ASIA MASTERS ATHLETICS

HANDBOOK

2020 - 2023

 

 

PROMOTING MASTERS ATHLETICS

THROUGHOUT  ASIA

IN CO-OPERATION WITH WMA

 

 

 

“TOWARDS THE WELL BEING OF MASTER ATHLETES”

 

ASIA MASTERS ATHLETICS  (AMA)

CONSTITUTION

 

1. NAME AND STATUS

1.1   The name of the Association shall be “ASIA MASTERS ATHLETICS” (AMA).

1.2   AMA is the Asia Governing body for the sportof masters athletics, and operates in  coordination with World Masters Athletics (WMA).

1.3   AMA is  a non-profitable organization that is neutral regarding politics, religion, ethnicity and gender.

 

2.  PURPOSE

2.1   To organise, regulate and administer athletics for men and women of   not less than thirty five  (35) years of age (hereinafter referred to as masters).

2.2   To sanction Asia Masters Athletics Championships and other  international  masters athletic competitions.

2.3   To ratify and register Asia Masters Athletics Championships five (5) year age group  records and maintain data on other outstanding athletics performances by  Asian master athletes.

2.4   To foster international friendship, understanding and cooperation  through masters athletics.

 

 

3. MEMBERSHIP

3.1   Application

3.1.1   Only one organisation in each country may be a member.

3.1.2   Membership of AMA shall consists of National governing body for masters athletics in any Asian country recognized and affiliated to World Masters Athletics (WMA) as the sole national organisation for masters athletics in  such country.

3.1.3   Application for membership from Asian countries shall be sent to AMA, which will then provide its comments on the application and forward it to the WMA Secretary for a decision by WMA Council.

 3.2   Membership fees

3.2.1   The council shall determine whether there will be any affiliation fee, as applied to Members, the amount and the procedures for payment of fees, if any.

3.3   Reporting to AMA

3.3.1   Each Member shall provide the AMA Secretary with such information regarding the Member and its offices as he may require and shall inform him immediately of any amendments thereto.

3.4  Expulsion

3.4.1   A Member  maybe expelled only by the General Assembly. The council has the right to suspend a Member temporarily with the obligation to account for the question to the next General Assembly where the final decision must be taken. AMA will not accept, or continue to recognise as a Member, any National governing body for masters athletics whose NGB (National Governing Body for Athletics) is suspended by World Athletics (WA).

3.4.2   AMA Members having any complaints, issues and any matters pertaining to the management of association, should write to AMA management for advice and solution.

3.4.3   AMA as the governing body for all Members in Asian Region should settle all complaints, issues and any matters pertaining to the management of the association without the interference from other organisations.

 3.4.4   If AMA management has any reason to believe that conduct of any Members is such as to injure the honour, reputation and welfare of the association, the Member shall have the right to defend in the General Assembly.

3.4.5   The Member aggrieved at the expulsion shall be entitled to appeal to the General Assembly against the decision by way of a simple majority and shall be final and binding on such Member.

 3.5   Eligibility of Delegates

3.5.1   Only masters who are members in good standing of a AMA Member shall be eligible for appointment for membership of the AMA Council or any AMA committee.  

3.5.2    Any office bearer or masters who are in good standing, and are members of a AMA Member shall be eligible for appointment as delegates to the General Assembly. 

3.6  Dissolution

3.6.1    In the event of dissolution of AMA, its assets shall be distributed among the Members in proportion or to another organisation for use in support of masters athletics, all in accordance with the directives of the General Assembly.

4. GENERAL ASSEMBLY

     The General Assembly shall be the highest authority of AMA, comprising of one delegate appointed  by  each AMA Member  and  the AMA Council.

 

4.1  Notification

4.1.1   The AMA Secretary shall notify the Members  the date of  the General Assembly not later than sixty  (60)   days in advance .

4.1.2   An amendment to the Constitution, Bye-Laws or the Rules of Competition may be proposed by a Member or by the council and must be in the hands of the  secretary forty five (45) days before the date of the General Assembly.

4.1.3   The AMA Secretary, not later than thirty (30) days before the date of the General Assembly, shall send to the Members and to the council the agenda of the General Assembly together with the council officer’s reports, any proposed amendments to the Constitution, Bye-Laws and the Rules of Competition and the nomination of the candidates for office.

4.2   Organisation of the Meeting

4.2.1  The General Assembly shall meet in Conjunction with each AMA Championships, once in two (2) years, to decide upon all matters concerning AMA, except the election of office bearers, who will be elected  once in every four (4) years.

4.2.2   At the General Assembly, each Member shall be entitled to one delegate only.

4.2.3   Members of the AMA Council and aforesaid delegates shall have each  only one vote and may not vote on behalf of absentees. The Presiding Officer (PO) shall also have an additional vote to break a tied vote. Voting by  proxy not allowed. 

