It has been exactly 10 years since the IFMA world board decided to apply for membership of GAISF.

As with most organised sports, membership of GAISF was of the highest priority in order for IFMA to gain international recognition as a global sport. There were stringent entrance criteria which had to be met.

The IFMA executive board worked very hard on this push - the first sign of progress was when Amateur Muaythai was included as a demonstration sport in the Asian games in 1998.

       

In 2002, GAISF invited IFMA to an Ad-Hoc Committee Meeting to Lausanne in which the criteria for membership were clearly outlined.

In 2004, the GAISF Executive Council decided in a meeting in Monaco that IFMA fulfilled all criteria - meaning it is a truly international organization. This resulted in Muaythai being forwarded to the General Assembly in Berlin . Unfortunately, we did not succeed at this time. This was disappointing but as we all know, a fight is seldom decided in the first round.

Following this set-back, an IFMA executive meeting was called where a year-long strategy was planed to get the approval and votes from the world sport community for membership.

A vital aspect of this was the promotion of Muaythai to all the other sports in the world. The national federations were asked to contact GAISF-affiliated sports in their countries to introduce Muaythai to them.

A stream of letters followed letters from the IFMA board to continue the promotion of Muaythai. The President and the General Secretary of GAISF were invited to Thailand to be part of the Muaythai Cultural Festival to let them see the beauty and traditions of our sport.

     

The Sport Accord/GAISF General Assembly date was set for the 7th of April in Korea and again the GAISF executive board invited IFMA to present the sport of Muaythai.

IFMA were determined to succeed in their attempts this time. Korea has a strong Muaythai organization with the President being a man with strong sporting associations – all of this was certainly helpful.

No expense was spared–including a commemorative DVD which played for all 4 days on big screens in the exhibition hall. The IFMA booth at the expo was filled with 3,000 magazines and 6,000 brochures. IFMA delegates from Thailand , Australia , Holland , Hong Kong and Korea went to the meeting in good spirits (15 people in total). Over the 4 days, they had the chance to introduce themselves to all sports - the IFMA booth became a popular spot at the expo.

The focus of all their energies was the 7th of April when they made a presentation to the GAISF General Assembly. The President, Dr. Sakchye Tapsuwan introduced the bid with Miss Yun Yong Choi (a former runner-up Miss World and famous movie star also a member of the IFMA Female board) concluding the presentation. The IFMA delegates then filed out to a wait the voting.

     

And finally success as IFMA and Amateur Muaythai were voted in by an overwhelming majority vote of all International Sports Federations.

Amidst great applause from all the GAISF members, the IFMA delegates immediately began calling to inform all waiting IFMA members - the exciting news travelled round the world in a matter of minutes.

There are many people who deserve special mention for this achievement. First of all the hard-working IFMA members, Dr. Sakchye Tapsuwan, IFMA President; Stephan Fox, General Secretary; Mr Kyue Tae Yeo, President Korean Association (who despite his age never flagged during the week); John Cockburn, Gilbert Cleveringa; Tim Lee, Gennady Trukhanov, Jacques Mairesse - all of whom worked hard in Korea and Berlin, and the office staff in Bangkok.

Also the IFMA members around the world – the Sweden , the Germans and other associations all gave their full support.

A special thank must go the Thailand IOC member, Dr. Nat Indrapana, and to Dr. Santiparp Tejavanija for working so hard for the development of Muaythai.

     

We also especially must thank H.E. General Pichitr Kullavanijaya, Privy Councillor to His Majesty the King of Thailand – who was overjoyed at this success. Straight after the vote, he accompanied the President of GAISF, the IOC in Thailand , President and General Secretary of IFMA and General Chetta, the WMC President, a private audience with His Royal Highness the Crown Prince of Thailand to present this wonderful news. Just as importantly, let's not forget those who first set out on this path with us; our former and sadly missed President, Mr. Bunyuan and General Vorayudh Mesommonta. This success belongs to all of us.

Now that the initial excitement is over, we must realise that inclusion in GAISF is just the beginning of the hard work. The next steps taken by IFMA will have to show that we are a worthy member of this great sporting group. We will take the sporting traditions which we know and love and display them for all to see and admire.

GAISF is just the beginning - we have a vision and our vision is towards the Olympics. This is a great dream to have but you can not build castles in the air so now with the inclusion into GAISF we have a solid foundation to build on.

The Asian Games, the Universidad Games and the Commonwealth games have come much closer to us - soon the thrilling sound of Muaythai music will be heard at many international games.

Thank you GAISF and we promise you that with Muaythai you have a valuable new member!