The 2020 waterpolo summer season will get underway on July 15, Joe Caruana Curran, president of the Acquatic Sports Association confirmed to the Times of Malta on Wednesday as authorities gave permission for contact sport to resume as from next month.
The acquatic sports governing body received the green light to kickstart its summer championship after continuous talks with SportMalta and the health authorities.
“I am pleased to announce that the summer season of waterpolo will get underway on July 15,” Caruana Curran said.
“Since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic we have been in regular contact with SportMalta and the Health Authorities with whom we spoke in detail on the process on restarting waterpolo this summer in a safe and healthy manner and we have now been given permission to start the national championship next month.
“I would like to thank Clifton Grima, the Parliamentary Secretary for Youth and Sport, and Mark Cutajar, the SportMalta Chief Executive Officer, for their assistance in this process.”
Caruana Curran confirmed that this year’s championship will initially be played behind closed doors but hinted that the situation could change if the situation in Malta will improve.
“The national championships will follow the health authorities guidelines on social distancing and that means that the first matches will be played behind closed doors,” Caruana Curran said.
“However, if the situation continues to improve some of the restrictions which will be adopted at the start of the competition will hopefully be lifted and may be in the second part of the competition we could have a limited number of fans present.”
The ASA president said that the governing body is currently holding talks to ensure that all the matches of the championships will be either streamed live or broadcasted on TV.
The National Championship will retain the format of last season which will see all participating teams competing in the Preliminary Round before the cross-over play-offs will be held to form both the Premier Division and First Division.
Caruana Curran said that should a league decider be needed to declare this year’s champion the season will come to an end on October 14.
The ASA president said this year’s youth championships will also be organised and are likely to be held at the National Pool to ensure an ideal safe environment for the young players.