ISTANBUL – Istanbul (TUR), the candidate city for hosting the Olympic Games in 2020, hosted the XIX European Fair Play Congress and General Assembly from June 5-8, 2013 organised by the European Fair Play Movement (EFPM) in cooperation with Turkish Olympic Committee.
The two days Congress with the topics »The Olympic and the Paralympic Movement: An Alliance for Fair Play« attracted the participation of more than 100 guests from European sports federations, Olympic Committees, European Commission, International and National Fair Play organisations and other. European University Sports Association (EUSA) was also present and represented by Mr Matjaz Pecovnik, EUSA Secretary General.
The congress was opened by Mr Nese Gundogan, Secretary General of the Turkish Olympic Committee and Mr Christian Hinterberger, European Fair Play Movement President who welcomed the participants. The program of the congress offered a number of interesting presentations made by over 20 invited speakers, among them also Ms Renata Kopczyk who is also involved in EUSA Social Responsibility Projects. Ms Kopczyk spoke on Doping and Fair Play.
On the occasion of the conference EUSA Secretary General also met with the President of European Paralympic Committee Mr John Petersson to discuss the possibilities for cooperation between the two organisations. Mr Pecovnik presented the EPC President the proposal of the European Universities Games 2016 organisers to include the sports for students with disabilities on the EUG program.
EUSA SG Matjaz Pecovnik
Together with the Fair Play Congress, the European Fair Play Movement (EFPM) General Assembly was also organised in Istanbul on June 8, 2013 and gathered the delegates from member federations as well as many international guests, among them also the representative of EUSA, Mr Matjaz Pecovnik, Secretary General.
The Assembly was opened by Mr Christian Hinterberger, EFPM President who welcomed the delegates and invited guests. Afterwards, the floor was given to the representatives of international and European organisations present on the Assembly. Mr Matjaz Pecovnik, Secretary General addressed the General Assembly and presented to the delegates the structure and activities of EUSA, with a special focus on the field of Fair Play. In this manner, the history of awarding the Enno Harms Fair Play Award and its receivers was presented to the audience together with other activities and initiatives EUSA is doing to promote the Fair Play among students and universities.
At the end of presentation Mr Pecovnik presented EFPM President the EUSA Plaquette, as well as the signed Memorandum of Understanding between EUSA and EFPM. Both organisations declared to join forces in promoting the ethical values of sports in the broadest sense, in sport activities and daily life at European level and agreed to establish and coordinate common activities in matters of Fair Play, tolerance, peace and understanding. The Agreement between EUSA and EFPM was welcomed also by Mr Jeno Kamuti, President of International Committee for Fair Play, who also attended the assembly.
The delegates afterwards continued their work with discussing the other topics on agenda. The next EFPM Congress and Assembly will be held in 2014 in Riga, Latvia.
(Source: EUSA)