Over 1,000 athletes and officials expected

The 54th FISEC Games, to be held in Malta, are only a few days away and the organising committee is finalising its preparations for this sporting festival which kicks off on Monday with the opening ceremony at Mosta and comes to a close the following Saturday.

Over 1,000 athletes and officials from 12 countries are expected to participate in these Games. The Maltese contingent is made up of 170 athletes and officials. The other participating nations are Belgium, France, Hungary, Palestine, Spain, Austria, Great Britain, Italy, The Netherlands, Portugal and the United States. The language-divided Belgium will have two different groups competing - Flemish and French.

The Games will feature eight disciplines namely athletics, five-a-side and 11-a-side football, handball, basketball, tennis, swimming and volleyball. The organising committee has decided to make use of 10 sporting venues around the island.

Three of these venues, the Multipurpose Hall at the University, the artificial football pitch at St Aloysius College and a number of courts at the Vittoriosa Lawn Tennis club will be staging their first sporting competition since their construction.

The other venues earmarked for these students' games are the Matthew Micallef St John track in Marsa, the Basketball Pavilion at Ta' Qali, the St Aloysius Sports Complex, De La Salle, the National Pool at Tal-Qroqq, the Corradino Sports complex and the Centenary stadium at Ta' Qali.

Speaking during a news conference at the Westin Dragonara Hotel yesterday, Bro Martin Borg, chairman of the FISEC Games, said that preparations are now almost completed and everything is in place for five days of sporting fiesta for all the participating students.

"The committee has been working hard for the past two years and we hope that the Games will turn out to be an exciting experience for all the participants. We had already successfully organised the Games in 1997 and we hope that this edition will be more successful."

Brother Borg said that the opening ceremony will be held on Monday at Mosta when the contingents will march along Eucharist Congress Street towards the Mosta Church. Here a dance choreography will be performed and after the welcoming speeches, the athletes will enter the church where mass will be celebrated.

The Games chairman said that on Tuesday a bazaar will be organised in which items from the different participating countries will be on sale with the proceeds going to the Eden Foundation.

The highlights of Saturday's closing ceremony will be a laser show projected on a big screen and a disco party that will be organised at the Suncrest Hotel, where all the athletes and officials will reside during the Games.

David Azzopardi, technical director of the Games, said that the Maltese contingent has been preparing well during the past few months. "As the Games are being held in Malta, we did not have travelling problems for any of our athletes, meaning that we can field our strongest squad.

"Although it's still early days, we expect to win at least a medal in each of the disciplines we will be competing in. In the last Games, we obtained a bronze medal in the five-a-side football and the handball tournament and we expect to achieve the same kind of success this time around."

Azzopardi said that at the FISEC Games, athletes are assured of having a competitive outing on all days of the Games. "The hot climatic conditions would have made it difficult for us to adopt the same principle in the 11-a-side football. So we have decided that, for this edition, all matches be played on a period of one hour instead of 90 minutes."

The FISEC Games director, Louis Borg, said that the main aim of the event is sports education. "Winning medals should not be the athletes' one and only priority during the FISEC Games... the chief goal is to participate in a true sporting spirit," he said.

Borg also thanked the Parliamentary Secretary for Youth and Sport Jesmond Mugliett for making available the new Multipurpose Sports Hall in time for the Games.

Lm15,000 donation

The main sponsor of the Games is the government who has awarded the sum of Lm15,000 to the organising committee.

Mugliett said that the fact that Malta has again been given the chance to host these Games is an injection of confidence in the country's ability to stage such a prestigious international competition.

"These Games are also a great opportunity for our young, promising athletes to gain more experience on the international stage. One should also mention the number of officials from local associations who have the necessary qualifications to officiate in these Games," Mugliett said.