Over 100 recognised international sports organisations and federations will make their way to Bangkok to participate in the 2018 SportAccord convention. One of the activities running simultaneously is the Sports Festival, which will be patronised by the IOC where over 50 sports will participate. AIMS President and GAISF Vice President Stephan Fox stated that one of the most important objectives is to establish new National Federations and sports in Thailand.
The International Fistball Association(IFA) under the presidency of Karl Weiß is the first sport which took this opportunity, sending a female coach, Ines Mayer, to coach 2 university teams, Rangsit University and Thamassat Univerity for the next four weeks. Every day the university students have the chance to practice and play at the festival. This has been done in conjunction with the Thai University Sports Board.
The president of fistball stated that this is an amazing opportunity for fistball to grow in Southeast Asia and fistball being part of the World Games is one of the most popular sports in the games. The Thai university sports board must be also applauded for the initiative. Fistball coach, Ines Mayer said that this is also an honour for her and building two mixed teams will promote not only gender equality but also fistball as an exciting and fast growing sport.