Representatives from over 100 countries convened for the 2019 General Assembly at which in IFMA tradition, the first half was dedicated to various speakers. The Governor of the Sport Authority of Thailand Dr Kongsak Yodmanee welcomed all delegates informing the floor about the continued close cooperation between the Royal Thai Government and IFMA where he also congratulated IFMA on the unification of the WMC and IFMA. He also again reiterated that the Royal Thai Government solely recognized IFMA as the world governing body for muaythai following strictly the Olympic charter.
Thailand’s IOC Member Khun Ying Patama Leesawatrakul welcomed everyone on behalf of the National Olympic Committee of Thailand and congratulated all on IFMA’s close cooperation with the Olympic movement and the credibility of the organisation.
The IOC sent Andrew Hofer IOC Recognised IFs and Organisations Senior Manager, who congratulated IFMA on all its work and commented that all the work IFMA was doing towards social initiatives were well in line with the IOC’s vision.
The IFMA Secretary General welcomed everybody on behalf of the IFMA Executive Committee and the athletes, thanking everyone for coming to the important AGM. Mr Fox then welcomed the Key-Note Speaker, Amir Kfir whom has developed Non-Flict and IFMA’s vision to use the power of sport to change conflict in the world to nonflict. Mr Kfir made a powerful presentation to the delegates on the art of everyday peace-making, presenting valuable tools to take away and share with others.
The final welcome speaker was the IFMA President of World Taekowndo, Mr Chungwon Choue who spoke about the responsibility of sport towards social change and the wok that the World Taekwondo Humanitarian Foundation is doing with regards to the refugee crisis and how to be part of solution.
IFMA President Dr. Sakchye Tapsuwan welcomed everyone to Thailand for the important conference.