European waterpolo champions Pro Recco will be heading to Malta at the end of this month for a pre-season training camp, it was announced on Monday.
The Italian champions are set to arrive in Malta on Tuesday, September 21 for a five-day training camp at the Neptunes WPSC pool in St Julian’s where they will step up their pre-season preparations ahead of the new season.
Pro Recco’s visit to Malta materialised due to the contacts of national team coach Karl Izzo who enjoys an excellent relationship with the Italian club president Maurizio Felugo.
For waterpolo enthusiasts, the arrival of Pro Recco to Malta is something to look forward to as the Italian side are regarded as the most successful club in Europe.
The Liguria-based club has won a total of 33 Italian championships, and the LEN Champions League nine times, the last time coming last June when they beat Hungarian side FTC Telekom Budapest 9-6 in the final Belgrade.
Taking a look at the list of players forming part of Pro Recco squad one finds some world class talent such as Italian internationals Pietro Figlioli, who last summer came to Malta for a short training camp at Sliema ASC, American international Benjamin Hallock, Croatia’s Luka Loncar and Montenegro’s superstar Aleksandar Ivovic and are coached by Croatian great Sandro Sukno.
“The arrival of Pro Recco in Malta is great news for Maltese waterpolo,” Karl Izzo told the Times of Malta.
“Pro Recco president Maurizio Felugo had told me many times of his desire of bringing Pro Recco to Malta and thanks to the assistance of VisitMalta and the Ministry of Tourism that we have managed to make this a reality.
“We are planning to use this event to showcase Pro Recco’s star quality to all the young waterpolo players in our nurseries.”
Izzo said that all training sessions will be held in front of young Maltese waterpolo players.
“This is a great opportunity for young players from the various waterpolo nurseries in Malta to watch the best team in Europe and the world train in front of their very own eyes,” Izzo said.
“Unfortunately, the waterpolo season in Malta has already finished and there are no impending international competitions that would have given us the opportunity to see them play friendlies here.
“But I am sure that for our young players see them train and have the opportunity to take photos with them and take their autographs will hopefully inspire them to take a career in the sport.”
Izzo added that Pro Recco will be accompanied in Malta by a crew from SkySport Italia who will follow the Italian champions throughout their stay in Malta.
“Certainly, this is a great opportunity to showcase our country as an ideal sports tourism destination and I am sure that the country will benefit a lot from this occasion.”
