ICSD President's Update- April 2014

Hello! Good day to everyone!

I am pleased to announce that the ICSD has been working diligently on all sports in the last few months and these were taken one step at a time.
Most important are the upcoming 18th Winter Deaflympics in Khanty-Mansiysk.

The sign name for this city (as shown) is the correct sign name for Khanty-Mansiysk.
Previously, I had indicated a different sign name and I was mistaken so here’s the correct sign based on what was shared with me by the Deaf people in Khanty-Mansiysk.
So, from this point forward, let’s begin using the correct sign for Khanty-Mansiysk.

The ICSD Executive Committee had its first meeting under my Presidency last December in Moscow. It was a productive 3-day meeting. The primary concern was the Winter Deaflympics, whether it was possible to have one. As President, I have reassured them to have the Winter Deaflympics and we must work hard to make it happen.

After the holidays, I met with Deputy Minister of the Russian Federation, Dmitry Kozak, who is very well respected in the country , to discuss the possibility of having 18th Winter Deaflympics hosted in Khanty-Mansiysk in March, 2015.
In my presentation, I stressed that we must host the 18th Winter Deaflympics for Deaf Athletes and that Russia should be the country to host it.
I also mentioned that when the Winter Deaflympics started many years ago Russia never hosted one.
After the lengthy discussion as well as educating them what Deaflympics is all about.
I am pleased to say that our hard work had paid off, the government has agreed to allow us to host the 18th Winter Deaflympics in Khanty-Mansiysk, and the agreement has been signed.
As President and on behalf of the ICSD, we are ecstatic and relieved that we have achieved one of the most important goals - the organisation of the 18th Winter Deaflympics.

Officials in Khanty-Mansiysk, both Sport and government, never had the opportunity with hosting the Deaflympics and naturally they were quite concerned.
I suggested that we should have the ICSD Executive Committee members meet with them to discuss the Deaflympics.
At our last ICSD Executive Committee meeting, only 4 members came to the meeting and this time we had everyone from the ICSD Executive Committee including Technical Directors at the meeting.
It was a very productive meeting and everyone was very pleased that the Russian Government has officially agreed to host the 18th Winter Deaflympics.
Not only did we have meetings, we also had a chance to inspect the venues such as curling arena, slopes for snowboarding, ice hockey arena, facilities for cross country skiing and alpine skiing.
The ICSD Technical Directors and Executive Committee members were very pleased with the venues and have given it a positive praise.

The Representatives from the ICSD, Deaflympics Organizing Committee (OC) and Russian Committee of Deaf Sports (RDCS), along with the media were present for the official signing of the agreement between the three parties.
This signing event was broadcasted and published in newspapers throughout Russia.
Much to my relief and thrill, we have this taken care of.

Last February, I was invited to attend the Paralympic Games in Sochi.
I had the privileges of presenting medals and flowers to Paralympics’ athletes who have won the medals.
The IPC recognises the hard work that ICSD is doing for its Deaf athletes and I was very pleased to be presented to the crowds.
It is very important for ICSD to be out in the public, raising awareness that there are Deaf athletics competing in variety of sports including the Deaflympics.

While in Sochi, I met with Mr. Thomas Bach, the IOC President and personally invited him to come to Khanty-Mansiysk’s 18th Winter Deaflympics in 2015 as a Guest of Honor.
Mr. Thomas Bach mentioned that the words were getting around, raising the ICSD’s profile and Deaflympics.
I was indeed pleased to hear this. Therefore, we must continue to work hard together in ensuring that the President of the IOC attends the 18th Winter Deaflympics.
It would be an honour for all Deaf athletes to have the President of IOC at the Winter Deaflympics.
Not only that, it will raise the standards of the Deaflympics, to be on equal footing with the Paralympics and Olympics.

After having met with Mr. Thomas Bach, I also met with past IOC President, Mr. Jacques Rogge. He acknowledged that he has heard so much about the work the ICSD is doing.
This pleases me.

I should also mention that I met with the President, Mr. Choue of the World Taekwondo Federation (WTF).
Mr. Choue indicated that WTF could support ICSD’s Taekwondo Championships.
This is great news.
As President, I believe we should open dialogues with other Sport Federation such as karate, football, basketball, table tennis, wrestling, swimming, and some others to see how ICSD can work with them so in order to do that we must attend SportAccord, International Convention, in Turkey.

And finally, I am pleased to announce that ICSD will be partnering with 6th IWG World Conference for Women and Sport, taking place in Helsinki, Finland on June 12th.
It is very important to recognise the work that the organisation is doing for women involved in sports to ensure that they are on equal footing as men in sports.
As a testament of ICSD’s continued commitment to providing inclusive and equal opportunities in every aspect of sport, I am pleased to confirm that ICSD will formally endorse the Brighton Declaration on Women and Sport on 12 June 2014 at the 6th IWG World Conference on Women and Sport in Helsinki.

A great plus, indeed!


15 Apr 2014