4.3   Registration

4.3.1   The names of Delegates to the General Assembly shall be given in writing signed by the president or  secretary of the Members,  and send to  the AMA Secretarynot later than thirty (30) days before the date of the General Assembly.

4.3.2   Each master’s delegate representing  a Member shall be a member of   that  Member.Substitutes may be named for any delegate. A substitute may vote in the placeof an absent delegate provided the substitute meets all required qualification of a voting delegate. Substitutes shall be stated by written verification from the president or secretary of the respective Members, submitted to the AMA Secretary at least 24 hours in advance of the date of General Assembly.

4.4  Operation of the Meeting

4.4.1   Decision of the General Assembly shall be taken on the basis of simple   majority vote, except for amendments to the Constitution for which a  2/3 majority shall be required, and shall be valid regardless of the number present.

4.4.2   The General Assembly shall be conducted in accordance with the procedures prescribed in this Constitution.

4.5   Agenda

4.5.1   The General Assembly shall:

4.5.1.1   Receive and, if thought fit, approve secretary’s report and the  treasurer’s report.

4.5.1.2   Elect the officers for the period until the next quadrennial meeting of the General Assembly, election of office bearers who will be  elected once every four (4) years.

4.5.1.2.1   President

4.5.1.2.2   Vice-President General Affairs

4.5.1.2.3   Vice-President Stadia

4.5.1.2.4   Vice-President Non Stadia 

4.5.1.2.5   Secretary

4.5.1.2.6   Treasurer

4.5.1.2.7    Women’s Committee Chairman

4.5.1.2.8    Technical Committee shall be elected by the General Assembly and shall consist of five representatives of five affiliates. The committee shall be charged with observing rules, regulations on all technical matters. A chairman maybe appointed for the technical committee.

4.5.1.3   Two (2) persons who are not members of the Executive Board and Technical Committee, shall be appointed as Internal Auditors at each General Assembly.  They shall be required to audit the AMA Accounts before the General Assembly.

4.5.1.4    Decide on all matters of policy.

4.5.1.5    Decide on all proposed amendments to the Constitution.

 

5.EXECUTIVE BOARD

5.1   AMA shall be administered by an Executive Board comprising of President, three Vice-Presidents namely General Affairs, Stadia, Non-Stadia, Secretary, Treasurer and Women’s Committee Chairman.

 

5.2   The Executive Board may on its own initiative propose names to the General Assembly for approval to be appointed as Patron, Honorary President and three Honorary Vice-Presidents.

5.3    Not more than two members of the executive board may come from the same Member.

5.4    AMA Council consist of Executive Board, five Technical Committee Members and two co-opted members (approved by the Council).

5.5    No officer shall hold more than one office at one time.

5.6    The address of the secretary shall be the registered address of AMA.

  

6.ELECTION OF OFFICERS

6.1 Nomination

6.1.1    Nomination of candidates for office may only be made by any Member, endorsed in writing, and must be in the hands of the AMA Secretary forty five (45) days before the  date of the General Assembly. The secretary shall inform all Members no later than sixty (60) days before the date of the General Assembly, of the council members willing to stand as candidates for another term.

6.1.2    The nomination may be accepted from the floor at the meeting of the General Assembly only if the Presiding Officer (PO) is satisfied that there is sufficient reason why the nomination was not made in the proper manner.

6.2 Election

6.2.1 The President, Vice-President General Affairs, Vice-President Stadia, Vice-President Non-Stadia, Secretary, Treasurer, Women’s Committee Chairman and five Technical Committee Members shall be elected at each quadrennial meeting of the General Assembly in a secret ballot.

6.2.2 The candidate who receives the highest votes shall be announced as the winners.

6.2.3  Term of Office

6.2.3.1 In the event of an officer failing to complete his term of office, the remaining council  members shall, as soon as possible thereafter, and without waiting for the next formal council meeting cast votes and based on a simple majority of a quorum of the council, appoint a temporary replacement to fill the vacancy created.

6.2.3.2 The term of office of the appointed replacement shall expire upon the closure of the next quadrennial election General Assembly.

6.2.3.3 The casting of votes shall take place within seven (7)  days of council members  being informed by the secretary of the nominations received by him for the vacant office within a maximum of fourteen (14) days after the vacancy occurring.

 

 

7.OFFICERS

7.1 President

7.1.1   The President shall be the principle Executive Officer of AMA and shall be the Chairman at all meetings of the General Assembly and at all meetings of the council.

7.1.2   The President, with the approval of the council shall appoint two co-opted members

7.1.3   The President shall have the right to sit on any AMA Sub Committees.

7.2 Vice-President (General Affairs)

7.2.1   The Vice-President of General Affairs

shall assist the President and, when necessary deputise for him.

