Day two – Tuesday.
On the second day - Tuesday, the weigh-in ceremony took place. From what I’ve noticed it seems that a lot of athletes did not manage to fit into their weight categories. About 60 people had to run around the beautiful park to lose unwanted pounds. The only consolation for them could be the surrounding landscape.
Tuesday was also the day when referees underwent training and were examined.
Each and every referee of our federation would take part in a seminar, lecture, practical demonstrations, and would take some written tests, and tests at the table on that day.
Now, back to the EAF Congress.
First, let’s concentrate on key issues, according to Igor Mazurenko. First of all, the EAF Congress expressed great satisfaction with Hadjitodorov Assen - our “Boss” being now in charge of the World Armwrestling Federation.
As we wrote immediately after his appointment – we’ve known Assen for many years and we know how professionally he will manage our federation. Assen guarantees that the world will comply with our European standards in terms of the level of organization and all the other issues.
Another issue which was discussed during the congress concerned the matter of finances of the former WAF. Since 2007, the WAF Congresses stopped voting on the budget and financial reports. There have been observed major irregularities in this respect. First of all, too big, unwarranted and undocumented expenses have been noticed. EAF decided to appoint a committee to examine the financial decisions taken by the former WAF executives. Let’s hope that everything will be clarified.
The congress also decided to change the statute so as to prevent a situation in which a person punished by the EAF in 2007 for offenses and serious scandals runs for a position in the WAF (for example, the Secretary-General) on the recommendation of another country, or another continent (as it has already been the case), or on the recommendation of the Federation of North America.
The issue of the WAF website, which was to be sold to WAF for $ 50,000 by a person associated with the previous WAF management, was also settled. EAF recommended to create a completely new website for WAF.
The www.worldarmwrestlingfederation.com website is no longer the official website of the WAF.
The current address of the official WAF website is:
www.waf-armwrestling.com
Another important change is connected with the number of doping tests. Instead o 20, there will be 40 doping tests carried out at European and World Championships. This number (40) of doping tests will also apply to disabled athletes.
Next issue raised during the Congress was the aspiration and accreditation of our sport in SPORTACCORD and formal issues related to that. Not all national federations have provided the necessary documentation to the EAF. So it was decided that if the national federation fails to submit the required documents by June 15, it will be obliged to pay a penalty of 2000 euros and will be deprived of the right to vote at the next congress.
The issue of new elbow pads will be discussed at the September Congress of the WAF.
Yesterday’s Congress was of course videotaped and we will soon present its course point by point.
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