Holders San Ġiljan will face Sliema in the opening match of this year’s Winter League on March 30 as the draws of the competition were held at the ASA headquarters, yesterday.

The league will comprise 24 matches, with Exiles, Neptunes, Sirens and Valletta making up the six-team complement besides the ASA Under-17 that will be pitting its strength out of competition. The league will end on April 30.

Details of the pre-season competition, as well as those regarding an intensive swimming and waterpolo programme for this year for the various Maltese national teams, were given by ASA president Joe Caruana Curran during a press conference which was also attended by Anthony Scicluna, BOV Chief Officer, and other officials of the association.

“This year the national pool will have a completely new look following the comprehensive refurbishing works being carried out and which would soon be in the final stages,” Caruana Curran said.

“This will certainly render the place more attractive.”

A new scoreboard, two sets of starting blocks at each end of the pool, renovation works in the diving pool and new resurfacing around the pooldeck, besides other work will make the swimming area more amenable for competitors and the public.

‘”We can say that we now have a brand new pool which is the result of investment by Sport Malta,” the ASA top official said

Caruana Curran then went on to give details of several swimming and waterpolo events scheduled for the coming months.

Swimming includes training camps and competitions starting with evaluation and training for 16 swimmers in San Marino this weekend.

This will be followed by the Comen Cup in France, the Commonwealth Championships in Bahamas, the Junior Euro Championships in Israel and the World Championships in Budapest.

The waterpolo programme will be just as intensive for all categories of our national teams.

Tournaments preceded by training periods will include the EU Nations for Juniors men (April 13 to 16) followed by the equivalent girls competition from April 19 to 23.

The men’s senior team will be engaged in Poland in May while the women’s senior team will compete in the Czech Republic in the same month.

In October the females will play in a qualifying tournament for the European Championships.

In his address BOV Chief Officer Scicluna mentioned the extension of the sponsorship, stressing that BOV is pleased with the reciprocal trust shown between the bank and the ASA.

He also referred to the progress of the game and thanked all those who are showing so much passion for the game.

During the press conference there was a presentation of the new ASA logo showing the association’s rebranding, with Bloom Creative having been commissioned with the job.

Opening programme

March 30: 18.30 Sliema vs San Ġiljan; 19.45 Sirens vs Valletta.
March 31: 10.45 Neptunes vs Exiles; noon Malta U-17 vs San Ġiljan.

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