form Hamrun Liberty Go Mobile in the main fixture tomorrow.

In the other match, Siggiewi will seek to kill off Footwork L'Oreal's hopes of clinching a play-offs berth.

Despite failing to field their strongest possible team because of injuries, Hamrun have lately hit a bright patch after impressive wins over BUPA Luxol and Siggiewi.

This weekend, they face their biggest test when taking on undisputed leaders Pembroke, who, after losing to Siggiewi in their opening match, have hit an eight-match winning streak to practically make sure of the top placing in the regular season.

In the opening match, Siggiewi will be looking to beat bottom-placed Footwork and put to a halt their negative run of late - four consecutive defeats.

Siggiewi coach Ray Muscat is buoyed by the return to form of pivot Jeffrey Gatt who has shown marked improvement in his performances in the last two matches.

Meanwhile, the women's Louis Borg Cup two-legged semi-finals will be played between today and tomorrow. Luxol start favourites against Hamrun but the other tie will be a titanic duel between strong teams Hibernians and Depiro.

These two have met twice so far, each winning one match in closely-fought contests.