Continental Association News: 5th General Assembly of the AUSF
July 17th, 2007
On July 16th, in Shenzhen, China, 28 countries were present to take part in the 5th General Assembly of the Asian University Sports Federation. This meeting was preceded by the meeting of the Executive Board of AUSF on July 15th. The meeting was led by the Xinsheng Zhang, President of AUSF and of the Chinese University Sports Federation (FUSC) and FISU Vice-President. Mr. Zhang gave the floor to Mr. G.E. Killian, FISU President who developed the idea that for some members of AUSF, having such a strong and developing Federation it is a dream becoming reality. In terms of membership, this meeting was important because it was the opportunity to readmit some countries such as Japan or Thailand and eight other countries confirmed their wish to become full members. The AUSF is now composed of 30 full members.
The report of the Secretariat was followed by the final reports of the championships organised by AUSF. The 1st AUSF Men’s Basketball Championship organised in September 2006 in Taipei City where the Republic of Korea defeated the host country. The 1st AUSF Tennis Championship took place in Guangzhou city (78 players, 154 participants, 18 countries) in November 2006. In 2007, the Chinese University Sports Federations (FUSC) organised the 1st AUSF Men’s Football Championship in Shanghai from March 20th to 26th. Nine teams took part in this tournament. The final saw the P.R. of China winning from the I.R. of Iran. The bronze medal went to the Republic of Korea.
During the meeting the program of the two coming years was discussed, and championships are considered to be organised in many different sports such as Table Tennis, Hockey, Boxing, Wrestling, Chess, Woodball, Bowling, Marathon and Weightlifting. All countries were interested to host an event, from Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Sri Lanka to Malaysia, Pakistan, Chinese Taipei, P. R. China and Korea. Kazakhstan is considering the possibility to organise AUSF Winter Games, for the first time in the history of this organisation. AUSF will open a training centre in order to provide a platform for coaches and athletes to share and learn and exchange techniques and to build relations with countries and institutions outside the region. The Centre will provide a certificate for trainees. The opening ceremony of the centre took place at the end of the meeting.
Mr. Zhang and Mr. Killian unveiling the plate of the AUSF Training Centre
At the end of the meeting, several members of the FISU Family were invited to take the floor. Mr. C-L Gallien, 1st Vice-President, wished all the best for the future of the organisation, Mr. Hassan Chick FISU Vice-President took the floor in his capacity of President of FASU and Vice-President of the Arab University Sports Association, he insisted on the importance of building bridges between Africa and Asia, Mr. Campana, FISU Secretary-General, mentioned that it was a pleasure for him to see that AUSF countries are developing so quickly and together in a same spirit for the development of university sport, Mrs K. Leinus, FISU Assessor, spoke about the Winter Games, Mr. A. Gualtieri, President of EUSA, underlined the importance of the Continental University Sports Federations in the FISU structure and the crucial need of these Federations to co-operate, finally Mr. Oleg Matytsin, President of the National University Sports Federation of Russia, reminded the specific geographic location of his country between Asia and Europe and the will of its country to keep on getting involved at the international level in university sport by organising the biggest events.
