CISM President Looks to Future for Military Sport

(ATR) Colonel Hamad Kalkaba Malboum tells Around the Ringshe's thrilled with the outcome of the Annecy 2013 World Winter Games and optimistic about the future for military sport.

"I saw a very committed organizing committee with the support of the national and local government, sponsors and also the military, the armed forces," said the President of the International Military Sports Council.

"Most important is the participation of high-level athletes, some of them Olympic and world champions," he said. "It is very important for us to show the world that we the armed forces can provide Olympic and world champions."

Kalkaba Malboum, who is President of the Cameroon National Olympic Committee, has also served as CISM President since 2010.

"It was my policy that when I was elected in 2010 that we must leave the barracks with our event to be in the community," he said. "This is something we tried to make a reality in Rio de Janeiro during the Summer World Military Games and we advised to do the same here.

"We are happy that our new strategy has really been implemented in the right way and the future will be better than now with the support of all the international sports federations," Kalkaba Malboum told ATR. "Definitely, Annecy put our event on the map of great events in the world of sports."

Kalkaba Malboum, who has been a member of the IOC Sport and Environment Commission since 2009, also spoke about CISM’s relationship with the IOC.

"We have a good relationship for the moment, but I think it needs to be strengthened in the future," he said. "The IOC has recognized CISM as a multi-sport organization. For these Games and previous ones, the IOC has given us some financial support to buy tickets for athletes from poor countries to be with us, and this is a very important solidarity system."

Kalkaba Malboum said that the continued growth of the organization lies with gaining more worldwide media exposure at future international events.

"The future of CISM is based on some major events being covered by international media and with some international partners in terms of sponsorship," he said.

In July, CISM will host the Military World Cup of Football with 16 teams participating in Azerbaijan.

Kalkaba Malboum also revealed to ATRthat Slovenia and Norway are the two leading candidates to have expressed significant interest in hosting the 3rd CISM Winter World Games in 2017.

Written and reported in Annecy by Brian Pinelli

20 Years at #1: Your best source of news about the Olympics is AroundTheRings.com, for subscribers only.