A contingent of 28 persons will leave Malta on their way to Palermo next Friday to represent Malta in the FISTF World Cup 2011.

The Maltese national team is the current world champions, achieving this title in last September in Rain, in Germany, after nine consecutive years of Italian dominance

For this year’s world cup Malta will participate with the following players:

National team: Mark Gauci (captain), C. Aquilina, S. Bartolo, J. Borg Bonaci, M. Cremona and D. Conti. This is the winning team of last September.

National team (veterans): J. Mifsud (captain), P. Pace, A. Bonnici, M. Camilleri, J. Pisani, A. Sapiano and J. Zammit Pavia.

National team (U-19): A. Borg (captain), D. Bezzina, D. Carabott, A. Abela and A. Gatt

National team (U-15): K. Tabone (captain), T. Fenech, M. Barun, D. Camilleri and I. Fenech.

Most of the above players will also take part in the individual category which will be played on Saturday while the teams’ event will be played on Sunday.

M. Fenech is the only Maltese player who will participate in the women’s category.

F. Rizzo, M. Camilleri and J. Borg will also join the Maltese contingent.

The contingent will be headed by Anthony Sapiano, MTFSA president, who is expected to attend for the FISTF annual congress.

This year’s congress is important because it is expected that there will be some changes in the rules of the game. J. Zammit Pavia (vice-president) and J. Pisani (treasurer) will also be attending this congress.

The Maltese contingent will return home on Monday 25 July, hopefully maintaining the world cup in Malta.