The Malta Olympic Committee has announced that they shall be investing a further Lm45,000 in the form of MOC/IOC Scholarships and MOC/CONI Technical Cooperation Protocol till the end of this year.

The additional technical support will be as follows:

Through the International Olympic Committee three Scholarships earmarked for the preparation of the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008 will be awarded to three athletes, namely William Chetcuti of the Malta Shooting Federation, Diane Borg of the Malta Amateur Athletics Association, and Marcon Bezzina of the Malta Judo Association.

These athletes will be receiving a total of Lm18,200 during the year and this sum will cover expertise coaching in technical, physical and psychological training, and international competitions among other things.

Through this Scholarship athlete Marcon Bezzina of Judo will be a full time resident student at the University of Bath, England, where she will undergo an intensive preparation programme.

Athlete Diane Borg will be involved in an intensive Local Coaching Scheme which should see her prepare and compete in most major international competitions of the MOC and the IAAF.

Outstanding Elite athlete William Chetcuti will be dedicating all his energies with his coach Jimmy Bugeja and a pool/team of experts appointed by the MOC, after discussions with the Malta Shooting Federation, so as to gain a quota place for the Beijing 2008 Olympics.

The second technical initiative is the signing of the MOC/CONI Technical Cooperation Agreement which will see the MOC investing some Lm27,000 in local Elite athletes and coaches from the following sport disciplines: Athletics, Cycling, Judo, Tennis, Table Tennis, Shooting, Gymnastics and Sailing.

This initiative entails top Italian Coaches coming to Malta to conduct training stages and coaching courses for elite sportsmen and women and federation coaches and will also see Maltese Elite athletes and coaches going to Italy for stage covering periods of up to one month duration during 2006.