Two world bronze medallists in high-profile field
MAAA hires Hungarian coach
The Matthew Micallef St John track is set to host some of the world's finest athletes in throwing events at the fourth EAAA Winter Throwing Challenge.
Malta Amateur Athletics Association (MAAA) president Anthony Chircop yesterday told the media that around 280 athletes and officials from 34 European countries have confirmed their participation for the event on March 13 and 14.
The challenge will see both male and female athletes competing in four disciplines - shot, discus, javelin and hammer. According to the entry list, two bronze medal winners in last summer's World Championship in Paris will be involved here.
Ukrainian Vita Pavlysh, who placed third in the shot put, has confirmed her participation. Germany's Nadine Kleinert, seventh in the world, is expected to pose the biggest challenge to Pavlysh.
The other world medallist to compete in Malta is German javelin thrower Steffi Nerius who cleared 62.7 metres in the world event.
Other world-class athletes participating in the challenge are Ukrainian discus thrower Olena Antonova and javelin throwers Lorraine Shaw, of Great Britain, and Russia's Ilya Konovalov.
Malta will be represented by one athlete, javelin thrower Jean Paul Callus. His preparations received a timely boost in the past few weeks after the MAAA hired the services of coach Gergely Kulcsar who specialises in throwing events.
Hungarian Kulcsar was a successful javelin thrower in his time. He won silver in the 1960 Olympic Games held in Rome and two bronze medals in the following two editions of the Games organised in Innsbruck and Mexico City.
"Given the financial limitations of our association, we have decided to engage four or five coaches for short periods. These experts will train athletes in conjunction with some local coaches who will then take over the training schedule. Gergely is the first coach to be hired in line with this scheme," Chircop said.
Chircop added that in the near future the association will be appointing another foreign coach for middle and long distance athletes.
Minister for Youth and the Arts Jesmond Mugliett said that the staging of a top athletics event is testament to the growing reputation Malta has earned in organising international competitions.
The government, Mugliett added, helped the MAAA improve its facilities at Marsa with the installation of an IAAF-approved hammer cage.
Gilford in Budapest
Maltese sprinter Darren Gilford is in Budapest to take part in the world indoor championships.
Gilford, who is accompanied by MAAA official Xandru Grech, will be involved in the heats of the 60m this morning. MAAA head Chircop is confident that Gilford will maintain his positive momentum after he set a new national best for the distance when clocking 6.76 seconds in the Birmingham meeting last month.