Contingent for Andorra to be announced on 8 May; not taking part in volleyball

The Malta Olympic Committee is confident that its athletes will do well in the forthcoming Games for European Small States in Andorra between 29 May and 5 June and later on in the Med. Games in Almeira, Spain.

The MOC’s Director of Sport, Pippo Psaila, said yesterday that Malta would be sending its smallest contingent since the 1993 Games in Malta – this year’s would amount to around 100 – though taking into account that Malta will not be taking part in volleyball and that includes beach volley, as well as mountain biking.

Psaila said Malta will possibly have four or five foreigners who, for the first time had to be registered by the end of March, in its contingent. “But that was a very small number when compared to the others, especially the host country, Andorra, which has 69 foreigners in a contingent numbering 143 athletes.

Psaila announced that between the eight participating countries, there would be about 172 foreigners taking part, most of whom will be in the Andorra, Luxembourg, Iceland and Cyprus squads.

Malta’s portential foreigners in the contingent are the following: Bulgarian Annie Jetcheva and Dutch girl Marlene Troost (basketball), Murman Korchilava of Georgia and Russian Yvgeny Ulanov (judo), Andrzej Makowski, from Poland (table-tennis) and Serbian Boris Pasanski (tennis).

Psaila said Malta’s athletes will be announced on 8 May. By 29 April, these have to be nominated by the Federations and it will be the MOC Executive Committee who will make the final selection.

He added the athletes knew about the Minimum Qualifying Standards for quite some time. “There are some who have already qualified, but this does not mean that they will definitely be approved to take part. The targets were very high, but they were reachable and that is why we are convinced that our athletes will do well in the forthcoming competitions,” he said.

Psaila confirmed that a group of athletes – the bulk – will be travelling in three groups on 23, 25 and 27 May to get acclimatisation training in their final preparations for the Games.

He added that it would be unfair were one to ask what the MOC was expecting of its athletes from these Games. “We cannot make comparisons with the Maltes Games of two years ago. We will definitely miss some of our gold medal athletes, such as those in sailing and squad, as well as Tanya Blake. We respected Blake’s decision to refrain from taking part because she was not feeling one hundred per cent fit. And we all know that sailing and squash are not included in this year’s Games’ programme.

“We have provided our athletes with whatever they need to prepare themselves well for the occasion. We know what they have gone through and that is why we are convinced we will be able to get close to the San Marino result at least,” he said.

MOC President, Mr Justice Lino Farrugia Sacco said Malta today was not looking ahead towards the quantity of medals.

“We are rather looking at the quality. We acknowledge the Small Nations Games are still very important. In fact, they have served us as the stepping stone towards our successes in the Mediterranean Games and the Commonwealth Games where we also won medals.

“It is not just the medals we are after. We also hope to see notable improvements in the performances of our athletes. That will bring about a stronger investment from the government, the athletes and the sporting authorities,” he said.

The MOC president said that only those deserving to take part will be at Andorra and later on in Almeria in Spain, for the Mediterranean Games. He said: “The reason behind the fact that we are probably taking the smallest contingent ever for the Andorra Games was not lack of funds. In fact, we have given the athletes the best preparations, such as training locally and abroad, sparring partners, the scientific lab, and everything any athlete may hope for. Moreover, for the Almeria Games, we expect to have the biggest contingent ever for those Games – possibly around 50 – of course, including the football squad (Under 21) who are being considered for participation. We are hoping to have representatives from eight different disciplines, that is, swimming, golf, shooting, wrestling, judo, table-tennis, athletics and football. The Andorra Games are a link to the Spain Games as well – they will serve as motivation for those who would like to earn their place in the Med Games contingent,” he said.