Harry Savaya appointed technical director
The Maltese basketball community will have another club taking part throughout this coming season as new team Valletta Fighters announced themselves this week.
As reported by the Times of Malta in July, the Malta Basketball Association (MBA) had seen interest from a new overseas club looking to start a team in Malta. Back then, there were no details about the team per se, only that the interested party would have to register by the end of the month.
The Valletta club has now confirmed the speculation about the number of clubs participating with a statement on their socials.
“BC Valletta Fighters is proud to announce it will be competing in the Maltese BOV Premier league Starting in October we will work hard to put our name among the best ones,” the statement read.
The new club also appointed former coach for Jordan Premier League Orthodox Amman Harry Savaya as the team’s technical director.
“Valletta Fighters are delighted to announce Harry Savaya as a technical director of the team,” a club statement read.
“Harry was the head coach of Orthodox team in the Jordan Premier League, and head coach of national teams of Moldova and Cambodia, where he led the team to win a silver medal in the Seaba Games.
“Harry will be sharing his years of expertise with the players in BC Valletta Fighters as well as Basketball Academy Malta.”
Contacted by the Times of Malta, the club said this was a plan which came together after months.
“Everything started months ago. Harry Savaya, the CEO and technical director of it, wanted to start a new project. after his experiences in other countries, he decided to invest in the local basketball of Malta,” the club’s sporting director David Bellinzona said.
“He is looking forward to living on this amazing island and to getting adapted to the local culture. He wants to improve Maltese basketball and give an opportunity to many high-level foreign players to shine in the country.
“Our main goal after years is to compete in international competitions such as the FIBA Europe Cup.”
Asked about how they plan to integrate with the local community, Bellinzona said that as most local players are already set within their clubs, they are still on the lookout for new players.
“We are looking for experienced and young local players. As it is our first year in the league and we started pretty late, the best local players are already committed to a team,” he said.
“So, we are working hard to find the best ones that don’t have a team yet. In some years we are planning to start work also with kids and open a nursery basketball school.”
Meanwhile, Valletta Fighters have confirmed with the Times of Malta that they plan on getting into women’s basketball as well as soon as the 2024-25 season, the latest being the following season in 2025.
