By Bernard Vassallo
Paul Sultana and Joseph Muscat will retain their respective seats for the next term of four years as president and secretary of the Malta Basketball Association (MBA) following an annual general meeting held earlier this week.
Both officials were both first elected to their posts ten years ago in June 2011
Melvin Gauci was confirmed as treasurer and the other elected directors in the MBA set-up are Alex Farrugia as deputy president and Abigail Gauci, Elton Sant, Ottavio Terribile and Bernard Vassallo.
Sultana told the club delegates that the COVID19 pandemic again significantly affected the outcome of the past season yet the MBA did it utmost to put the participants’ safety as a top priority but had to follow the outright ban on sport imposed by the authorities back in March
The MBA is also investing a lot of money, also thanks to the help from SportMalta and the MOC, in engaging qualified foreign coaches, even on a full-time basis, to spearhead the various age-category national teams’ preparation also in view of the 2023 GSSE targets.
The national teams, from under 16 to senior level, are all involved in FIBA championships this Summer despite the limited preparation time due to the authorities’ ban on sport which was only lifted a few weeks ago.
Sultana also paid homage to the late President Emeritus, Mr. Louis Borg who passed away earlier this month. A minute silence was also held during the same AGM.
MBA secretary Joseph Muscat showed his appreciation for all clubs and their contribution throughout the season and reiterated the salient points in the president’s address. He added that although the past season was marred with the pandemic, there still was the finalisation of the long awaited transformation of the main basketball pavilion which now has been upgraded to high standards.
Another positive, new venture is that all games are now also being transmitted live on the MBA YouTube channel, thus also taking the games to the supporters who could not attend any matches. This MBA will work further on this and will aim to market the game further to the public.
Muscat stressed on a novel change in the competition rules applicable for all categories whereby, in the case of any stoppage of games, should 75% of the games have been played by then, the first placed team will be declared the champion of the season.
Should a league be stopped during the playoffs phase, one will now revert back the regular league classification and the first placed team will be declared champion of the season.
The new 2021/2022 season is expected to commence in late September.