Dame Louise Martin to stand unopposed as CGF President at General Assembly

London, June 16, 2019: Dame Louise Martin DBE will stand unopposed for the position of Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) President at the Federation’s General Assembly in Kigali, Rwanda in September.

Dame Louise elected President of the CGF in Auckland, New Zealand in September 2015 when she became the first female to hold this office in the history of the Commonwealth Sports Movement.

She has a long and distinguished association with the Games as an athlete – swimming for Team Scotland at the Perth 1962 Commonwealth Games – and thereafter as Team Manager, Administrator and Honorary Secretary and the first female elected to the CGF Executive Board.

She appointed a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire by Her Majesty The Queen in the 2019 New Year Honours List.

The 2019 General Assembly on 3-6 September will see the quadrennial elections take place for every position on the Executive Board and the Sports Committee.

In addition to the elections, the General Assembly will see a refreshed Transformation 2022 strategy approved but a decision to award a host city for the 2026 Commonwealth Games will take place next year with a positive dialogue continuing between the CGF and potential hosts cities.

The General Assembly will take place in the flagship US$ 300 million Kigali Convention Centre (KCC) which opened in 2016.

Rwanda is the newest member of the Commonwealth, and the second country (alongside Mozambique) in the Commonwealth without historic UK ties.

CGF CEO David Grevemberg CBE said: “Plans for our General Assembly shape up very well and I delighted to see we have a number of extremely strong candidates putting themselves forward in leadership roles at the service of Commonwealth Sport.

“We are also delighted to be partnering with Rwanda; an inspiring country with passionate, proactive sports leadership.

“We all look forward to experiencing Rwanda’s distinct use of sport to drive social impact and realise the share values and ambitions of Commonwealth Sport.”

“We all look forward to experiencing Rwanda’s distinct use of sport to drive social impact and realise the share values and ambitions of Commonwealth Sport.”

A list of the nominations for the Executive Board and Sport Committee positions are below:

President (One Position):
Dame Louise Martin DBE (Scotland)
Vice President (Three positions):
Maxwell de Silva (Sri Lanka)
William Blick (Uganda)
Bruce Robertson CM, CPA, CITP (Canada)
Kereyn Smith MNZM (New Zealand)
Chris Jenkins (Wales)

Regional Vice President (One position per region):
Africa: Miriam Moyo (Zambia)
Americas: Rick Powers (Canada) / Judy Simons J.P (Bermuda)
Asia: Chris Chan (Singapore) / Rajeev Mehta (India)
Caribbean: Fortuna Belrose (Saint Lucia)
Europe: Harry Murphy MBA (Gibraltar)
Oceania: Hugh Graham (Cook Islands)

Sport Committee (One position per region):
Africa: Sani Ndusa (Nigeria)
Americas: Linda Cuthbert (Canada) / Andrew Brownlee JP, ED (Falkland

Islands) / Kalam Juman Yassin (Guyana)
Asia: Lt Gen Retired Sayid Arif Hasan (Pakistan) / Namdev Sampat

Shirgaonkar (India)
Caribbean: Ephraim Penn (British Virgin Islands) / Garth Gayle MSc, JP

(Jamaica) / Cyril Burke (Barbados)
Europe: Helen Phillips MBE (Wales)
Oceania: Marcus Stephens (Nauru) / Craig Phillips (Australia)

The nominations process overseen by the CGF Elections Panel which comprises of the Chair and one Member of the Governance and Integrity Committee and a CGA President.

None of the members of the Panel is contesting the elections. —- CGF