7.3  Vice-President (Stadia)

7.3.1   The Vice-President Stadia shall be responsible for all track and field matters and subject to instruction from the council, shall cooperate as necessary with organising committees of all AMA Championships Stadia, to ensure the proper organisation and conduct of all events within his area of responsibility.

7.4  Vice-President (Non-Stadia)

7.4.1   The Vice-President Non-Stadia shall be responsible for all road running, road walking and cross-country matters and, subject to instruction from the council, shall cooperate as necessary with organising committees of AMA Championships to ensure the proper organisation and conduct of all events within his area of responsibilities.

7.5  Secretary

7.5.1   The secretary shall take minutes of all meetings of the General Assembly and of all meetings of the council.

7.5.2   The secretary shall effect each amendments to the constitution as approved by the General Assembly and each amendment to the Bye-Laws or the Rules of Competition as approved by the General Assembly or by the council. 

7.5.3   The secretary, not later than ninety (90) days after the closing of each meeting of the General Assembly shall send the revised Constitution, Bye-Laws and the Rules of Competition to all Members and members of the council.

7.5.4   The secretary shall maintain a register of Members.

7.5.5    The secretary shall keep all Members informed of AMA business.

7.5.6    The secretary have the right to sit in all AMA Sub Committees

7.6 Treasurer

7.6.1   The treasurer, shall submit a proposed budget to the council and to the Members for the next accounting period. Prior to the General Assembly the council shall review and approve the budget and notify the General Assembly.

7.6.2   The treasurer shall operate a bank account in the name of AMA.

7.6.3   The treasurer shall collect funds due to AMA and shall make payments in accordance with the budget approved by the council.

7.6.4  The treasurer shall maintain all financial records.

7.7 Women’s Committee Chairman

7.7.1   The women’s committee chairman shall be the Chairman of the Women’s Committee.

7.7.2   The women’s committee chairman shall ensure that due consideration is given at all times to the particular interest of female master athletes.

7.7.3   The women’s committee chairman, subject to the instruction from the council, shall cooperate as necessary with organising committees of AMA Championships to ensure that due consideration is given to the particular interest of female competitors.

7.8 Technical Members

7.8.1   The technical committee shall be charged with observing rules, regulations and all technical matters.

7.8.2   The technical committee shall submit their recommendations to AMA Executive Board for approval or rejection of any proposed Rules of Competition.

7.9   Ex-officio

7.9.1  The AMA President and the AMA Secretary shall be an ex-officio of all sub- committees.

8.APPOINTMENT TO THE WMA SUB-COMMITTEES

8.1 The president shall propose names for the following sub-committees to be considered to sit in the WMA  sub-committees. 

     a. WMA Stadia Committee

   b. WMA Non-Stadia Committee

   c. WMA Anti-Doping and Medical Committee

   d. WMA Law and Legislation Committee

   e. WMA Records Committee

   f. WMA Women’s Committee

   g. WMA Organisational Advisory Committee

   h. WMA Race Walk Panel

9.REGIONAL DELEGATES TO WMA COUNCIL

9.1  The AMA Council shall appoint one Regional Delegate to the WMA Council to represent Asia Region. 

 

 

10. IMPEACHMENT

10.1  A member of the council may be impeached on the ground that he  has exercised his power improperly or that he has failed to carry out his duty satisfactorily.

11. ELIGIBILITY OF ATHLETES FOR COMPETITIONS

11.1 All master athletes   shall be eligible to compete in any master’s athletics competition. No master athletes shall be refused entry on ground of race, religion, politics, nationality or place of residence.

11.2 Athletes holding dual nationality / citizenship may be permitted to change nationality / citizenship and thereby permitted to compete solely for another country (to the exclusion of the country of his / her nationality / citizenship) only when a change in the athlete’s permanent physical address has occurred. Such change must be reported to the AMA Secretary and the WMA Secretary and shall only become effective once confirmed in writing by the WMA Secretary.

 

12. DEFINITION

Throughout the Constitution, the Bye‐Laws and the Rules of Competition, the masculine gender shall include the feminine, any reference to masters shall include veterans and the singular shall include the plural – all vice versa.

 

 

AMA BYE‐LAWS

 

1.   MEMBERSHIP TO AMA

1.1 Membership to AMA must come through WMA. National masters’ athletics organisations from Asian countries must be affiliated to WMA to be Members of  AMA.

2.   COUNCIL

2.1 Organisation & Operation

2.1.1   The AMA Executive Board consists of the elected officers:  2.1.1.1 The President  

2.1.1.2 Three Vice Presidents

2.1.1.3 The Secretary

2.1.1.4 The Treasurer

2.1.1.5  The Women’s Committee Chairman

 

2.2       Financial Management    

2.2.1    Accounting & Publication    

2.2.1.1 AMA’s accounting period shall be of two years’ duration and shall commence on the first day of January of each odd‐numbered year.  Not later than twelve (12) calendar months following the end of each accounting period, the treasurer shall send the relevant audited statement of account and balance‐sheet  to each member of the council.

