The Malta Olympic Committee (MOC), in collaboration with Education 22 (E22), will be co-producing a weekly sports programme highlighting local sporting events, elite athletes and updates on international games such as the Olympic Games, the Mediterranean Games, the Commonwealth Games and the Games of the Small States of Europe.
This new initiative is being sponsored by Malta International Airport plc and is supported by the Olympic Solidarity of the International Olympic Committee with their world programme: Culture and Olympic Education. Olympic Solidarity, founded in 1961, is the body responsible for managing and administering the share of the TV rights of the Olympic Games that is allocated to the National Olympic Committees (NOCs). It assists NOCs with their efforts for the development of sport through programmes carefully devised to match their specific needs and priorities.
The University of Malta Centre for Communication and Technologies (CCT) Video Production students, under the guidance of tutor Daniel Zerafa, will also contribute to the programme. Following an initiative between the MOC and the CCT, students undergoing Video Production 3 in the academic year 2005-2006 produced a pilot version for an upbeat sports programme with the objective of increasing the profile of local sport in a format that would attract a good following from viewers of all ages and not necessarily sports fans.
As a result of this successful pilot version, the MIA Olympic Special came into being, and special thanks go to all those students who formed part of the production team.
Communications students following video production credits in the new academic year will be given the opportunity of having their work broadcast on MIA Olympic Special, giving them the necessary hands-on experience in the field of sports filming, editing and scripting.
MIA Olympic Special will be a sports programme with a difference, featuring a number of sections that will bring the general public up to-date with local events and sporting news.
Different sections will include profiles of leading athletes, a featured major international sport event happening in Malta and highlights of weekly events taking place around Malta, such as national championships, Malta open championships and the finals of national leagues. With 47 associations affiliated to the MOC, the general public will be introduced to each sporting discipline, giving viewers a better understanding of that particular sport. In addition, information on youth and sport and the Olympic Movement will be introduced.
A section will be dedicated to international games under the auspices of the MOC, namely the Olympic Games Beijing 2008 and London 2012, the next Games of the Small States of Europe Monaco 2007, the Mediterranean Games, which will be organised in Pescara in 2009, and the next Commonwealth Games, which will be held in Delhi, India in 2010.
MIA Olympic Special will be broadcast on TVM every Thursday at 5pm, on E22 every Friday at 9pm (RPT), E22 every Sunday at 10am (RPT) and E22 every Monday at 2.30pm (RPT).
This programme will be produced by Vicky Licari on behalf of E22. Technical facilities, including graphics, filming and editing, will be provided by Mario Parascandalo of Lunik Digital.
This programme series has been made possible with the support of Malta International Airport as part of its Supporting Malta’s Sport policy that promotes a better and healthier lifestyle among Maltese society, instils a greater sense of national pride and assists in the development of talented young athletes.
More information about the
programme schedule will be made available every week on the MOC website www.nocmalta.org and will
be published on the MOC page every Tuesday in The Malta Independent.
Athlete’s (national champions) profile
Etienne Bonello
Age: 29
Sport: cycling: road racing, time trialling, cross-country mountain bike
Club: Greens Cycling Club
Sponsors: Maxim Sports Nutrition, Cebe eyewear, Centrepoint cycles.
Started: 1997 Mosta Cycling Club
Job: Draughtsman working with a private architectural firm. Qualified cycling coach, reflexologist, aromatherapist and masseur.
Achievements:
2006/2005: Time Trial national champion
2006/2003: Road Race national champion
2006/2005/2004/2003/2000/1999: MTB Cross-country national champion
2006/2005/2003: MTB National Points Series winner
2004/2001/2000: MTB Cross-country Summer Cup winner
2004: Road Race national champion runner-up
2002: Mountain Bike Summer Cup winner.
