Top international delegates talk sport in Gibraltar

Gibraltar is hosting a series of meetings of the executive board of the Commonwealth Games Federation this week, in a landmark event for the Rock.

This is the first time that Gibraltar acts as host for the international board of the Commonwealth Games since becoming one of its first members in 1958, according to Joe Schembri, Gibraltar Commonwealth Games Association General Secretary.

And in another significant development unfolding in parallel, Gibraltar is also playing host this week to the annual seminar of the European Athletics Federation.

Both meetings are separate and will deal with unrelated matters, but together they provide opportunities for Gibraltar to strengthen its links with key international sporting representatives.

Mr Schembri said the Commonwealth meetings represented ‘a historic moment’ for Gibraltar and ‘a wonderful opportunity’ to increase the Rock’s exposure.

“We are honoured to host these meetings with our friends within the Commonwealth Games Federation,” he said.

“At the same time Gibraltar has the opportunity for the government and sporting bodies to sit down with the association and discuss the way forward for local sport.”

Mr Schembri said that one of the issues for Gibraltar to discuss is the stance from some international federations to not allow Gibraltar to participate.

“We need to get Commonwealth support to present to those international sporting federations which do not accept Gibraltar due to pressure from Spain,” he said.

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