No elections required at today’s meet

No vote is required to elect new officials to the Malta Basketball Association (MBA) executive committee this evening.

At the deadline for nominations, only five candidates had put them-selves forward, the exact number required to fill the vacancies left by four former officials who resigned last week plus an additional post of vice-president as proposed by the extra-ordinary general meeting, held earlier this month.

A number of amendments to the MBA statute were also agreed to last week, bringing to an end a four-week impasse that prompted the suspension of all men’s comp-etitions at Ta’ Qali.

Among those leaving their post were long-time officials Frank Camilleri, Louis Azzopardi and Joe Depasquale Schranz, secretary, deputy president and vice-president, respectively. Former treasurer Steve Muscat also quit.

The new candidates are Jean Paul Sammut (secretary), Trevor Degiorgio (deputy president), David Agius and David Schembri (vice-presidents) and Joe Muscat (treasurer).

Last month, the MBA decided to call off the men’s competitions indefinitely after Depiro, Loyola and Siġġiewi took issue with a decision by the Appeals Board to reduce the bans of two Luxol players, Marco Mercieca and Robert Azzopardi.

The Luxol duo were originally suspended for five matches but Mercieca had his ban reduced to one and Azzopardi to three on appeal. This decision irritated the other clubs and Athleta later joined the protesting trio in calling for an Extraordinary General Meeting.

At last week’s EGM, the club delegates eventually accepted the ruling by the Appeals Board.

The men’s competitions are now expected to resume this weekend.

Due to the backlog of fixtures, league and cup matches will have to be played in midweek until the situation returns to normal.