The Junior national team has set off to Budapest for a week-long training camp in preparation for the European Youth Waterpolo Championships which will be held in Malta between 8 and 15 September.
The 15 players selected to form part of the team will be training with the BVSC team.
The team members will train for two hours on their own in the morning and then play friendly matches as well as tactical practice with the BVSC team in the afternoon.
The European Youth Waterpolo Championships will see the participation of 16 teams. Seven teams qualified by merit according to previous junior competitions.
As host country, Malta qualified automatically. The remaining six teams qualified among the 18 teams that applied to participate in the European championships.
The teams that will be playing in Malta are divided in four groups. The Maltese team is in Group B, together with Greece, Italy and Spain. Group A is made up of the Netherlands, Slovenia, Hungary and France; Group C consists of Poland, Belarus, Serbia and Slovakia.
Turkey, Montenegro, Romania and Croatia form Group D.
Robert Ebejer, president of the Aquatic Sports Association of Malta (ASA), said: “We thank Wilkinson Sword for sponsoring Maltese waterpolo and making professional training, including camps abroad, possible through their constant support. This is helping the association and the enthusiastic national teams, both senior and junior, achieve their aim to continue to improve the standards and be able to compete well with other foreign players renowned for their professionalism and technique.”
In the Preliminary Round, Malta will play against Italy on 8 September (6.45pm); against Spain on 9 September (6.45pm) and against Greece on 10 September (6.45pm). The first two placing teams of each group will proceed to play for the first eight placings, while the third and fourth placed of each group will play for the ninth to 16th place.
Dr Haluk Toygarli, Chairman of the Technical Waterpolo Committee, and Gianni Lonzi, Vice-Chariman, together with four other delegates from the Committee will be present for the championships to conduct and supervise the matches.