Maltese athletes will be representing the country at the first Mediterranean Beach Games in Pescara, Italy, starting Friday.
Twenty-four countries will be taking part and Team Malta will be composed of 20 athletes who will be competing in volleyball, soccer and handball.
The group will be led by Maltese Olympic Committee president Julian Pace Bonello and high-ranking officials Joe Cassar and Mario Micallef. David Azzopardi is the chef-de-mission.
Beach handball player Christian McClean will be the flagbearer at the opening ceremony.
The Maltese beach soccer side was drawn to play Morocco, Egypt and Turkey in the qualifying round.
Slovenia, Tunisia, Greece and Turkey will be our opponents in the beach handball tournament.
Azzopardi yesterday told reporters the Beach Games will be a new experience for the MOC but the athletes were all well prepared and there were also hopes of a few satisfactory results in Pescara.
“Beach sport is growing in popularity all over the world so we felt it was the right time for us to promote a wider variety of activities here as we believe there is great potential for our country in this sector.
“We fielded beach volley teams in the Games of the Small States of Europe before but in the Pescara Games we’ll have teams in handball and soccer as well.”
Azzopardi said that one other objective for the MOC at the Beach Games is for our athletes to gather more experience.
“This is a new arena for us but our teams have a chance to make inroads in some of the tournaments,” the chef-de-mission said.
“Like Malta, most of the other countries competing in these Games do not have a long tradition in many of the sport being contested in Pescara so that puts us somewhat on a level par in terms of experience.
“We also think that these Games will be a launch pad for beach sport to flourish in Malta and that we can make steady progress if the upward trend in maintained.”
Azzopardi, who is also the MOC Director of Finance, said it was important for the country to foster a beach sport culture to encourage more people to become socially active.
“We have to make it easier for those who want to practise beach sport by providing them with adequate facilities,” he said.
“Unfortunately, on some occasions, a few of the athletes who got selected for the Pescara Games found it difficult to conduct their training sessions even though they had all permits required.
“Most of our athletes in the team had to train early in the morning or late evenings while the soccer team were not allowed to use goalposts as they were deemed an obstruction to beach-goers.
“This country badly needs to allow more space to beach sport. It’s not only the MOC that believes these disciplines could become another good alternative for our youths to enjoy their holidays.”
Cassar concurred with Azzo-pardi and added that the MOC was doing all they can to see that beach sport becomes more popular on our shores.
“We want to create more opportunities for our youth so we’re keen to help develop beach sport here. Lately, we have also given our contribution to Kunsill Malti għall-Isport who intend to open new beach sport facilities in Birżebbuġa.”
“Plans are also in store to add more venues in the northern part of the country,” he said.
Beach Games team
Soccer: J. Briffa, J.J. Camilleri, M. Camilleri, R. Camilleri, I. Cassar, R. Celeste, D.A. Cucciardi, G. Frendo, G. Martin, R. Spina.
Handball: J. Camilleri, M. Camilleri Darmanin, C. Magro, C. McClean, P. Naudi, J. Rausi, A. Said, D. Tanti.
Volley: A. Borg, T. Gatt.