Four wins in MTB national points series
1999: Road Racing (Cat. Seniors B) Championship winner
1998: Mountain Bike Downhill national champion
1998: Mountain Bike Cross-Country national champion runner-up
1998: Mountain Bike BMX Track national champion
Other:
Represented Malta at the following games:
Melbourne Commonwealth Games, 2006
Games of the Small States of Europe Andorra, 2005
Tunis Mediterranean Games, 2001
Games of the Small States of Europe San Marino, 2001
The Malta Tennis Federation
MARK CAMILLERI
MTF vice-president
On 10 October 1966, the local game of tennis saw the birth of the Malta Tennis Federation (MTF), then known as the Malta Lawn Tennis Association. This milestone was the beginning of a series of events that would make tennis one of the leading sporting disciplines among Maltese athletes. Today, the MTF celebrates its 40th anniversary.
Through its association of 20 tennis clubs, the Federation’s on-going objective is to promote the organisation of the game with the aim of producing players who can compete internationally and bring home reputable results.
The Malta Olympic Committee has worked very closely with the MTF by offering competition opportunity and financial grants to achieve this. These resources are then put into play in a programme that has seen our national teams and players achieving important results.
Annual commitments for our national team players include the Davis Cup and Federation Cup, while bi-annually – and probably more importantly – the national team competes in the Small Nations Games.
Since 1985, the MTF has been a full member of the International Tennis Federation, the worldwide organisation covering world tennis federations that also administers the Davis Cup and Federation Cup tournaments together with all four Grand Slam tournaments.
In 1989, the federation was also accepted as a full member of Tennis Europe, the association entrusted by the MTF to manage European tennis. Through the federation, the international tennis circuit offers glamorous opportunities for individuals with the ambition to assert themselves as athletes in this sporting discipline.
Here in Malta, the federation presently hosts three important international junior tournaments annually. These are the Tennis Europe U/14 and U/16 Juniors and the ITF U/18 Junior World Ranking. Over the last 10 years, the MTF has also hosted the Euro/Africa Davis Cup and Federation Cup Groups, the Davis Cup twice – in 1999 and 2006 and the Federation Cup in 2004. On all three occasions, the Malta national team came close to promotion, and in the last Davis Cup the men’s team was in the running for promotion until the very last points were played.
The present administration of the federation is entrusted to an executive composed of the President, Tony Cilia Pisani, the Vice-President, Mark Camilleri and the Secretary-General, David Farrugia Sacco.
Further information about the federation and its calendar of events is available from the MTF website www.maltatennisfederation.com.
Olympic Charter Excerpt
Preamble
Modern Olympism was conceived by Pierre de Coubertin, on whose initiative the International Athletic Congress of Paris was held in June 1894. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) constituted itself on 23 June 1894.
The first Olympic Games (Games of
the Olympiad) of modern times were
celebrated in Athens, Greece, in 1896.
In 1914, the Olympic flag presented by Pierre de Coubertin at the Paris Congress was adopted. This included the five interlaced rings, which represent the union of the five continents and the meeting of athletes from throughout the world at the Olympic Games.
The first Olympic Winter Games were celebrated in Chamonix, France, in 1924.
MIA Olympic special – What’s on
12 October on TVM at 5pm, 13 October on E22 at 9pm (RPT), 15 October E22 on E22 at 10am (RPT) and 16 October on E22 at 2.30pm (RPT) will feature the following:
Athlete Profile
Angela Galea, 22-years-old, a recently graduated medical doctor, a dancer and a semi-professional swimmer. At the last GSSE Games of Andorra she won Malta’s first gold medal in swimming. Find out more about Angie Galea in this interview produced by University Communication students Olwyn Jo Saliba and Elaine Galea.
What is taekwondo?
Taekwondo is a dynamic and combative sport. Like all martial arts, taekwondo enhances discipline, integrity, perseverance, control and respect. In this feature, produced by University Communication students Kremena IIieva and Eleonora Rose Abela, we learn more about exactly what taekwondo is.
Feature Event
XI Malta IDSF International Open Championships 2006 held last weekend and organised by the Malta DanceSport Association.
Highlight Events
DanceSport National Championships, Bodybuilding National Championships and the Triathlon National Championships.