Issue between Emirates Bowling Federation and Malaysian Tenpin Bowling Congress still ongoing
03/07/07
Professor Leung Mee-Lee, Hong Kong, Honorary Secretary General of the Asian Bowling Federation, has informed all ABF member federations that the issue between the Emirates Bowling Federation (EBF) and the Malaysian Tenpin Bowling Congress (MTBC) concerning an occurrence during the 2006 Malaysian Open is not resolved yet.
Sayed Ibrahim from the UAE, who rolled the tournament's first 300 game, received a Canon printer instead of the cash award of RM50,000 (approx. US$ 13,500 at that time), which was originally announced for the first perfecto and approved by ABF. (read also: "Asian Bowling Federation suspends all international tournaments in Malaysia").
ABF President Sheikh Talal M. Al Sabah (pictured left), Kuwait, has proposed to establish a panel comprising of three ABF Executive Committee members - one each from the three different ABF Zones - to further review the claims made by EBF and Sayed Ibrahim.
In his reply, which was spread all over the world like a spam mail on March 5th, MTBC President, Ponkuchamy Satkuna Nathan (right), 73, insisted "that we do not accept the Dispute Resolution route that is being under taken as among other reasons we had already appealed to WTBA Presidium under 1.4.8. b) and we have evidence that the matter has already been voted upon."
According to our information the issue was merely discussed among some presidium members but the WTBA Presidium hasn't voted on the issue yet.
However, it is planned that the panel will convene on April 12, 2007 in Kuwait and will present its findings and recommendations at the 14th ABF Executive Committee meeting on April 14, 2007.
In the meantime, Prof Leung Mee-Lee, after going through the minutes of the 19th ABF General Assembly, found out that there was no motion put on the floor during the assembly and therefore no vote taken on the issue.
That means that it was the Executive Committee which had decided that the MTBC must pay the 300 Game Award prize money to Sayed Ibrahim. The assembly simply agreed to the decision made by the committee.
Prof Leung, who had written two letters to MTBC stating it was the General Assembly's "decision", clarified the situation and apologized for this error.
As a consequence, the ABF Executive Committee decided that the suspension of all international tournaments organized or sanctioned by MTBC is temporarily lifted and all Asian Ranking points reinstated.
The MTBC, which had changed the name and the rules of it's upcoming Malaysian International into "Malaysian Invitational" after the ban, immediately renamed the championships back to "30th Malaysian Open" and has amended rules and regulations accordingly.
However, after the ban was lifted the MTBC "forgot" to apply for sanctioning. Before the tournament isn't officially sanctioned by ABF, it is still illegal to participate for Asian players, and before the tournament isn't officially sanctioned by the WTBA, it is still illegal to participate for European and American players, invited or not invited.
Latest News: On Wednesday, March 7th, Christer Jonsson, Secretary General WTBA, has informed the WTBA member federations "that 30th Malaysian International Open Bowling Championship now is WTBA approved".
The history tells us that Sheikh Talal would be well advised to seek legal advice in this issue as this would not be the first time that MTBC President Nathan has sued one of bowling's governing bodies.
In 2004, Nathan has sued the Federation Internationale des Quilleurs (FIQ) at the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) in Lausanne, Switzerland. At that time, Nathan claimed that some irregularities happened during the FIQ/WTBA congresses in Malaysia in 2003 where Nathan withdrew as WTBA President.
Though two of the issue's three claims weren't even handled and CAS did not decide the third claim, Nathan's claim caused enormous costs. CAS decided that FIQ/WTBA and MTBC had to pay their own expenses, which has cost the FIQ approx. 20.000 Euro or US$26,000. The costs for the MTBC were not disclosed (read also: "Court of Arbitration for Sports makes decision on Nathan claim").
If this would happen again, MTBC President Nathan makes the sport of bowling among the International Olympic Committee (IOC) members more popular for court proceedings rather than for the years of efforts to become an Olympic Sport.
