dyton mupawaenda
VETERAN sports administrator, journalist and Zimbabwe Newspapers chairman, Tommy Sithole has been elected to the Global Esports Federation Board as one of the five vice-presidents to Chris Chan on a four-year term.
Sithole will also chair the Governance, Ethics and Membership commission while Ramil Aliyev will be the co-chair on membership.
The new GEF board was constituted on Tuesday and Sithole, who first made it to the GEF leadership in December 2019, is joined by four other vice-presidents, Steven Ma from China, Adrian Lismore from Ireland, Chester King from the UK and Melita N. Moore of the United States.
The 73-year-old Chan of Singapore, who first assumed the role in 2019, was elected unanimously for a second term at the 4th GEF general assembly ahead of the Global Esports Games in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Chan’s board provides supervision and guidance to the strategies of the GEF and its executive leadership team and draws experience from experts and global leaders in the realms of esports, sport, technology, and business. The GEF Board acts as guardians of the GEF values and global ambassadors of the GEF’s vision and mission.
In 2020, Sithole was appointed chairperson of the Global Esports Federation’s Governance and Ethics Commission while fellow Zimbabwean Tyrone Seward came in as the vice-chairperson in the Education, Culture and Wellness Commission.
The GEF has established expert Commissions and Councils as key components of its governance structure with the overarching ambition to inform, guide, drive, and support the development of tangible initiatives and programs that serve the world’s esports community.
Reporting to the GEF Board, the GEF Commissions and Councils are led by the GEF Board Members and relevant industry leaders supporting the GEF Executive in shaping the strategy for the organization.
With over 160 global leaders and renowned experts from the realms of esports, sport, academia, healthcare, technology, safeguarding, governance, administration, strategy, and business, the Commission and Council members act as the guardians of the GEF values and ambassadors of the GEF’s vision and mission.
The board members include Ramil Aliyev (Azerbaijan), Stefy Bau (Italy), Samy Bessi (Belgium), Hala Ghandour (Lebanon), Lorenzo Giorgetti (Italy), Hideki Hayakawa (Japan), Jerry Ling (Singapore), Chong Geng Ng (Singapore), Yaqui Núñez del Risco Mejía (Dominican Republic), Chris Overholt (Canada), Alper Afsin Özdemir (Turkiye), Dana Reizniece-Ozola (Latvia), Aurelia Ruetsch (France), Koen Schobbers (Netherlands) and Peter Zeytoonjian (United States).
Australian Paul Foster is the chief executive officer while Prince Faisal bin Bandar bin Sultan Al Saud of Saudi Arabia is an honorary board member.
To complete the leadership are senior advisors, who include Poland’s Andrzej Krasnicki, Japanese Hideki Okamura, New Zealand’s Rebecca (Bex) Smith and Chinese Luzeng Song together with advisor Nicholas Aaron Khoo from Singapore.
Meanwhile, speaking after his re-election, Chan said:
“The support and endorsement of our plans and strategies reflect our shared commitment to advancing esports globally . . . In the new term, we aim to focus on innovation across the ecosystem, building sustainable projects, led by our chief executive and his team.”
During his first term, over 100 athletes competed across 10 virtual sports – including sailing, baseball and tennis — at the Suntec Singapore Convention and Exhibition Centre in the inaugural Olympic Esports Week, which attracted 20,000 attendees over four days in the Republic.
GEF is not the only international e-sports body and has co-existed with the likes of the International E-sports Federation, which started in 2008 and is based in South Korea. Both are working towards having electronic sports recognised as a legitimate sport and admitted into the Olympics programme.
Chan added:
“While the journey to Olympic affiliation is a decision for the International Olympic Committee, our partnerships, including with United Nations partners such as Unesco, demonstrate shared visions and values toward inspiring youth engagement and global development opportunities for all.”
The third edition of the Global Esports Games kicked off on Tuesday at the SEF Arena and runs until tomorrow.
The GEF flagship esports event, hosted by the Saudi Esports Federation, features over 950 athletes from over 100 nations and territories for the qualifiers, and 240 athletes from 56 nations and territories for the World Finals this week.
They will compete in Dota 2, eFootball 2024, Pubg Mobile and Street Fighter 6 —Sports Reporter/TheStraitsTimes.
Online Reporter