Recently a meeting of the Managing Board of the International Charity Fund "For the Future of Fencing", founded by Alisher Usmanov, President of the Fencing Federation of Russia (FFR) and the European Confederation of Fencing (EKF), was held in Moscow.

The meeting was attended by Alexander Mikhailov, President of the Fund, David Tyshler, Chairman of the Fund Guardianship Board, the members of the Fund Yuri Bychkov, Gennady Kiryanov (all-Russia), Begench Durdyev (Turkmenistan), Vitaly Logvin (Mexico), Maxim Paramonov (Ukraine), Oleg Peskov ( Kazakhstan), Gennady Tyshler (RSA), Boris Fomenko (Denmark) and Frantisek Janda (Czech Republic). The agenda of the meeting included the report on the International Charity Fund "For the Future of Fencing" performance in 2007, reports of the members of the Managing Board of the Fund on their activities, and approvals of applications for charity assistance.

The first report on the Fund performance in 2007 was made by Gennady Kiryanov, Managing Officer of the Fund. He informed the audience that the Fund was operating in compliance with the plan and budget, approved by the Board and the Fund President. According to the plan, the Fund assets were addressed to the development of fencing in the countries of America, Asia, Africa and Europe and the Russian Federation, support to paralympic fencing, R&D improvements, fencing sport and the Fund activities promotion, its administrative and management functions, labor compensations and miscellaneous expenses. Gennady Kiryanov has reported on the Fund expenditures structure within the current year and compared it with the structure of expenses of the past year (see table).

International Charity Fund "For the Future of Fencing", Expenses in 2007

Total expenditures of the Fund in 2007 amounted to RUR 27 098 701, or USD 1 062 694, the balance is RUR 454 335, or USD 17 817.

Then Gennady Kiryanov gave details on charity programs, sponsored by the Fund, which inspired an expressed international appraisal:

1) Fencing equipment procurement to 31 national fencing federations (24 % of the total number of federations)

The amount of USD 143 357 was addressed to this purpose, or 15 % of the annual budget of the Fund (against 11 % in the passed year).

2) Support to the athletes and presidents of 45 low-budget national fencing federations (36 % of the total number of federations) for their participation In international tournaments and FIE congress.

The amount of USD 93 934 was addressed to this purpose, or 10 % of the annual budget of the Fund (against 4.7 % in the passed year).

3) Arrangement of training sessions in the international fencing academies, established with the assistance of the Fund assets.

The amount of USD 97 000 was addressed to this purpose, or 10 % of the annual budget of the Fund (against 4 % in the passed year).

4) Training sessions for the coaches from 45 national fencing federations (36 % of the total number of federations).

The amount of USD 96 000 was addressed to this purpose, or 10 % of the annual budget of the Fund (against 14 % in the passed year).

5) Arrangement of training sessions in "Prague-Letnyany" fencing center.

Two training sessions were arranged for the representatives of 11 European fencing federations.

The amount of USD 41 330 was addressed to this purpose.

6) Support to the two programs on fencing development in European countries.

“Fencing Attack” International Academy in Leipzig (Germany) and a training session for 30 fencers from eight European countries were supplied with necessary equipment and appliances in the framework of those programs.

The amount of USD 49 821 was addressed to this purpose.

7) Support to the three programs on fencing development in the countries of Latin America.

Three training sessions were arranged in the framework of those programs for coaches from twenty countries of Latin America in all types of weapons. Moreover, the majority of national fencing federations of that region were provided with free equipment and fencing gear.

The amount of USD 139 553 was addressed to this purpose.

8) Program on fencing development in the countries of Asia and Australasia.

In the framework of that program, the first training session was arranged for forty seven coaches from fifteen Asian countries and funds were provided for the of Fencing Academy infrastructure in Alma-Ata.

The amount of USD 95 000 was addressed to this purpose.

9) Program for paralympic fencing development In Russia.

In the framework of this program, equipment and appliances were purchased for participants of paralympic sport, funds were allocated for treatment and insurance of disabled athletes, as well as their participation in the World Cup tournaments, the 2007 European Championship in Warsaw, the Open Cup of Ukraine, training sessions. There were arranged the Paralympic Fencing Championship in Russia, International Open Moscow Championship, the New Year Open tournament for the prizes of the Charity Fund “For the Future of Fencing” and international master classes for prominent paralympic fencers.

The amount of USD 102 874 was addressed to this purpose.

