iNTERNATIONAL MARTIAL ARTS gAMES COMMITTEE (imgc)The International Martial Arts Games Committee (IMGC) is an
organization created so that the martial arts community has a vehicle to bring together all martial art styles in the form of demonstrations / competition and not be hampered by affiliation or politics. The inaugural meeting was held in Buenos Aires on Sep. 2, 1999 and six martial arts were selected for events: Tae Kwon Do, Karate-Do, Wushu, Judo, Jiu-Jitsu and Aikido. According to Grandmaster Jacobsen, in mid-2007, Tang Soo Do and Haedong Kumdo were added to the list of "accepted member" martial arts by the IMGC. In 2008, Jendo and Arnis was included in the list during the the 5th IMGC Martial Arts Congress in Bangkok, Thailand. The main goal is to promote and showcase all martial arts worldwide, gain international recognition and eventually be sanctioned by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). To accomplish these goals, the IMGC organized its games in an Olympic format where you have all martial arts competing at the same time but in different venues. The current President of the IMGC is Professor Chang Ung who is also a senior member of the IOC. The IOC has appointed Professor Ung to look into the Games with the goal of getting full Olympic status for Martial Arts. The IMGC will be sanctioned by the General Association of International Sports Federation (GAISF), which is a member of the International Olympic Committee |