(ATR) The spat over sport in Kuwait takes on an added dimension with a lawsuit seeking $1.3 billion in damages over the IOC ban on Kuwaiti athletes at the Rio Olympics in seven months.
The lawsuit filed in Kuwait City takes aim at the 15 members of the Kuwait NOC and its president Sheikh Talal Al-Fahd. His better-known brother, Sheikh Ahmad Al Fahd Al Sabah, IOC member and president of the Olympic Council of Asia and the Association of National Olympic Committees, is also named in the filing.
The suit alleges that the NOC is responsible for the IOC suspension, the third time in five years as a result of government interference. The latest suspension handed down in October prevents athletes from Kuwait from competing under the national flag. Instead they would compete under the Olympic flag.
There is no comment from Sheikh Ahmad who has become caught in a battle with Kuwait minister of sport Sheikh Salman Sabah Salem Al-Humoud. Salman is said to be holding a grudge against Sheikh Ahmad over the IOC member’s failure to back him last year to become president of the International Sport Shooting Federation.
The IOC made only brief comment on this latest development which has followed other legal skirmishes in Kuwait directed by Sheik Salman. "We understand that there are ongoing legal proceedings," a spokeswoman told Around the Rings.
The IOC has tried repeatedly to broker an end to the suspension, levied due to a Kuwaiti law giving the government a say in who will lead the national sport federations and the NOC. The government has refused to make any changes, despite face-to-face meetings with IOC negotiators.
The Kuwait government has also threatened to expel the headquarters of the Olympic Council of Asia, located in a subburb of Kuwait City
FIFA was the first to act in the latest episode, suspending the Kuwait Football Association a month before the IOC took its decision. FIBA has also suspended its federation in Kuwait.
Unable to compete because of the ban, the football association was nonetheless fined $10,000 by FIFA for forfeiting the November World Cup 2018 qualifier against Myanmar.
There is no word from the IOC on when further negotiations with Kuwait could occur.
Written by Ed Hula.
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