Karl Izzo confident of a positive tournament

Waterpolo - Juniors European Championships

■ Stewart Said National team coach Karl Izzo is confident that his team can gain a positive result in today’s match, as Malta will play France today in the first match from Group C, aiming to win the match to have a brilliant chance of finish in the first 12 places from the best 16 European teams.

Izzo made the final decision on the squad after trimming it twice, from 18 to 15 and then to 13 players. San Ġiljan youngster Ben Grech had to be omitted from the squad after he came out injured from a friendly match against Germany three days ago. For the first time, an Otters player is chosen in the final squad as goalkeeper Matthew Xerri was chosen after a positive performance.

ASA President Joe Caruana Curran said that it is an honour for Malta to organise a tournament of this standard.

This is the third time that Malta is organising this tournament which is held every two years from the first edition in 2003.

Caruana Curran continued that apart from the storm that hit the Malta on Friday, everything is going as planned. The ASA President said that Russia was the last nation to arrive yester- day afternoon while there were some delays as a result of the bad weather.

Joe Caruana Curran also revealed the LEN President Paolo Barelli will be in Malta from the 13th to 15th September.

Present also at the Press Conference were Gianni Lonzi and Marco Birri. Lonzi who one of the Technical Delegates of LEN said that this tournament is a fantastic opportunity for these youngsters to showcase their quality.

On the other hand, Marco Birri who is responsible for all Waterpolo matters at European level, said that the choice for this European Championship to be organised in Malta, was a calculated risk as Malta holds a great reputation amongst the foreign players. Birri revealed that these game will be live play by play on the LEN website.

Disappointment from Izzo

During the press conference, Karl Izzo expressed his disappointment about the situations regarding the school examinations of his players.

Izzo said that he had planned a five-day training camp in Budapest in order to prepare like all the other participating nations.

The Aquatic Sports Association appealed to the Ministry of Education to have the exams of the players to be made at the same date but in Budapest, an appeal that was rejected.

It looks like that the Ministry only give these type of permissions if the exams are scheduled on the same day of a game. Izzo concluded that this is a sign of lack of support in the sport.

ASA President Joe Caruana Curran was questioned about the situation regarding the building of a second National Pool.

He said that they don’t know the progress of this project as they weren’t informed or consulted about this issue. Karl Izzo added that he only knew that the tender was to be issued in the next weeks, something that he said that it was supposed to be issued months ago.

Final squad

Thomas Micallef (San Ġiljan), Jan Culic (Neptunes), Ken Erdogan (Neptunes), Jacob Sciberras (Sirens), Benjamin Cachia (Sliema), Tristan Said (San Ġiljan), Mattias Ortoleva (San Ġiljan), Keith Tanti (Sliema), Matthew Tabone (Neptunes), Nikolai Zammit (Neptunes), Liam Galea (Sliema), Jake Muscat (Neptunes), Matthew Xerri (Otters)