The Congress of the European Athletic Association (EAA) is to convene in Cannes, France, this Saturday where the main item on the short agenda will be the election of a new Council for the next four years.
It has been make known already, that at least two principal officials on the Council will be retaining their posts since they were uncontested. These are the President, Hansjorg Wirz, and Karel Pilney, the Treasurer.
Some 23 delegates will be contesting the 13n vacant seats on the Council of the EAA.
Among the contestants are some familiar faces who have already served on the council one would find including Vice President Anton Shulek (Hungary) who will again be contesting one of the two posts of Vice Presidents, Philip Lambin (France) and Janez Aljancic (Slovenia).
Very familiar to the local association are the two delegates coming from the small states of Cyprus and Iceland, namely Antonios Dracos and Jonas Egilson who are both seeking re-election.
There are, however, some new big names included in the list of candidates, known better for their prowess on the Track and Field. These include five-time Olympic gold medal winner Valeriy Borzov, Triple Jump world record holder Jonathan Edwards, Decathlon Olympic champion at the Sydney Games Erki Nool (from Estonia) and Franco Arese of Italy.
The MAAA will be represented, at this Congress, by its president, Anthony Chircop who is also scheduled to have meetings with the IAAF President Lamine Diack as well as with Wirz.
Diack is also the prime mover of the IAAF World Athletics programme and he is always anxious for news from small and developing countries, especially from the MAAA whose headquarters he had inaugurated, together with the former Minister for Sport, Mr J. Mugliett in June 2003.
The MAAA will be hosting the next large administrative event after the Congress, the EAA Calendar Meeting Malta, between 11 and 13October for which it is expected that around 320 delegates are expected to attend.
Chircop will also be meeting Wirz to discuss certain aspects concerning the programme of this important conference.