A ‘Status Quo’ has again been registered in the current dispute between the Maltese Council for Sport and the Malta Olympic Committee, according to the MOC’s Director of Sport, Pippo Psaila.

As everyone might be aware, the Malta Olympic Committee is saying that the Sports Law is breaching its autonomy and this goes against the requisites of the Olympic Charter. On the other hand, the Minister for Education, also responsible for Sport, Dr Louis Galea, said recently the KMS had always respected the autonomy of the MOC and he himself had guaranteed such autonomy.

Since the impasse was registered, the Malta Olympic Committee had advised the Andorra Small Nations Games Organising Committee, that it was not yet in a position to send a contingent to the Games in the prevailing circumstances and had asked for the prolongation of the closing date to pay the deposit for such participation.

Psaila said yesterday the Organising Committee of the Games will now be holding a meeting possibly in the next two or three weeks to see what will happen if Malta would remain adamant in not taking part. In fact, all the participating nations, seven apart from Malta, have been informed of the situation.

Psaila added that the local athletes have also been informed of the prevailing situation, though he admitted they were all continuing with their preparations, despite the uncertainty. But he added: “Unless things are arranged the way we want, there is no way that we will participate.”

Psaila also said the Malta Olympic Committee has also received the full backing of the European Olympic Committee which is headed by the Italian Mario Pescante and who is also the chairman of the Organising Committee of next year’s Turin Winter Olympics. Pat Hickey, the general secretary of the EOC, has also given full backing to the MOC.

Meanwhile, contacted yesterday, Council of Sport chairman Franco Azzopardi said his Council had clarified its position on more than one occasion. “I think we have been dragged into this issue which does not really concern us. As to the MOC’s autonomy, I repeat that the KMS has never infringed such autonomy and we do not intend to,” he said.

Azzopardi added that his and his Council’s interest was to see the dispute solved as quickly as possible to the benefit of elite sport in Malta and to that of the athletes in question.

The MOC president, Mr Justice Lino Farrugia Sacco, had said in a press conference last month that if the current situation prevails, there would be fears that Malta might be excluded from the world sports family until the impasse is resolved amicably to the satisfaction of the International Olympic Committee. “We will have to face the consequences if we fail to abide by the Olympic Charter and everyone is aware of what happened in some countries in the not too distant past,” he had said late last month.