IFMA has recently made an agreement with SportAbility and their Director Julia Govinden who signed the MOU together with the IFMA President Dr. Sakchye Tapsuwan. A special meeting took place at the Sport Authority of Thailand (SAT) whereby SportAbility plays a major role in the upcoming Sport Festival Bangkok 2018, which runs parallel to the SportAccord Convention under patronage of The International Olympic Committee (IOC). SportAbility is involved in many international sporting events and plays a significant role inside the SportAccord Convention. They will be participating in the “United Through Sport” conference as well as coordinating it entirely.

The President Himself Dr. Sakchye Tapsuwan articulated that,

“IFMA will continue with the mandate given by their members, especially the centre of all the athletes and IFMA sees it as a duty to work on the five pillars of Muaythai (respect, honour, tradition, excellence and fair play) to build with and for the youth a better world. That is why IFMA will continue to make the youth development work central to their ethos. If we can lead by example for the youth, then the future will look brighter. Muaythai is a martial art passed down from generation to generation for over 1,000 years and will be advocated by IFMA. With the partnership between IFMA and SportAbility, we see it as paramount that the vision of IFMA is not only understood, but shared”.

Mrs. Govinden stated:

“It is an honour to join IFMA and to be a part of the Muaythai family along with all the distinguished alliances Muaythai has built including UNESCO, UN Women, Generation For Peace, Peace for Sport, and Right To Play to name a few. It is important that we work together united, in order to truly make a difference for our tomorrow. Unity and respect is strength, and it is in our hands to build upon the IFMA foundations which demonstrate unity in diversity, non-discrimination, race, gender identity or social differences. IFMA as in sport, offers a universal language not only for dialogue and interaction, but for action that inspires myself amongst countless others. To witness IFMA Executives volunteering their time to make positive differences within their communities is truly an example to us all. We are now working together on social projects such as Sport Is Your Gang which won the World Spirit of Sport Award in 2014. I am indeed privileged to be able to work on this innovative global campaign”.