Sports associations get €5 million assistance ahead of small nations games in 2023

Sport Malta has received a €5 million grant aimed at helping Maltese athletes prepare for the Games of the Small States of Europe in 2023.

The games are held every two years, and will be held in Malta in 2023. Malta has already hosted the competition in 1993 and 2003.

Through these funds, the Maltese Olympic Committee will be able to assist sports associations financially, enabling them to employ full-time professional coaches together with the necessary technical staff.

The funds will also help finance the participation of Maltese athletes in competitions and training sessions abroad.

The sports disciplines that will be assisted are: athletics, basketball, judo, rugby, sacking, shooting, squash, swimming, table tennis, and tennis.

The funds, obtained from the National Development and Social Fund, will be rolled out over a period of three years.

Sport Parliamentary Secretary Clifton Grima said that Sport Malta has already invested in new facilities including a basketball sports complex in Ta' Qali, a new squash centre in Marsa, a new judo complex and a tennis centre in Pembroke, along with two swimming pools—one in Cottonera and the other in St Paul's Bay.

Grima said the funds highlight government’s commitment to helping Maltese athletes and sports organisations achieve their goals.

The agreement was signed by Sport Malta chairman Luciano Busuttil and NDSF CEO Raymond Ellul, in the presence of Parliamentary Secretary for Communities Alex Muscat and Parliamentary Secretary for Sport Clifton Grima.