40 countries participated in this year’s EMF General Assembly, which was chaired by the new president of the EMF and the mayor of the beautiful city of Odessa, Mr Gennady Trukhanov . A special letter was sent from the National Olympic Council of Ukraine and International Olympic Committee Executive Board Member and one of the Olympic legends, Sergey Bubka.
EMF President, Mr Trukhanov, welcomed everybody and talked about the achievements of IFMA and EMF, especially within the World Combat Games and the inclusion of Muaythai into the World Games. He then outlined the future plan for European Muaythai and, as the IFMA Vice President, he also underlined again the close cooperation between the International Federation and the Continental Federation. EMF Vice President, Mr Detlef Turnau from Germany stated that in the last 4 years, European Muaythai has become very strong, especially in the youth development program, fantastic work has been done.
Rafal Szlachta the General Secretary of EMF, welcomed everyone to Poland once again, and hoped that everyone enjoyed the Polish hospitality and that this year’s European Championship was the biggest so far in participating countries and athletes. Dr. Mieczyslaw Biegoszewski, the representative of the Polish NOC and representative of the Ministry of Sport welcomed all the delegates, presidents, general secretaries from all parts of Europe, outlined the close cooperation between the NOC, the ministry of sports, and the Polish National Muaythai Federation, and that all of Poland is excited for the upcoming 2017 World Games and Muaythai proudly will be one of the participating sports.
Mr Rafal Simonides made a heartfelt presentation on the Muaythai Against Drugs Campaign, and every delegate received a special banner with their country name and the campaign. The IFMA General Secretary, Mr Stephan Fox, made a detailed presentation on the achievements of Muaythai from 1995 to the present, and the plans and structure for Muaythai for the next 4 years.
Mrs Anna Melo, the President of the Portuguese Muaythai Federation, has been appointed into the EMF Executive Board and was presented a special token by President Trukhanov. Special appreciation was also given to the Turkish Muaythai Federation, the Russian Muaythai Federation and the Portuguese Muaythai Federation for organizing World and European Championships, to Detlef Turnau President of the German Federation and Vice President of EMF, to Olivier Muller President of the Swiss Muaythai Federation for organizing the past Saint Tropez FightNight.