10) Program for wireless fencing development

In the framework of this program, pre-production specimens of mobile wireless hit detectors were developed.

The amount of USD 54 784 was addressed to this purpose.

 11) Support program to Stanislav Pozdnyakov Fencing Center In Siberia

The amount of USD 85 729 was addressed to this purpose.

12) Program for fencing development in military schools of the Russian Federation

In the framework of this program, students of military schools and cadets were involved in fencing.

The amount of USD 24 791 was addressed to this purpose.

In addition to the above large-scale projects, the Fund provided targeted assistance to the national fencing federations of all continents.

And finally, to promote fencing and inform on charity activities of the Fund and its founders the web site was created and is available at: http://www.fencingfuture.org/. The total cost of its support in 2007 accounts to USD 36 441.

As of the date of the report development, the balance of USD 17 817 was available in the accounts of the Fund, which will be allocated for business trips of the members of the Board of the Fund and account services.

Upon a brief discussion, of the report, made by Gennady Kiryanov, a proposal was made to give positive assessment to the Fund performance and advise the President of the Fund to approve the report for the year of 2007. The participants have unanimously voted for the proposal.

Then, members of the Fund Board have made reports on their activities.

Vitaly Logvin, the Fist Vice President of the Fund and its representative in the countries of America has informed that in 2007, Pan American department of the Fund has provided assistance to the national fencing federations of Guatemala, Honduras, the Dominican Republic, Colombia, Costa Rica, Mexico, Puerto Rico and El Salvador. Assistance was targeted: it was addressed to enable the representatives of these countries to participate in the Championship of Central America and the Caribbean, held in Mexico.

In the Dominican Republic, a special ceremony was arranged on the occasion of the transfer of fencing equipment and appliances to the ten national federations of Latin America. The event was attended by Felipe Payana, the Minister of Sports of Dominican Republic, who said many kind words about the Fund and expressed his personal gratitude to Alisher Usmanov, the founder of the Fund, for the assistance to fencing development in Latin America.

In addition, the fencing federations of Nicaragua, Honduras and the Dominican Republic have been assisted in the liquidation of membership fees arrears to the International Fencing Federation (FIE) for five years, three years and one year, respectively.

- At various events, arranged during the year, I met with virtually all the Presidents of national fencing federations of my region. All of them are unanimous in the assessment of the Fund performance: it really helps to develop fencing in Latin America, concluded his presentation Vitaly Logvin.

- Oleg Peskov, the Fund representative in Asia and Oceania, said, that in the reporting period considerable assistance was provided to the national federations of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

- The major event of the year for Africa, said Gennady Tyshler, the Fund representative in the continent, was the inclusion of fencing in the program African Games. Furthermore, the Presidents of African federations were invited to Johannesburg (Republic of South Africa) to get familiarized with the work of a training center, equipped with the help of the Fund.

Maxim Paramonov, the member of the Fund, has informed, that within the year, with the support of Valerie Dikevich, RFF Vice President for Public Relations, he has developed a number of proposals on optimization of the Fund activities, and extensive work has been done for promotion of the Fund and improvement of its efficiency.

Frantisek Janda, Member of the Fund Board, has informed those present about the use of “Prague-Letnyany” Fencing Center for international training tournaments, aimed at support of small and medium-scale European Fencing Federations.

- In the second half of this year two international training sessions were arranged in epee for men and women in Prague, which were attended by representatives from more than ten European countries. Both training sessions were extremely popular at the international level, and now we have received over twenty applications from candidates, who would like to participate in such events, Mr. Janda said. Positive assessment was also given our approach to the event, i.e., invitation of the one of the world strongest fencing teams (this year we have invited the teams of Germany and Sweden), as well as some of the weaker ones, so that they could learn from the leaders.

Then the voting was held, during which the work of the regional offices of the Fund and their management were approved.

In conclusion, those participants of the meeting reviewed the applications for assistance received by the Fund and decided to endorse charity support to the national fencing federations of a number of countries in the form of free funding, fencing equipment and gear procurement , as well as invitation of their representatives to the educational and training sessions. These are the following countries:

1) The Americas

Aruba, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, El Salvador, Uruguay, Venezuela.

2) Asia

Bangladesh, Brunei, India, Jordan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Palestine, Singapore, Thailand, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, the Philippines.

3) Africa

Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa.

4) Europe

Austria, Azerbaijan, France, Germany, Israel, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Moldova, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Serbia, Ukraine, Montenegro, the Czech Republic, Estonia.