 2.2.1.2 Before January 31^st  of each year, the treasurer shall submit to the council a report on the year ending on the previous December 31^st. The treasurer shall also submit to the council an updated report at its periodic meetings.

 2.2.1.3  The treasurer’s proposed budget as described in the Constitution shall cover the next accounting period and shall be subject to approval by the council.

 2.2.1.4        A bank account in United States Dollars shall be operated in the name of AMA. All disbursements on amounts above USD Five Thousand (USD 5,000) shall be authorised jointly by the treasurer and the president or the secretary.

2.2.2     Approval Requirements Expense Reimbursements    

2.2.2.1 Clerical, postage and telephone expenditure to a maximum of USD One Thousand (USD 1,000) may be incurred by the secretary  or treasurer without the  prior approval of the council.

2.2.2.2 Emergency expenditure (not included in approved budget) to a maximum of USD Two Thousand (USD 2,000) must be approved by the president and the treasurer and there may be only one such emergency expenditure in any one calendar year.

All expenditure, other than that authorised above, shall require the prior approval of the council. If a council member is eligible for reimbursement from a third party source, such as his sport federation, the member shall not be entitled to duplicate reimbursement by AMA. In no event shall a council member receive travel or other related reimbursement when the member has not personally incurred that expense. The treasurer is authorised to reimburse council travel in accordance with a Travel and Expense Reimbursement policy established for that purpose.

 2.2.2.3 AMA shall reimburse travel expenses of council members, when authorised, by the most direct and least expensive airfare reasonably available from a regular airline.

 2.2.2.4 Except for emergency meetings, council members are obligated to schedule travel sufficiently in advance to obtain the lowest economy fares.

 2.2.2.5 All requests for reimbursement shall be supported by receipts or other supporting documentation acceptable to the treasurer.

  

2.3 AMA Fee

 2.3.1     During AMA Championships, a fee of USD10 shall be charged to each participant as  a contribution to AMA, and shall be handed over to AMA Treasurer during the championships

 2.3.2     The amount of entry fee for AMA Championships shall be determined by the Organising Committee with the approval of the AMA Council.

 

 

3.   AMA  CHAMPIONSHIPS  

3.1 Bidding Requirements

3.1.1     Effective from 2016, AMA shall sanction AMA Championships Stadia, normally to be held in each odd ‐ numbered year. Application to stage AMA Championships shall be submitted by AMA Members, which shall present the candidature together with a city. Written notification from the Member of the Bid City nominated, duly signed by the Bid City and / or the member, must be in the hands of the AMA Secretary by not later than sixty (60) days prior to the General Assembly in which the bid is to be considered, and no more than one Bid City may be nominated by a Member.

3.2 Bidding Evaluation, Presentation & Award

3.2.1     Following upon the delivery of the written notification referred to in 3.1.1 above, for the consideration of any bid, the Members shall present the full bidding proposal in the General Assembly.

3.2.2     After the presentation by the Members, the General Assembly shall decide on the next host for the AMA Championships and offer the AMA Championships based on its eligibility to host the championships.

 3.2.3     The next host (the Member which has been offered the AMA Championships) shall sign the MoU of the AMA Championships at least twelve  (12) months before the date of the championships

3.2.4     Inspection visits to the sites of the next host shall take place  at least nine  (9) months  prior to the date of the AMA Championships,   and it is to be made by not more than three (3)  members of the council,    whose airfare,  plus food and accommodation for three nights, shall be provided by the host.

 3.2.5     AMA Council shall appoint   one or two (1 or 2) technical advisor/s to sit in  the organising committee to advise the organisers from time to time. The organising committee shall invite the technical advisor/s at least once for the meetings (and  whenever necessary ) , and provide transport and accommodation for them. The technical advisor/s shall report to the council the progress of the organising  committee from time to time.

 

4.   WOMEN’S COMMITTEE

4.1 Nominations

4.1.1     The Women’s Committee shall be chaired by the AMA Women’s Committee Chairman.

4.1.2     There shall be six (6) members of the committee plus the chairman.It shall be composed of:

 4.1.2.1   Women’s Committee Chairman

4.1.2.2    Six (6)  members from  Members

 4.1.3     President and Women’s Committee Chairman appoint the 6 members.

 

4.2 Operation

4.2.1     The committee shall be charged with the duty of representing the interests of women athletes.

 

5.    AUTHORITY FOR RULES

5.1 In all matters relating to the interpretation or application of the Bye‐Laws, the AMA Council shall be the final authority.