Dorianne Galea and Sandro Farrugia were yesterday appointed coaches of the women’s national teams’ sector by the Malta Basketball Association.

Addressing a news conference at the Michael Attard Ltd, Blata l-Bajda, Magistrate Tonio Mizzi, president of the association, also announced that Michael Attard, Ltd, agents of Peugeot cars in Malta, had accepted to sponsor the women’s national league for the third consecutive year.

Mr Attard, representing the company, said they were glad to be associated with such a sponsorship of a sports section which was developing considerably. He said the company looked forward to continue with their support for as long as it was possible.

Magistrate Mizzi said such support started soon after Malta had won the gold medal at the 2003 Small Nations Games in Malta. He said: “Since then, our women’s national team, obtained two bronze medals (Promotion Cup and Small Nations Games) and also qualified to take part in the Commonwealth Games on its own merits.”

Magistrate Mizzi said the association was looking forward to continue with the development of women’s basketball in Malta. “We are working on a span of eight years which will end in 2010. “By then we hope to reach a good level because we believe our female players are talented enough to improve their current standards.

“This is why we have appointed Mrs Galea and Sandro Farrrugia. We are confident they have all the ingredients to be successful. Together with Prof Santino Coppa and Salvo Coppa, they will be working among the local girls to continue the improvements which have been registered since 2002, when this cycle started,” he said.

Mrs Galea and Farrugia are to be sent to Sicily to work with Prof Coppa, who is well known for his successes in Italian women’s basketball. “We also intend to make use of the protocol with the Italian Federation so as to be able to send these two new coaches for a five-year course which will lead them to the licence which will obviously be valid for FIBA purposes,” he added.

The MBA president added that in the next 24 months or so, Maltese basketball will undergo several changes and developments and hoped that the association will get the necessary support from all concerned. “Our international target is to get out of European Division C, but we still have to work hard to achieve that aim. However, we are confident that Mrs Galea and Farrugia will deliver the goods,” he said.

Dorianne Galea, in a short comment, said she was looking forward to be successful in this new challenge after a successful career as a player. “I am optimistic about this appointment. I am ready to continue learning, but also to impart my knowledge of the game to the youngsters who are targeting a place in the national team. I have been lucky that I always had a winning mentality whether with my club or the national team. Now that mentality has to grow in our youngsters if we are to be successful in the next few years,” she said.

Sandro Farrugia said the past four years had been successful for local women’s basketball. “Our challenge is to see an improvement. We have to try and be better than the past four years. We have to sharpen our ideas if we are to get better results,” he said.