SportMalta and the Maltese Olympic Committee are looking at the possibility of helping promising athletes from various sporting disciplines to turn professional in a bid to maximise their potential ahead of the 2023 Games of the Small States of Europe and beyond.
Mark Cutajar, SportMalta chief executive officer, told the Times of Malta that discussions are already underway with the Maltese Olympic Committee to identify a list of athletes that will be given the opportunity to switch to professional status and focus solely on maximising their talent in a bid to compete at higher levels.
Cutajar was speaking during a ceremony held at SportMalta offices in Cottonera were the ten local federations who will be representing the country at the 2023 GSSE in Malta signed a contract that will see them benefit from a €5 million purse that was made available by the National Development Social Fund for the technical preparation of athletes ahead of the biennial Games.
The ten federations that received funds for their athletes’ technical preparations were Athletics Malta, the Aquatic Sports Association of Malta, the Malta Basketball Association, Malta Judo Federation, Malta Rugby Football Union, Malta Squash, Malta Tennis Federation, Malta Sailing Federation and Malta Shooting Sport Federation.