Mark Cutajar has been appointed technical director of the Malta Amateur Athletics Association (MAAA).
Anthony Chircop, the president of thee MAAA, has confirmed that an agreement has been reached with the current MOC Director of Sport to take up the new role which will see Cutajar monitor the technical preparation of the Maltese track and field athletes within the association.
“I can confirm that Mark Cutajar has been handed the job of technical director at Athletics Malta,” Chircop told The Times.
“We had been looking for the right candidate for some time and during a meeting with Mark, he sounded very interested in taking up the post. Mark told me that, during the run-up to the Games of the Small States of Europe in Liechtenstein, he had built a very good relationship with our coaches. Thus, he felt that he could make a valid contribution to help our athletes maintain their progress.”
Cutajar, whose appointment was unanimously approved by the MAAA executive, has already had a series of meetings with the association’s officials, Chircop said.
Earlier this summer, the MAAA achieved one of its best ever results in the GSSE as our athletes returned home with an excellent tally of 14 medals – four gold, six silver and four bronze.
In Liechtenstein, Diane Borg became the first Maltese sprinter to win a GSSE gold medal when finishing first in the 200 metres race while the girls 4x100 and 4x400 relay teams completed a golden double to wrap up a strong showing at the Schaan track.
It is understood that Cutajar’s main objective is to set up a technical centre so that all athletics coaches can work closely with the technical director on a detailed programme of preparation.
The MAAA is also planning to step up its efforts to increase the pool of qualified coaches and, in the coming months, they will be launching a code of ethics for coaches and athletes.
An area of concern at present is the lack of participation in field events, most notably in discus, shot put and javelin events.
Athletics Malta will be boosting their drive to try and attract more youngsters to start practising these disciplines.
IAAF events
Meanwhile, the MAAA announced that sprinters Borg and Karl Farrugia are to represent Malta in the upcoming World Championships , to be held in Daegu, South Korea between August 27 and September 4.
The two 2011 GSSE medallists will compete in the heats of the 100 metres. In Liechtenstein, Borg ran a national record of 11.89 seconds while Farrugia clocked a lifetime best of 10.94.
Borg and Farrugia will be accompanied by association head Chircop who will be representing the MAAA at the IAAF Congress. This will take place three days before the start of the championships.
The election of a new IAAF council is on the agenda of this year’s congress. President Lamine Diack is unopposed but the indications are that six candidates will run for the four posts of vice-president.
Former Olympic champions Sebastian Coe and Sergey Bubka are the two European nominees while the other candidates hail from Qatar, USA, Canada and Kenya.
In addition to the IAAF congress, Chircop will also participate in the first General Assembly of the Mediterranean Athletics Union.
This new body is being set up on the initiative of the French and Tunisian Athletic federations with the aim of fostering better cooperation between the athletic federations in the Med. region.