The Amateur Swimming Association is looking ahead towards the forthcoming two years which will be quite hectic for the national teams – waterpolo, swimming, synchronised swimming, Paralympics and beach waterpolo – as these will be taking part in several tournaments at home and abroad.

ASA president Joe Caruana Curran, photo, said during a news conference yesterday that the complete programme had not yet been finalised, but added that the association was looking ahead towards what should be a very hectic two years.

Waterpolo

He started his speech mentioning the achievements of the national waterpolo teams. “It was something historic for two national waterpolo teams – the seniors and the juniors – to qualify for the finals of two top competitions the past season. The seniors qualified for the finals of the European Championship to be held in Belgrade, Serbia, early next May, while the juniors qualified to take part in the inaugural European Games in Baku, Azerbaijan. We are very proud of these achievements as it is possibly the first time that Maltese teams (in any sports discipline) had qualified for the finals of such top tournaments,” he added.

Caruana Curran revealed that for the European Championship finals next January in Belgrade, Malta had been drawn in Group B with France, Croatia and home team Serbia, noting that Croatia and Serbia had contested the last world championship final.

The other groups were drawn as follows:

Group A: Montenegro, Spain, Netherlands, Slovakia

Group C: Germany, Georgia, Italy, Romania

Group D: Hungary, Russia, Greece, Turkey

Caruana Curran went on to say that national coach Karl Izzo has selected the following squad to start preparing for these finals:

Edward Aquilina, Alan Borg Cole, John Brownrigg, Nicholas Bugelli, Jordan Camilleri, Stevie Camilleri, Luke Caruana, Aurelien Cousin, Jerome Gabarretta, Nicholas Grixti, Niki Lanzon, Mark Meli, Clint Mercieca, Ben Plumpton, Ryan Sciortino, Dino Zammit and Matthew Zammit.

He said that Brownrigg, Caruana, Bugelli and Plumpton are newcomers. Izzo will have to find a substitute for Michele Stellini who has decided to quit, even with his club Neptunes.

The ASA president also announced Malta’s participation in a tournament for boys born in 1999 between 25 and 27 March next year in Austria as well as a girls (also born 1999) tournament between 1 and 3 April next year in Denmark.

Another announcement was the staging of the European junior waterpolo championships in Malta between 5 and 8 May. Another tournament to be held in Malta next year is the EU nations Cup tournament for men, between 13 and 15 May.

Caruana Curran said the ASA was extremely proud that national waterpolo coach Karl Izzo has been appointed to the Board of Directors of the World Waterpolo Coaches Association.

He added: “This goes to further show the respect Malta enjoys in international circles.”

A waterpolo coaching course is also planned to be held in Malta between 19 and 21 February. It will be conducted by Dejan Savic, the national coach of world champions Serbia.

Swimming

In the swimming sector, Malta will be taking part in the LEN European short course championships between 2 and 6 December 2015 in Netanya, Israel. The participants are Nicola Muscat and Julian Harding. They will be accompanied by coach Andy Colbourn.

The ASA has also started preparing four swimmers in preparation for the Rio Olympics next year. These are Raoul Stafrace, Amy Micallef, Matthew Galea and Julian Harding who are already undergoing a High Intensity Training Scheme devised by national coach Andy Colbourn.

Caruana Curran praised the four youngsters for accepting to undergo this programme. He added: “They have facilities where they can study, rest, relax and sleep in the hours when they are not in the pool or in the gym. It only fair to state that these athletes have all accepted to practically live at the National Pool from 5am to 7pm. They have also accepted to have a gap year from their studies to reach their target – that of qualifying on their own merits for the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.”

The ASA will also hold the annual international age group meeting at Easter time (31 March to 2 April 2016).

Another swimming event to be held in Malta in June next year is the COMEN Championships for boys (15-16 years) and girls (13-14 years).

A new event to be held in Malta will be the Open Water Swimming Cup. The ASA has already opened negotiations with Birkirkara St Joseph who have a lot of experience in the organisation of such events.

Synchronised Swimming

The Synchronised Swimming Cup is to be held between 21 and 24 July. This sport is becoming popular even in Malta. In this year’s event, held in Ostia, outside Rome, 28 countries took part with the total number of participants (athletes and coaches) exceeding 600.

The ASA president said that there had to be a change of coach as the Japanese girl will be leaving Malta soon. A Hungarian girl has already been appointed and is already in Malta for the handover.

Paralympic Games

Caruana Curran also made mention of the success of the Paralympic Games. He added: “The ASA has decided to dedicate a part of its efforts in supporting swimmers who wish to take up adapted swimming as their sport and make the effort to qualify for the Paralympic Games in Rio in 2016.

“In the past 12 months a number of swimmers have been sent to training camps overseas led by National Coach Isabelle Zarb. Swimmers Vladyslava Kravchenko and Julian Bajada participated in the Paralympic World Championships held in Glasgow in between 13 and 19 July. The National Team is presently composed of four swimmers who train regularly including early morning sessions.”

Caruana Curran also announced that the ASA had won its bid to stage the European junior waterpolo championships in 2017 (between 10 and 17 September). “This is clear proof that LEN has full confidence in our organisational abilities apart from the respect we enjoy from the same European body,” he said.

Beach waterpolo

The ASA president also apoke about this new discipline saying that the association had been requested to stage a tournament in Malta. This will be organised in open water (4x4 players each team) between 10 and 17 September.