The women's national team will be travelling to Andorra this weekend to participate in the European Promotion Cup 2004.
National coach Carlo Farrugia has led training after the domestic competitions came to a close in May. In these last three weeks Italian coach Santino Coppa was also here as the preparation became even more intensified ahead of the tournament.
The competition in Andorra will also serve as a qualifying phase for the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, in 2006. The top two in the five-team tournament in Andorra will then join England in the final qualifying group. The best-placed two will make it to Australia.
There are some new faces in the national team's fold.
Dorianne Galea, Lucienne Bezzina, Josephine Grima, Doreen Parnis, Sandra Schembri Wismayer, Carolina Fenech and Irene Farrugia, the backbone of the 2003 GSSE gold medal, are all still there. They were joined by Kirsten Micallef, Nadia Mifsud, Joselle Cardona and Alexis Darmanin.
Missing from the squad are Dawn Aquilina, currently in the UK, Marika Zammit and Raquel Tryon, who decided to retire from the national squad, and Marion Vella. The latter is unavailable for the Promotion Cup.
The programme
July 26 8.30 p.m. Malta vs Andorra
July 27 4.30 p.m. Azerbaijan vs Malta
July 29 4.30 p.m. Malta vs Scotland
July 30 4.30 p.m. Iceland vs Malta
July 31 Positional play-offs