I have invited you here, gentlemen, to share some pleasant news with you.
Let us recall the classic Russian writer Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol:
But the future is unknown, and it stands before man like autumn fog rising from the marshes. Birds fly madly up and down in it, flapping their wings, not recognizing each other, the dove not seeing the hawk, the hawk not seeing the dove, and no one knows how far he is flying from his doom. — “Taras Bulba”
And now, official information from the International Federation website:
The General Assembly in Antalya has chosen Janek Mäggi (Estonia) as the new President of the FMJD.
He received 27 out of 42 votes from eligible federations, supporting his candidacy for the Presidency for the term 2025–2029.
Other positions voted by the General Assembly:
Guo Yujun (China) – Vice President
Jan van Dijk (Netherlands) – General Secretary
Lyublyana Turiy (USA) – Tournament Director
Carlo Bordini (Italy) – International Relations Manager
This is a small but important victory. To be honest, it came as a surprise to us. But now, the first steps taken by the new leadership will be crucial. The list of tasks is enormous, but we would be delighted if:
- The shocking disqualification of many well-known athletes and federations were to be revoked.
- The persecution of children and their segregation on the basis of nationality or other illegal principles is stopped.
- Issues regarding the quality organization of world and European championships are resolved.
- The agreement with the IDF and other draughts organizations is restored…….
- and so on, and so on, and so on….
By the way: One secretary of the proud federation can finally, together with her boss and the former chief secretary of the world, begin developing a new computer program for keeping track of draughts players within the boundaries of her own authority. It was difficult to enter data manually (using the almighty Word), and sometimes it was precisely this lost effort that prevented a decisive victory on the world stage. We promise to give OREO cookies for the development of the program.
The last message was for a specific group of readers.
We congratulate all our readers on a pleasant and warm evening, full of hope for improvements in the world of draughts!