IFMA’S INTELLIGENCE TASK FORCE TARGETS CHEATERS
One of IFMA’s main priorities is the protection of clean athletes, keeping the sport of Muaythai at the fairest and highest level. IFMA will continue to commit itself in combating any and all forms of cheating which is a threat to Muaythai and to maintain the integrity of the organisation.
Six years ago, the “IFMA Intelligence Task Force” was established and the task force has brought together the different commissions of IFMA to tackle doping, match-fixing and any sort of compromise from fair play. The importance of this task force is to optimise the knowledge and expertise of the different commissions and conduct detailed risk assessments to identify specific individual athletes, groups or entire gyms to target in its intelligence testing programme. This includes individual athletes tested on their ranking and performance if there are suspicions on performance or weight loss, specific information and intelligence gathered from the various analyses of any confidential information communicated to IFMA through the ‘Whistle Blower Box’, which has played an important part in facilitating an open channel for reporting any ethical breaches.
One of the major successes was in 2018 when an entire gym in Kazakhstan was eliminated with the coach receiving a lifelong ban from recognised sport activities. He had in some cases, unknown to the athlete practitioners, supplied various prohibited substances and had also supplied these substances to athletes which were not involved in competitive sport. The entire gym was tested and resulted in 8 adverse analytical findings. Over the last two years, many specific tests have been done to identify the cheaters and protect the clean athletes.
This has also been extended to the youth with great results. In 2019, the efforts have been successful also with the important cooperation with WADA and the ITA from which education has been included as an important tool and using the perpetrators as an example for others.
IFMA President, Dr. Sakchye Tapsuwan stated, “IFMA will continue to protect the sport not just on but also off the field of play, and that the IFMA intelligence task force may statistically bring the overall percentage of positive test up, but it is far more important to IFMA to ensure that we catch as many of the bad elements and eliminate them from the sport.”
While IFMA continues its fight against doping on multi-levels from offering values based education programmes starting from the youth through to its elite level to target testing out of competition and its registered testing pool, the governing body does not shy away from an escalated number in the annual WADA report as it is proof positive of the concept “The more we catch, the more we clean” as stated by, Dr. Erdogan Aydin, Chair of IFMA Medical Commission.
The chair of the IFMA Task Force, General Lucas Managuelod, stated, “We must all work together. IFMA will continue instilling a culture of Clean Sport. For now, we must take as many bad elements out of the system and IFMA will continue to run prevention programs, its Clean Sport curriculum and in the end, it is only a very small number of athletes who cheat. The IFMA majority value Clean Sport and integrity and are anti-doping advocates.”
Make an anonymous disclosure of improper conduct of ethical wrongdoing
Muaythai is built on the 5 important pillars of honour, tradition, respect, excellence and fair play. Every stakeholder, regardless of whether they are a fan, an official administrator, an event promoter, or simply a one-off spectator at an event, has the right to see transparency upheld.
At IFMA we are committed to ensuring our standards meet a high level of ethical accountability, because that is the foundation of our legitimacy as a governing body for the sport. Fair play must be guaranteed.
When unlawful violations of IFMA’s standards occur, individuals may feel that there are barriers to voicing their concerns. Barriers can include, but are not limited to:
However, without the active participation of those who can provide credible information regarding any unlawful violations of IFMA’s ethical standards, IFMA cannot adequately exercise its governing duties. Please help us as we continue to strive to meet the highest ethical standard among the world’s martial arts and combat sports.
Please report, regardless of whether a violation involves those in high positions of leadership, including within IFMA. Please inform yourselves of what IFMA’s ethical standards, codes and commitments are and report any type of violation that you observe, such as improper financial dealings, violations of the code of ethics, and allegations of discrimination, harassment or abuse.
IFMA condemns all forms of discrimination, harassment, abuse and violence, especially against women, young boys and girls. We offer you our guarantee that individuals who report complaints or violations in good faith will not, as a result, be subject to retaliation or harassment from IFMA. Our continuous development as a sport and as a federation includes building a transparent and accountable community.
All allegations will be treated seriously and investigated. If you have evidence of a violation, please let us know about the specifics of the complaint with all relevant details. Our Ethics Committee will conduct a discreet and objective enquiry based on your complaint. The identity of those reporting violations will be kept confidential and treated as anonymous during the course of an investigation. We will contact you discreetly via email to request further information if required.
It is our hope that working together with you will ensure that everyone can enjoy the beauty of sport with fairness and equality.