LAUSANNE – Two sports have been recognised by FISU and welcomed to the University Sports Movement. For years many international federations have shown interest in joining FISU and now, in line with the newly approved sport structure, FISU has analysed the dossiers of two organisations which are now part of the FISU Family – the World Flying Disc Federation and the World Dance Sport Federation.
Recently, following an internal review and in-depth restructuring of its sports programme, FISU has implemented three major changes – a reduction of the programme size with fewer events, the creation of two sport clusters (combat sports and mind sports) and a new focus on endorsed events, mainly for sports officially recognised by FISU.
The World Flying Disc Federation (WFDF) is the international governing body for Flying Disc sports, with responsibility for sanctioning world championship events, establishing uniform rules, setting of standards for and recording of world records. It has 75 member countries and is recognized by the IOC and IPC, a member of ARISF, GAISF and the IWGA as well as IMGA. Flying Disc is also a signatory of the World Anti-Doping Code.
“WFDF is extremely honoured and pleased to obtain FISU recognition,” stated WFDF President Robert “Nob” Rauch. “We appreciate the advice and encouragement provided by the respective FISU departments and we thank FISU President Oleg Matytsin and Secretary General Eric Saintrond for their tremendous support. With the popularity and growth of Flying Disc sports at the university level around the world, we look forward to being able to formally contribute to the University sports movement.”
The World Dance Sport Federation (WDSF), is the international governing body of DanceSport as recognised by the IOC. Founded in 1957 as the International Council of Amateur Dancers (ICAD), it was renamed in 1990 and again in 2011 to WDSF to emphasise the sporting nature of dance and the global character of the organization. It currently has 92 member associations. WDSF is a signatory of the WADA Code.
WDSF President Lukas Hinder stated “We gladly take on the challenges of working our way up from being a FISU recognised sport to one that will feature in World University Championships and – in due time – in the Universiade. This recognition provides our sport with the momentum needed to strengthen its structures at this specific level, as many of our athletes are university students”.
As recognised sports, FISU will endorse the organisation of university competitions organised by the respective federation or under their auspices. The next steps will be to establish a formal collaboration between FISU and the two organisations, envisioning development opportunities and other associated prospects.