MOC with biggest contingent ever

The Malta Olympic Committee (MOC) will have its biggest ever contingent for the Commonwealth Games in March as around 30 athletes are expected to be on the official list of participants to be announced later this month.

With the Games being held in Melbourne it came as no surprise when it was revealed that one third of the contingent will be Maltese-Australians who reside in the land 'down under'.

MOC president Lino Farrugia Sacco yesterday said Malta will participate in eight of the 18 disciplines in programme. The Games will be held between March 15 and 26.

"The Commonwealths are the biggest event in our calendar for 2006," Mr Justice Farrugia Sacco said.

"The level of competition will be high and our aspirations have to be objective. However, we still believe we have a very good crop of athletes who could achieve satisfactory results in Melbourne.

"We are also hopeful of returning from Australia with a better result than the bronze medal won in Manchester in 2002 by William Chetcuti."

Chetcuti, again, looks Malta's strongest bet for a medal. The Double Trap ace had a golden 2005 with a series of impressive results that reached the pinnacle with a silver medal in a World Cup shoot in Belgrade and a fourth placing in the World Cup finals in Dubai. Chetcuti will not be Malta's sole shooter in Melbourne.

The MOC are about to name three other male shooters in their squad and for the first time the contingent will include a female shooter as well.

In Double Trap, Chetcuti will be joined by the upcoming Rodney Micallef. Stanley Cardona and Frans Pace will shoot in Trap and Rebecca Madisson, who lives in Australia but holds a Maltese passport, will figure in the women's Trap competition.

The biggest representation of foreign-based athletes in the contingent lies in a relative new sport for us - lawn bowls. The MOC team in Melbourne will be formed exclusively of six Maltese-Australians.

"They were selected after a complete qualification process," MOC Director of Sport Pippo Psaila said.

"We have a highly-qualified coach in Australia. He assessed the 30 bowlers who showed interest to play for Malta in the Games. A qualification competition was held and the top six were selected."

Psaila said that the MOC will have a 'quite strong team' in cycling.

Jack Schiavone, who is also the national coach, will be spearheading the team that includes two Australia-based riders - David Treacy, who pedalled for Malta in the Andorra GSSE, and Nick Formosa.

Roderick Muscat, currently engaged with a Belgian team, is also in the group along with Etienne Bonello and Stephania Magri.

At the moment, Magri is residing in Australia and is managed by renowned Aussie coach John Beasley.

Beasley, 44, led various riders to international success during his career.

Simon Gerada, GSSE gold medallist in Andorra, will compete in table-tennis and Joe Desira, another Maltese-Australian, will figure in squash.

Malta will also be represented in swimming and athletics while the women's basketball side will be our sole representatives in team sport.

Passport issue

During their stay in Australia, the MOC will have various activities with the Maltese community and they will also try to widen their scouting scheme for those who qualify for a Maltese passport.

"We expect the authorities to be less stringent when issuing passports to sportsmen of Maltese origins," Mr Justice Farrugia Sacco said.

"We are suggesting that a passport be issued to third generation applicants with the recommendation of a governing sports body named by the Maltese authorities."

Mr Justice Farrugia Sacco admitted that preparations for the Commonwealth Games were rather difficult so far as the MOC is still in the dark as to the government's financial grant for 2006.

"Unfortunately, we have not yet been informed what the government's support for the MOC will be for this year," he said.

"This, inevitably, puts us in an awkward situation as we cannot plan adequately for the year ahead. Games as the Commonwealths require a huge expenditure in technical preparations and travel expenses.

"But, thanks to our excellent international relations, this time we got the support required from the IOC, the European Olympic Committee and the Commonwealth Games organisers.

"That made our participation in Melbourne possible. Had we failed to secure that aid we wouldn't be have been able to compete in Melbourne this year."

Besides the Commonwealth Games, young Maltese athletes this year will also figure in the Island Games in Palermo next May.

The MOC will be hosting the General Assembly of the European Non-Governmental Sports Organisation at the end of this month.