AGM Minutes Kuala Lumpur March 2016 NEW
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INTERNATIONAL TABLE TENNIS FEDERATION ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING Minutes of the Annual General Meeting of The International Table Tennis Federation held on Tuesday, 1 March, 2016 at 09h00 in Dorsett Grand Subang Hotel (Selangor Room 2&3), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. 1. Welcome and Opening Address: the Chair, Mr Adham Sharara, welcomed all delegates to the meeting and thanked the Table Tennis Association of Malaysia for organising the championships in Kuala Lumpur. He explained that agenda items with regard to video presentations will be dealt with in the “open” part of the meeting, after which the official meeting would resume only with the association delegates and AGM accredited attendees. On behalf of the World Championships organisers, Mr Chan Foong Keong - TTAM Honorary Secretary, WTTC Tournament Director – welcomed the delegates and wished them a pleasant stay in Kuala Lumpur. 2. President’s remarks: Mr Thomas Weikert welcomed all to the AGM and to the World Championships as well in a special year, when Olympic Games are held first time ever in South America. He expressed his hope that the ITTF World Championships may be hosted soon in a continent, other than Asia or Europe. 3. Roll call of associations present and verification of proxies: the CEO confirmed that there were 124 associations present, and 18 proxies allocated, for a total 142 votes. 4. Appointment of scrutineers: 1-AGM-03-2016 The AGM appointed the following as scrutineers from the nominations provided by the Continental Federations: Africa: Madina Said Djama and John Gicaci Giturwa Asia: Yelena Druzhkova and Selim Haj Nicolas Europe: Heike Ahlert and Andreas Georgiou Latin America: Jorge Herrera and Henry Reimberg North America: David Jackson and Gordon Kaye Oceania: Phil Males and Peter Marriott 5. Confirmation of the minutes of the AGM held on 28 April 2015 in Suzhou, China: the AGM adopted the minutes of the Annual General Meeting held on 28 April 2015, and the Chair signed the minutes as factual. Annual General Meeting - Minutes 6. Presentations: the AGM acknowledged the contributions made by the following persons and organisations: 6.1 Merit awards: • Khalil Al-Mohannadi (Qatar) • Jean-Françoise Kahn (France) • Koji Kimura (Japan) • Zdenko Kriz (Slovakia) • George Segun (Nigeria) • Tony Yue (Hong Kong) 6.2 Members of the Executive Committee made presentations to: • the Table Tennis Association of Malaysia for hosting the 2016 World Championships. • PERFECT China Company Ltd. as title sponsor of the World Championships. • China Unicom as major sponsor of the World Championships. • TISSOT as major sponsor of the World Championships. • Double Happiness as equipment sponsor of the World Championships. • Butterfly as equipment sponsor of the World Championships. • the German TTA for the best World Tour event (German Open) held in 2015. • the Japan TTA for the best World Cup event (Women’s World Cup) held in 2015. • the Chinese TTA for the best World Junior Circuit event (China Junior and Cadet Open) held in 2015. • the Russian TTF for the best ITTF continental event (ITTF-European Championships) held in 2015. • the French TTF for hosting the 2015 World Junior Championships. • the Egypt TTA for hosting the 2015 World Cadet Challenge. • the Portugal TTF for hosting the 2015 World Tour Grand Finals. • the TTF India for hosting the 2015 World Junior Circuit Finals. 6.3 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games: in the absence of Rio 2016 representatives, the Director of Operations & Olympic Games made the power-point presentation on behalf of Rio2016. 6.4 Update on 2017 World Championships: an update report was provided by the German Table Tennis Association (DTTB) on the World Championships to be held in Düsseldorf, Germany. 6.5 Update on 2018 World Championships: an update report was provided by the Swedish Table Tennis Association and city of Halmstad on the World Championships to be held in Halmstad, Sweden. 6.6 2019 World Championships bid: one application was received from Hungary, with the city of Budapest; the Hungarian Table Tennis Association made the bid presentation. 6.7 ITTF museum in Shanghai: a video presentation was made on the construction plan of the ITTF museum building in Shanghai to be completed in 2017. Following the above award and video presentations, the open session of the AGM concluded. 7. Membership: 7.1 Applications: complete applications were not submitted by the deadline in 2016. Two new potential members (Eritrea and Cape Verde) are expected to apply later. 