The Egyptian Sports and Culture Association (ESCA) on Saturday gained recognition of the International Sports and Culture Association (ISCA) which now has 166 members who represent 91 countries from five continents. During the annual ISCA general assembly meeting in Rome, members voted for the organisations which had already gone through the examination process by the executive board in June. The new applicants therefore became active members and accordingly gained the right to vote on items on the General Assembly agenda. They were given red and green cards to cast their vote; red for No and green for Yes. The General Assembly agenda items on which members voted included the president's report, committee and network reports, the secretary-general's report and new proposals. During this one-day event, participants listened to two topics -- good governance in grassroots sport and the European platform experience for active ageing in sport. Egypt was represented by ESCA president Ashraf Mahmoud who told Al-Ahram Weekly that he was glad Egypt had claimed the international body's membership. “Now, we can move on with our activities globally. We received a letter in June from the executive board informing us that our application had been examined and meets the criteria, activities and statutes of ISCA and that we only needed to wait for a formal approval from the general assembly to become active members. We came here and won the majority of votes because of the executive board's positive recommendations.” “ESCA board members thank Egyptian Minister of Youth and Sports Khaled Abdel-Aziz and his assistants for supporting ESCA's application,” Mahmoud said. Before the general assembly meetings, a three-day MOVE Congress event was held under the theme ‘Open city - Active city'. The Egyptian delegates participated in all sessions and workshops which always began with singing and dancing ‘Now we MOVE'. Sessions included urban planning, cities without barriers, healthy lifestyles, active cities and schools, partnership and cross-sector cooperation. Several activities were held during these sessions including chess, backgammon and the newly created tchoukball. The Egyptian delegates and other participants joined the ISCA and Italian Association presidents in a special one kilometre ‘walk and talk' during which they discussed grassroots sports. The Congress delegates also enjoyed an urban excursion in the city of Rome, a three-hour walk as part of a guided tour along the river from the congress venue to Rome's City Wall, visiting historical sites and interactive ‘physical activity stations' along the way.
