Aikido Ho Chi Minh City will hold a general conference

The Executive Committee of the Ho Chi Minh City Aikido Federation plans to hold a conference and invite all legally operating clubs to attend, listen to opinions to create consensus.

After 4 years of campaigning and going through 3 generations of leaders of the HCM City sports industry, on December 3, 2017, the HCM City Aikido Federation was officially established. However, there are still many disagreements surrounding the executive committee (EC) of this new federation.

Currently, there are more than 40 Aikido Clubs (Hiep/Hop Khi Dao) in Ho Chi Minh City, with nearly 4,000 students and coaches practicing regularly. Introduced to Vietnam more than 56 years ago, Ho Chi Minh City is considered the most developed place with the Aikido Tenshinkai sect developed by martial artist Dang Thong Phong in 1963 in the South, later with a few other sects such as Aikido Shindokan, Aikido Meidokan... After martial artist Phong left Vietnam in 1985, the Aikido sects began to crack for a number of reasons and could not find a common voice even though in 1989 the Ho Chi Minh City Aikido Association was established and dissolved in 2010 according to the general policy to develop independently into a federation.

It took more than 6 years, including 2 times of establishing the campaign committee, until December 2017, when the Ho Chi Minh City Aikido Federation was officially born with a congress attended by only 12 units and 63 delegates, out of a total of more than 40 licensed units practicing Aikido in the city.

Aikido class in Binh Thanh, one of the units not yet present in the Ho Chi Minh City Aikido Federation

Angry at not being present at the founding congress and believing that there were "group interests" in the Executive Committee, a number of martial artists spoke out against it, culminating in a petition to inspect the establishment of the federation by martial artist Dang Tri Dung (District 9). According to the above martial artists, although they operated legally and were of the same Aikido sect, the organizing committee for the establishment of the federation did not invite them to participate before the founding, but only after "everything was in place". Martial artist Le Hoang Mai (Tan Binh) stated: "I did not receive any letters inviting me to attend the meetings, even though I had previously attended many programs of the association and the organizing committee. When I asked, a representative of the Executive Committee said that I was eliminated due to being absent from the meeting".

After the inspection, in February 2018, the Department of Culture and Sports of Ho Chi Minh City concluded that the establishment of the federation was in accordance with legal procedures and rejected the application of martial artist Tri Dung. However, in the spirit of seeking knowledge and developing the movement, Dr. Nguyen Dang Khanh, Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Sports Training and Competition Center, which was authorized by the Department of Culture and Sports to manage the City Aikido Federation, requested the federation's Executive Committee to be responsible for calling on units that have not yet joined the common activities.

Responding to this issue, martial artist Doan Phu Hiep, Chairman of the City Aikido Federation, acknowledged: "In the past, it was true that there were many disagreements among some martial artists, leading to conflicts in the development of the sect, leading to the fact that when the federation was established, some people were absent while others were absent. Currently, we have developed to 20 units, 3,000 members and are trying to consolidate and rebuild Aikido in Ho Chi Minh City according to the standard curriculum of the Aikido Foundation (Japan), moving towards unifying the belt ranks and training programs."

Regarding the resolution of the above conflicts, martial artist Phu Hiep said: "The Federation's Executive Committee and I understand that it is because of the enthusiasm and desire to contribute to the common movement that the above martial artists are upset. In the near future, with the suggestion of the representative of the City Department of Culture and Sports, the Executive Committee plans to hold a conference and invite all legally operating Aikido clubs, whether or not they belong to the Federation, to attend, listen to everyone's opinions to stand together under the same roof of Aikido Ho Chi Minh City, moving towards the spirit of harmony as the criteria of this peaceful martial art, from there developing better to contribute to society."

Source: https://nld.com.vn/the-thao/aikido-tp-hcm-se-mo-hoi-nghi-toan-the-201808012112584.htm