Malta Squash will be hosting the 2012 European Team Champion-ships (Division Three) at the Marsa Sports Club in April.

They won the right to stage the event for the first time last year following a visit from the European Squash Federation who were positively impressed by the facilities the club offers.

The championships, for men and women, will be played between April 18 and 21, and will see the participation of 20 teams and 90 players. They will be accompanied by 30 federation delegates.

“The championships are by far of a higher level than the Games of the Small States of Europe but we are approaching the competition with a lot of enthusiasm to satisfy our guests and to see that our teams place as high as possible in the classification,” Ivan Balzan, the national coach, said.

Last year, Hungary hosted the championships and on that occa-sion the Maltese girls returned with a bronze medal and the men a creditable sixth place.

Balzan said 2011 GSSE gold medallist Diane Desira will be unavailable but Colette Sultana, who has moved to the UK to continue her post-secondary studies at Millfield College, is expected to play a starring role as the girls face opposition from Turkey, Greece, Russia, Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Croatia.

Brad Hindle Deguara, winner of two gold medals at the Liech-tenstein Games, will spearhead the men’s team that also includes Daniel Zammit Lewis, Mark Lupi and Carl Camilleri. Joe Desira will skip the championships.

The men’s team will be up against Ukraine, Norway, Lithuania, Croatia, Russia, Cyprus, Luxem-bourg, Isle of Man, Poland, Gib-raltar and Turkey.

Liz Said, Malta Squash president, said the national teams have been conducting intensive training lately, heightening belief that both sides will maintain the fine showings on the international scene.

“Both squads are training together at the moment and that inevitably increases the already strong camaraderie that exists bet-ween the players,” Said told repor-ters at Marsa Sports Club.

“We know, some of our opponents are really tough to beat but over the years our teams have always risen to the occasion.

“So, we’re pretty confident that we can reach most of our objectives at the championships.”

Mario Said, Scott’s Supermarket director, yesterday presented a sponsorship cheque to Malta Squash. Scott’s will be the main backers of the championships.