John Attard, General Secretary of the local Badminton Association, has been elected to the Board of Directors of COMEBA, the Confederation of Mediterranean Badminton, which has recently been formally reconstituted following a number of years in which it had been inactive.

On the initiative of the Italian Badminton Federation, three separate meetings were held in Rome (Italy), Den Bosch (Holland) and Casablanca (Morocco) over the last eight months during which a new and updated statute was finalised.

COMEBA was formally reconstituted at the latest meeting held in Casablanca on 29 July, with the approval of its new statute by the 13 participating countries and the election of the following Board of Directors:

President: Alberto Miglietta (Italy); Vice Presidents: Omar Bellali (Morocco) and Paul-Andre Tramier (France); Secretary General: John Attard (Malta); Treasurer: Andriana Malekides (Cyprus); Councillors: Kholoud Bitar (Syria) and Viktoria Hatzina-Tsakiri (Greece).

Furthermore, three separate internal Working Groups were set up to look after Development, Youth and Technical issues.

The meeting was attended by Tom Bacher (President of Badminton Europe), Larry Keys (President of the African Badminton Federation) and Mustapha Zekri (Mediterranean Games International Committee member); they all confirmed their full support for COMEBA.

In addition to the aforementioned national Badminton Associations, the following have also confirmed their full adherence to COMEBA: Spain, Egypt, Turkey, Gibraltar, Croatia and Lebanon.

COMEBA’s main objective is the promotion and development of Badminton in the countries of the Mediterranean basin. It also intends to strive for the introduction and maintenance of Badminton in the Mediterranean Games.

COMEBA will also be promoting healthy competition between Mediterranean countries in a spirit of friendship and fairness, free from performance-enhancing drugs. To this end, it will be organising a team competition, designated as the “Mediterranean Cup”, in 2007.

Headquartered in Rome at the offices of the Italian Badminton Federation, COMEBA is now fully operational and is looking forward to face the challenges that await it in the attainment of its objectives.

It will shortly be launching its own website – www.comebadminton.org - from where detailed information about this organisation and its activities will be available.