CHA AM – On 29 November, the 7th AUSF General Assembly was held at the Long Beach Hotel in Cha Am, Thailand. Out of the 35 AUSF members, 27 participated in the meeting. During the assembly, the 20th anniversary of AUSF was celebrated as well. The special guests, including FISU 1st Vice-President Oleg Matytsin who attended the meeting on behalf of FISU President Claude-Louis Gallien, FISU Vice President Leonz Eder, EUSA President Adam Roczek and FASU delegate Jacob Stanley Nteere, travelled to Cha Am for the celebration and to congratulate AUSF on a successful and rapid development.
On behalf of FISU, Mr. Matytsin praised AUSF for fulfilling the responsibilities to integrate the Asian nations into one team under the leadership of President ZHANG Xinsheng. He thanked the Asian NUSFs for hosting 5 Universiades on their continent and congratulated Thailand on its contribution to the AUSF and FISU sports movements. After congratulatory speeches from EUSA, FASU and ASEAN, the meeting moved on to the first agenda item: the awarding of the most dedicated organisations and persons who made a great contribution to the development of AUSF, i.e.
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Best Involvement Award: the NUSFs of China, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, Mongolia, Thailand and Korea
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Most Dedicated Service Award: CHUNG Tong Gu, Preecha PRAYOONPAT, Kenny CHOW
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Most Contribution Award: CHANG Hosung
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Best Practice Award: the NUSFs of China, Chinese Taipei and Singapore
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Outstanding Leadership Award: ZHANG Xinsheng.
In his report, AUSF President ZHANG Xinsheng thanked FISU for its support, as well as other fellow continental federations for attending the assembly. He also thanked AUSF members for their unfailing commitment and dedication, which was beneficial to the rapid growth of AUSF. He briefly reviewed and analysed the history of AUSF in terms of achievements and set the goal for the next 10 years. In his report, Secretary-General Kenny Chow reviewed the last two year’s achievements and shared the 2013 calendars with the members.
AUSF President Zhang recieves a FISU gift from FISU 1st Vice-President Matytsin
The highlight of the meeting was the Asia University Youth Festival (AUYF), a comprehensive event for Asian students, which combines sports activities, cultural performances and a forum. For a long time, AUSF members had discussed whether Asia should have its own University Games. After a long time of reflection and consideration, the EC proposed to have a festival rather than multi-sport games, given that the Universiade already takes place in the odd-numbered years and some Asian sub-regions host sub-regional games in the even-numbered years, e.g. the ASEAN University Games. In order not to overburden student athletes and provide them with a more diversified event, the EC submitted the proposal of holding the AUYF, which was approved by the General Assembly. It was considered to organise the 1st AUYF alongside the next General Assembly.
With the goal of reaching those unreached, the 35 AUSF members had been divided into 5 sub-regions according to the continent’s geography and culture. Sub-regional chairs had been nominated during the Kazakhstan EC meeting in 2011. During this year’s GA, the sub-regional chairs were introduced to the members, which will facilitate and improve the communication between the Secretariat and the members. After the meeting, the 1st internal South Asian meeting was held.
Thanks to the contribution of AUSF Vice-President Chang Hosung, AUSF has a new logo approved by the members.
After the meeting, the Organising Committee hosted a farewell dinner for all the meeting delegates.
(Source: Laura Yan, AUSF General Coordinator)