FIQ CONGRESS Thursday, August 30,  2007 This Congress, due to start at 10:30 this morning, is delayed due to the meeting room being unavailable on time. It looks as though the event will be running around 45 minutes late. The meeting opened at 11:00 with FIQ President Steve Hontiveros (pictured) welcoming the delegates and introducing the dignitaries. The first business was to verify the proxies. The assembly break until 11:30 for this process. Meeting resumed at 11:45 with distribution of voting cards. There are 89 delegates present, carrying 76 proxies, giving a voting strength of 165. Five new members were admitted: Albania, Moldova, Serbia (ninepin only), Montenegro (ninepin only) and Catalunya. Two countries were expelled for non-payment of dues: Nicaragua and Namibia (ninepin only). As Catalunya is the only new nation to have officials present, the voting strength is increased to 167. Additional proxies brought the total to 170. 86 is the new majority, 114 for two-thirds. Minutes of the 2005 meeting were approved. Steve Hontiveros discussed points from his published President's report and thanked his board members for their hard work. FIQ Membership has increased to 134 nations. It was an achievement to get tenpin bowling into the Asian Games and it has been confirmed that bowling will be included in the Asian Games in China in 2010. Negotiations are proceeding in India to attempt to get bowling back into the Commonwealth Games but to date there is no written confirmation that it is included, but the situation is looking very promising. Ninepin bowling may be included as a demonstration sport in the next World Games in Chinese Taipei. Ongoing meetings with the IOC and other international sports' organizations have meant much hard work over recent years. Dr PS Nathan commented that he believed the door to inclusion in the 2010 Commonwealth Games has been closed, but hoped that is not so. He added that he believed that tenpin bowling has been removed from the list of recognized sports. The WNBA (Ninepin) report was approved. Mrs Vivien Fung of Hong Kong reported that the Olympic Committee is very active and has submitted a report to the IOC. Mrs. Fung is also chairman of the Women in Sport Committee and they are planning to have a Women in Sport Committee in each zone. Kevin Dornberger reported on the Bowling Industry Committee, FIQ's liaison with manufacturers. The industry need cooperation between WTBA and FIQ  but not much progress was made. However, Kevin stated that after several meetings the situation is now more positive. The Presidium had considered the proposal from the ETBF to the Reorganization Committee for the reorganization of the FIQ and it will probably be 2009 before this will be put forward to the delegates. This was also reported by Kevin Dornberger. The meeting breaks for lunch at 13:00, resuming at 14:00. The meeting resumed at 14:15 with another roll call. Two more proxies were received during the break, Bermuda and Brazil ninepin. This brings the total voting to 173. Attention moved to the Financial Report and the auditors certified all accounts correct. All approved. The fees will remain as currently charged. The Presidium were released at 14:30. Future aims for FIQ were stated by Steve Hontiveros. Briefly, they concerned more unity with the WTBA; to foster further interest in bowling; to assist further the member federations; to work with the IOC for inclusion in the Summer Olympic Games in 2016; to give support for World and Zone Championships; to increase the number of member federations; to add Oceania and Africa as FIQ zones; to increase media awareness of the sport through regular website and newsletter information. The Malaysian and French federations put forward a proposal to delete the rule that persons over 70 years of age be barred from the Presidium. Arguments pro and con continued and it was seconded for a vote. A two-thirds majority was required for this rule to be removed and was achieved with 132 in favor. There are four candidates for the office of President: Steve Hontiveros (Philippines); Salman Abdul Ghani (Qatar); Jessie Phua (Singapore); Cho Jong Gook (Korea). Cho Jong Gook withdrew his application in a short presentation. Steve Hontiveros was the first to seek election by stating that he had done the best he could over the past four years. He added that he has started projects and he wants to see them completed. "I am sincere in my love of bowling," he stated. "I hope that you will support me to do my job for another term. Thank you for the support over the past four years." Salman Abdul Ghani, a member of the Qatar Olympic Committee, stated that is time to establish our aims for bowling and start marketing. Without that there will be no future in bowling. FIQ needs to work further with WTBA and WNBA. "I call bowling a sleeping beauty and we need to wake up this beauty," he said. Jessie Phua was the final speaker. She explained that although all candidates come from the same zone, they are all friends. "We are a sport in a desperate need of change," she commented. "We need to be current and progressive. for a sport that boasts of millions of participants, without any discrimination, recognized world-wide, why are we not in the Olympics? We are a house divided, on three corners of a triangle. We talk, but we don't communicate. We do not recognize the jewel in our hand. Let's work for a super world tour. Only when we are united and professionally managed do we truly deserve to be in the running for the Olympics." A proposal for a secret ballot was approved. The result of the first vote is Hontiveros 66, Salman 37, Jessie 68. Salman now drops out for the second vote. The second vote result: Jessie Phua 97 (pictured), Steve Hontiveros 74. The office of 1st Vice-President went to Joan Ricart, Catalunya (pictured, right) 2nd Vice-President Gustavo Lopez, Guatemala. Both elected by acclimation. The auditors were also elected. The next FIQ Congress will be held in 2009 in Melbourne, Australia in conjunction with the 2009  WTBA Women's World Championships. The Congress closed at 16:30. For further information, contact Keith Hale: keithhale679@aol.com

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