The IWGA Annual General Meeting was held today in conjunction with the SportAccord Convention. The main focus was on the upcoming Games, and naturally also on the 7 membership applications that had been received and were up for voting.
No new IWGA members
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The General Meeting voted on the following membership applications: International Basketball Federation, International Triathlon Union, International Wushu Federation, Union Cycliste Internationale, Union Internationale Motonautique (International Powerboating Federation), Union Internationale de Pentathlon Moderne, and United World Wrestling.
This time, none of the seven applicants got the required 2/3 of the votes. The number of IWGA member federations remains 37 for now.
Much interest in The World Games 2017
Representatives of the Wroclaw Organising Committee reported on the progress of the preparations. Several competition venues were presented as well as accommodation and travel plans for the participants and media. The Organising Committee has organised more than 100 promotional events for The World Games, starting from local school events where children can try The World Games sports.
Ticket sales have started, and already over 20,000 tickets have been sold. There is also a lot of media and TV interest in the Games, as IWGA New Media Officer Hagen Bossdorf put it in his presentation: globally these will be the best covered World Games ever!
There is confirmed TV coverage in countries such as China, Germany and France, and several negotiations are going on at the moment.
Cooperation with the IOC
General Manager of the Olympic Channel Services, Mark Parkham spoke about the cooperation between the IWGA and the IOC in terms of broadcasting The World Games on the Olympic Channel.
IOC Sports Director Kit McConnell stressed the good cooperation there has been so far between the IOC and the IWGA, and which is now even stronger, and mentioned that there is now more flexibility around the programme of the Olympic and Youth Olympic Games.
The World Games 2021
The newly appointed CEO for the TWG2021, DJ Mackovets, presented the progress of planning for The World Games 2021 in Birmingham, Alabama, USA.
Mackovet has had a leadership role in some of the most popular and demanding international and national sporting events. They include the 1996 Olympic Games, the 1994 U.S. Olympic Festival, the Goodwill Games, World Football Challenge and the World Police and Fire Games. He has also been involved in events connected to the Super Bowl, Major League Baseball All-Star Week, and the U.S. Figure Skating Championships.
“We are aware of the requirements of The World Games and we aim to send our Sports Director Steven Mistrot to The World Games 2017 in Wroclaw, Poland this summer for several weeks before the Games to follow the organisation of the event,” Mackovets said. There will be a big team of organisers from Birmingham closely following the Games this summer.
