£16.25 million set aside for Cyprus sports

THE CYPRUS Sports Authority (KOA) wants to spend £4.3 million this year to sponsor sports clubs, national teams and other specialist meetings.

An explanatory report accompanying the KOA budget for 1998, submitted to the House of Representatives last week, notes that this year Cyprus will be taking part in the Commonwealth Games and in 14 European and world meetings for different events.

Money will also go on anti-doping and anti-violence programmes, high performance athletics, the Cyprus Rally, as well as to local clubs.

KOA is also budgeting £7.25 million from a total budget of £16.25 million for new sports grounds or improvement to existing facilities. There are two key priorities – swimming pools and indoor sports halls to meet growing demand with the increase in popularity of basketball, volleyball, handball and badminton.

KOA also plans to spend £1.7 million on various projects aimed at combatting violence.

The budget, which is still subject to the approval of the House, provides for revenue of £16.25 million, with much of it coming from lotteries and other lucky games. They include a hefty £6.3 million as a subsidy from a betting tax on Pools and Fixed Odds games, £1 million from Pro Po and £6.47 million from lotto.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.