To be continued.
Asian News
Will MTBC President Nathan harm bowling's Olympic efforts once again?
Professor Leung Mee-Lee, Hong Kong, Honorary Secretary General of the Asian Bowling Federation, has informed all ABF member federations that the issue between the Emirates Bowling Federation (EBF) and the Malaysian Tenpin Bowling Congress (MTBC) concerning an occurrence during the 2006 Malaysian Open is not resolved yet. Sayed Ibrahim from the UAE, who rolled the tournament's first 300 game, received a Canon printer instead of the cash award of RM50,000 (approx. US$ 13,500 at that time), which was originally announced for the first perfecto and approved by ABF. (read also: "Asian Bowling Federation suspends all international tournaments in Malaysia").
ABF President Sheikh Talal M. Al Sabah (pictured left), Kuwait, has proposed to establish a panel comprising of three ABF Executive Committee members - one each from the three different ABF Zones - to further review the claims made by EBF and Sayed Ibrahim. In his reply, which was spread all over the world like a spam mail on March 5th, MTBC President, Ponkuchamy Satkuna Nathan (right), 73, insisted "that we do not accept the Dispute Resolution route that is being under taken as among other reasons we had already appealed to WTBA Presidium under 1.4.8. b) and we have evidence that the matter has already been voted upon." According to our information the issue was merely discussed among some presidium members but the WTBA Presidium hasn't voted on the issue yet.
However, it is planned that the panel will convene on April 12, 2007 in Kuwait and will present its findings and recommendations at the 14th ABF Executive Committee meeting on April 14, 2007.
In the meantime, Prof Leung Mee-Lee, after going through the minutes of the 19th ABF General Assembly, found out that there was no motion put on the floor during the assembly and therefore no vote taken on the issue.
That means that it was the Executive Committee which had decided that the MTBC must pay the 300 Game Award prize money to Sayed Ibrahim. The assembly simply agreed to the decision made by the committee.
Prof Leung, who had written two letters to MTBC stating it was the General Assembly's "decision", clarified the situation and apologized for this error.
As a consequence, the ABF Executive Committee decided that the suspension of all international tournaments organized or sanctioned by MTBC is temporarily lifted and all Asian Ranking points reinstated.
The MTBC, which had changed the name and the rules of it's upcoming Malaysian International into "Malaysian Invitational" after the ban, immediately renamed the championships back to "30th Malaysian Open" and has amended rules and regulations accordingly.
However, after the ban was lifted the MTBC "forgot" to apply for sanctioning. Before the tournament isn't officially sanctioned by ABF, it is still illegal to participate for Asian players, and before the tournament isn't officially sanctioned by the WTBA, it is still illegal to participate for European and American players, invited or not invited.
Latest News: On Wednesday, March 7th, Christer Jonsson, Secretary General WTBA, has informed the WTBA member federations "that 30th Malaysian International Open Bowling Championship now is WTBA approved".
The history tells us that Sheikh Talal would be well advised to seek legal advice in this issue as this would not be the first time that MTBC President Nathan has sued one of bowling's governing bodies.
In 2004, Nathan has sued the Federation Internationale des Quilleurs (FIQ) at the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) in Lausanne, Switzerland. At that time, Nathan claimed that some irregularities happened during the FIQ/WTBA congresses in Malaysia in 2003 where Nathan withdrew as WTBA President.
Though two of the issue's three claims weren't even handled and CAS did not decide the third claim, Nathan's claim caused enormous costs. CAS decided that FIQ/WTBA and MTBC had to pay their own expenses, which has cost the FIQ approx. 20.000 Euro or US$26,000. The costs for the MTBC were not disclosed (read also: "Court of Arbitration for Sports makes decision on Nathan claim").
If this would happen again, MTBC President Nathan makes the sport of bowling among the International Olympic Committee (IOC) members more popular for court proceedings rather than for the years of efforts to become an Olympic Sport.
To be continued.