2 Annual General Meeting - Minutes 7.2 Proposed suspension of Kuwait TTA: the ITTF Executive Committee, following the constitutional procedures, presented the official recommendation to the AGM to suspend the Kuwait Table Tennis Association, after the IOC suspended the Kuwait NOC in October 2015. The KTTA President explained to the delegates the circumstances leading to the proposal to suspend KTTA. In his speech, addressed to the AGM, the Kuwait TTA President questioned the reasons for the suspension, arguing that KTTA has not violated any of the ITTF’s rules and regulations, on the contrary, KTTA is a very active member of the ITTF. He also assured the AGM that there is no interference from the government in the KTTA’s affairs. The Chair asked the delegates if they wish to vote on the suspension, or if they wish to delegate the authority to the Executive Committee to consider further the case and to act on behalf of the AGM alter further consultation with the IOC. 2-AGM-03-2016 The AGM unanimously resolved to give the Executive Committee the right to act on the suspension of the Kuwait Table Tennis Association after further consultations with the IOC; and if implemented, to have the right to lift the suspension in case the situation in Kuwait is regulated and the IOC lifts its own suspension of the Kuwait NOC. 8. Nominations Committee (2016-2018): The AGM was informed on the appointment of the ITTF Nominations Committee members by the Executive Committee for the term of 2016- 2018 (see Annex). 9. Annual reports from the Executive Committee: the AGM adopted the following reports: 9.1 President: Thomas Weikert (document A1) 9.2 Deputy President: Khalil Al-Mohannadi (document A2) 9.3 Executive Vice President (Finance): Petra Sörling (document A3) 9.4 Executive Vice-President: Bruce Burton (document A4) 9.5 Executive Vice-President: Patrick Gillmann (document A5) 9.6 Executive Vice-President: Chérif Hajem (document A6) 9.7 Executive Vice-President: Masahiro Maehara (document A7) 9.8 Executive Vice-President: Melecio Rivera (document A8) 9.9 Executive Vice-President: Shi Zhihao (document A9) The CEO was requested to distribute to the ITTF members and officials the “Sports Governance Observer 2015” study, in line with the President’s report highlighting the importance of “Good Governance” objectives for international sports federations recently. 10. Annual reports from the Continental Federations: the AGM adopted the following reports: 10.1 Africa (document B1) 10.2 Asia (document B2) 10.3 Europe (document B3) 10.4 Latin America (document B4) 10.5 North America (document B5) 10.6 Oceania (document B6) 11. Annual reports from the CEO, Deputy CEO and Directors: the AGM adopted the following reports: 11.1 Chief Executive Officer (document C1) 11.2 Deputy Chief Executive Officer (document C2) 11.3 Competitions Program (document C3) 11.4 Development Program (document C4) 11.5 Education and Training Program (document C5) 11.6 Marketing Program (document C6) 11.7 Operations Program (document C7) 3 Annual General Meeting - Minutes 12. Annual reports from committees and OPC: the AGM adopted the following reports: 12.1 Equipment Committee (document D1) 12.2 Media Committee (document D2) 12.3 Nominations Committee (document D3) 12.4 Para Table Tennis Division (document D4) 12.5 Rules Committee (document D5) 12.6 Sports Science and Medical Committee (document D6) 12.7 Umpires’ and Referees’ Committee (document D7) 12.8 Veterans’ Committee (document D8) 12.9 Olympic and Paralympic Commission (document D9) The URC was requested to distribute to the ITTF members the selection process for referees and umpires for ITTF tournaments. 13. Finance: the AGM received an update report on the finances from the Executive Vice President in charge of Finance and from the CEO: 13.1 Audited Financial Statements (2015 and 2016): • Due to the early date of the AGM, the audited report and financial statements for 2015 will be circulated to all concerned later, and need to be approved together with the one for 2016 at the 2017 AGM. • The ITTF will have a small surplus in 2015, but a shortfall is expected in 2016 because of the loss of the World Tour sponsorship income (GAC). • With cost cutting measures and by allocating more Olympic Funds for 2016, the Executive Committee and the staff will make all efforts to balance the budget and to make sure there is no deficit by the end of 2016. • Expenses were already reduced for the 2016 World Tour in consultation with all partners due to the loss of the Title Sponsor (GAC). 13.2 Quadrennial and yearly Budget adjustments: • According to the 2015 AGM decision, adjustments to the second part of the quadrennial budget for the years of 2015-2016 was not necessary due to the existing surplus. • After the 2015 audit is completed and having the exact figures, the Executive Committee will adjust the 2016 yearly budget. 14. Ratification of the work done by the Board of Directors and Executive Committee: 3-AGM-03-2016 The AGM unanimously ratified the work done by the Board of Directors and Executive Committee since the last AGM. 15. Propositions and resolutions (document E): As the electronic voting machines did not work properly during the tests, the Chair decided according to the Constitution on voting by show of hands with the help of the scrutineers.