Athletics Malta has earned the right to organise the EAA Convention in October next year after its bid gained the support of the majority of the delegates at the European Athletics Congress, held in London last month.
Spearheaded by president Anthony Chircop, the Maltese association beat Estonia 22-16 in the vote. This is the second time Athletics Malta has been chosen to host the prestigious meeting which was first held here in October 2007.
“We are really proud to have been given the opportunity to organise the EAA Convention for the second time in the space of a few years,” Chircop told a news conference yesterday.
“This meeting brings together delegates from all the major athletics federations across Europe who convene to discuss the programme of events for the following year.
“In 2007, we hosted 320 delegates and we are expecting a similar turn-out for next year’s meeting. No doubt, it will be a good opportunity to strengthen our ties with other European countries.”
The EAA congress in London provided more positive news for Athletics Malta after Chircop was elected to the European Athletics Development Committee.
Chircop and Ireland’s Nick Davies topped the ballot. The two other elected members are Bosnia’s Milan Pedalo and Teigamgi Erich, of Estonia.
Turning his sights to the local scene, Chircop announced that on Saturday, Athletics Malta will organise the Malta International Open meeting.
“The objective of this meeting is to give our athletes the opportunity to obtain the Minimum Qualifying Standard for the Games of the Small States of Europe, to be held in Liechtenstein between May 30 and June 5.
“We are expecting between 60 and 80 Maltese athletes to take part while the foreign participants will include Italian sprinter Alessandro Cavallaro and Deji Tobias, of Britain, who is currently training with former British great John Regis.”
Chircop said that five athletes have already qualified for the GSSE, namely Martina and Francesca Xuereb, Rebecca Camilleri, Diane Borg and Lisa Marie Bezzina. The Athletics Malta president is hopeful that sprinters Karl Farrugia and Mark Herrera, both of whom have been performing very well this season, will obtain their ticket for Liechtenstein on Saturday.
Chircop is also keeping his fingers crossed that sprinter Nicolai Portelli, who has been hampered by injury, will recover sufficiently to qualify for the Games.
“We are also hoping that the relay teams will achieve the MQS this weekend,” Chircop continued.
“They have been training well in the past few months, under the tutelage of Mario Bonello and Italian coach Antonio La Guardia.
“We have high hopes that they will book their spot in the team for Liechtenstein as that would increase the number of athletes representing Athletics Malta at the GSSE.”
Edwin Attard, the Athletics Malta secretary, announced that Malta is planning to field a team in the European Team Champ-ionships, to be held in Iceland in June.
“After our successful parti-cipation in the Championships in Malta last year, we felt that we should stick to our philosophy of competing on our own instead of teaming up with the GSSE selection,” Attard said.
“Our aim is to repeat the excellent result we obtained in Malta last year when the team placed ninth from 15 entries.”
Open Day
Meanwhile, on Sunday, Athletics Malta will hold an open day for children aged between five and 14 with a view to attracting more youngsters to the sport.
The event, at the Marsa Athletics Track, will run from 9.30 a.m. till noon.
During the open day, the children will be guided through a number of athletic events by various national team athletes and coaches.
At 11 a.m., a fun event will be organised for all the participating children.