(IOC) official and pole vault legend Sergei Bubka will be visiting Malta for the second time in the coming days to attend the Maltese Olympic Committee Sports Awards. The presentations' night will be held at the Excelsior Grand Hotel, Valletta on Friday, December 14.

This was confirmed by MOC Director of Sport Pippo Psaila who provided details of the annual gala night, now in its sixth edition, during a conference call at the MOC headquarters in Tal-Qroqq.

"It is indeed a great honour for the MOC to have a fine sportsman and champion like Sergei Bubka making a guest appearance at our annual awards," Psaila said.

"The MOC Sports Awards celebrate the success of our athletes and I believe that the presence of a great champion like Bubka is the ideal incentive for our sportsmen who have made Malta proud in the last 12 months."

For Bubka, a gold medallist in the 1988 Seoul Olympics and a sixtime world pole vault champion, this will be his second visit to the islands this year as last October he participated in the European Athletics Association Calendar Conference.

Psaila said every nominated athlete for this year's awards has been included solely on the basis of his/her achievements over the past year.

"All the proposed athletes have excelled in their respective sport," Psaila remarked.

"Apart from their sporting talent, they have also led by example, both on and off the field. 2007 has been a successful year for Maltese sport with athletes doing well in various international events such as the Small Nations Games in Monaco and the EYOD Games."

This year the MOC has nominated athletes in three of its four categories - Gold, Silver and Bronze awards. No athletes have been shortlisted for the Platinum Award which rewards an outstanding performance in a top-class competition.

A glance at the list of nominees from 11 different sporting disciplines reveals the presence for the first time of Malta's national football team following their positive performances in the Euro 2008 qualifiers. Dusan Fitzel's men last month completed their commitments in Group C where they finished with a record tally of five points from 12 matches.

The list also includes GSSE gold medallists Joanna Camilleri, Marcon Bezzina (both judo), sailors Benji Borg and Sean Borg, track and field runners sisters Francesca and Martina Xuereb and Charlene Attard, and the women's rugby sevens team that finished second in the Euro Championships in Bosnia.

Another important part of the awards' night is the induction of sports personalities into the MOC Hall of Fame. Psaila said this year there will be six new additions. It was also revealed yesterday that during the December 14 gala night, a special award commissioned by the IOC, will be presented to a sportsman who has dedicated his/her life to promoting the values of olympic sport.

The MOC Sports Awards are sponsored by the Malta International Airport who recently extended their partnership with the MOC for a further two years. The gala night will be screened live on Education 22.

The nominees

Athletics: 4x100m relay men, 4x100m relay women, Charlene Attard, Darren Gilford, Nicolai Portelli, Francesca Xuereb, Martina Xuereb.

Football: Men's national team.

Gymnastics: Philip Caruana Turner.

Judo: Marcon Bezzina, Joanna Camilleri, Men's team.

Rugby: Women's sevens national team.

Sailing: Benji Borg, Sean Borg, Ella Fleri Soler, Air Malta Falcon II crew, Elusive crew.

Squash: Women's national team.

Swimming: Angela Galea, Madeleine Scerri.

Table football: Derek Conti, Massimo Cremona, Samuel Bartolo, Mark Gauci, Stefan Pace.

Table tennis: Simon Gerada, Yu Wang, Andrzej Makowski.

Tenpin Bowling: Mark Spiteri.

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