With the new wave of COVID-19 cases raging in many parts of the world, on May 19, AUSF Executive Committee members met online via Zoom to assess the pandemic situation and review progress reports of all organizing committees of 2021 AUSF events, in order to come up with urgent responsive plans regarding the delivery of the upcoming events. Leonz EDER, FISU Acting President, joined the meeting to extend his warmest regards to the meeting and all the EC members.         

                                                             Leonz EDER, FISU Acting President

Mr. Kenny CHOW, in his Secretary General report, underlined that the feedbacks of the survey conducted by the Secretariat earlier among all the member federations, with the intention to know the current operation situation of the member federations as well as the border control policy in their respective countries or regions, suggest that the general pandemic situation in Asia is still very challenging, making it very hard for the organization and participation of Asian university sports championship. He also addressed the meeting about the updates from the FISU Executive Committee meeting just completed 3 days ago, namely, 2022 Jinjiang University World Cup Football was postponed to 2023; FISU University World Cup 3x3 Basketball was postponed to October, 2022; the new dates of Chengdu 2021 World University Games is 26 June to 7 July 2022.

                                                          Kenny CHOW, AUSF Secretary General

After careful evaluation of the presented reports, it was decided that 2021 Asian University Badminton Championship was postponed to 2023; AUSF Football Cup was postponed to October 2022; while, an online 11th AUSF General Assembly will be held in November 2021. Given the two-way interactive event, the feasibility of holding an online Strategic Dialogue will be further evaluated after this session. Looking forward to the rest of year, Asian University Cheerleading Championship, in conjunction with IDUS celebration, will be hosted virtually by Korea University Sports Board, together with Korea Cheerleading Association.

Strategic cooperation with partners like FISU-Oceania, Wushu Federation of Asia, and Asian Chess Federation was approved during the meeting. The MOUs between AUSF and the three partners will be signed later on. Asian University Chess Championship, Asian University Wushu Championship and FISU-NUSF Seminar will be planned and staged in accordance with the agreements.

“We know well that cancellation and postponement of the scheduled events is very tough for not only our executive committee, but also for our organization committees, student athletes, and other stakeholders who have been putting efforts in, however, that is all the best we can do protect all the people involved”, said Sectary General Kenny CHOW. “But moving forward we will further adapt ourselves to host online events instead to sustain our shared endeavor”, added Mr. CHOW.

(Source: AUSF Secretariat)