A MEETING of board members of the Sports Development Board (SDB) held on Monday night to formally endorse their new chief executive officer, Andrew Ma, ended in disarray after it was found that procedural requirements were not met.
Sports Post learned that SDB chairman David Gledhill was forced to call off a special meeting of the board after objections had been raised at the lack of information and documentation present at the meeting which was held to endorse the appointment of the first Chinese to this senior position.
It was revealed last week that Ma - who is a member of the Hong Kong Tennis Patrons Association - will be the new head of the territory's powerful Sports Development Board (SDB) which is responsible for channelling government funds to sports and setting policy.
Ma's appointment had to go through the formal channels - that is be approved by the SDB's board. This meeting was to be held on November 13. But in a sudden move, the meeting was brought forward to Monday night (November 6).
The last-minute change resulted in only five board members turning up at the meeting. They were Gledhill, appointed members Bob Wilson and Minnie Lai, Con Conway (representing the Amateur Sports Federation and Olympic Committee) and Ian Patterson (representing the Recreation and Culture Branch). Timothy Fok was also present but he left the meeting early.
It has been learned that the meeting, which was expected to be a mere formality, suddenly turned unpleasant after a member called for documentation pertaining to Ma's appointment.
While the Stanford University-educated businessman's appointment was not in question, what had been out of order, apparently, was the lack of information resulting in Ma's appointment.
