Dr Hamoud Fulaiteh

KUWAIT: The Public Authority for Sports (PAS) yesterday welcomed President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Thomas Bach's statement which rebuffed attempts to link the recent Kuwaiti court ruling against President of the Association of the National Olympic Committees (ANOC) Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah and Kuwaiti sports and laws.

Bach's remarks, during celebrations of the 120th Anniversary of the Hungarian Olympic Committee (HOC) in Budapest, have quashed attempts by IOC members, colleagues Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad, and heads of international sports federations, to "mix papers up" following a recent court ruling against him, said PAS Deputy Director General Dr Hamoud Fulaiteh.

This happened after it was obviously confirmed that the ruling against Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad, also a member of the FIFA Executive Committee was not at all related to sports or their laws in Kuwait, as the President of the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) claimed, Fulaiteh added in a press statement.

Court ruling

Many of them supported Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad's claims, the latest was the President of the International Shooting Sport Federation ((ISSF) Olegario Vazquez Rana who deliberately linked the court ruling to the Kuwaiti sports laws and ISSF elections, the PAS senior official said.

Those world's sports figures, regretfully, backed Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad, also President of the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA), regardless of facts and realities, and have sought to affect Kuwait and punish the Kuwaiti sports, unduly and with no respect of Kuwait's sovereignty, the statement reiterated.

Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad tried to give the impression that the ruling only sought to take revenge on him for his stances of Kuwaiti sports "which is categorically untrue." His case is basically offending the (Kuwaiti) judicial authority.

It is a pity that supporters of Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad give wrong information and raise issues that are not at all related to sports. Unfortunately, this comes from international bodies and IOC member who are supposed to stick to impartiality and to seek facts before approaching a country's sovereignty, only to support one who used to threaten sports in his home country with suspension, for flimsy arguments, Fulaiteh said.

Worse still, some even threatened the Kuwaiti government to comply with the decisions of the Chairman of the Olympic Council of Asia and the Kuwaiti Olympic Committee as ANOC Vice-Chairman Patrick J Hickey did during his meeting with the Kuwaiti negotiating team in Lausanne, Switzerland, last October, he regretted.

Lack of patience

Fulaiteh stated that Bach's statement shows that his colleagues lacked required patience and impartiality before they made their statements against Kuwait as they have done when they suspended Kuwaiti sports before taking enough time for studying the case or even making sure that there is a real need for amending the sports laws.

He argued that the systematic attacks from the IOC and FIFA, where the Chairman of the Olympic Committee of Asia holds top posts, indicate that the measures taken against Kuwait sports are only meant to pressure Kuwaiti institutions for personal goals, away from the Olympic systems, and to put the Kuwaiti sports movement under the mercy of OCA chairman under the threat of suspension.

He underlined that PAS is open to dialogue and cooperation to achieve the interests of the Kuwait sports. The authority's calls for dialogue were resonated in its letters to the IOC, dated October 20 and 26 and December 6, he said.

In his statement, Bach stressed the prison sentence against Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad was a separate issue from the sports law. "This is justice in Kuwait, it's nothing to do with the sports law or sport, " Bach told a news conference recently. He reiterated that the IOC would respect the law of Kuwait, a sovereign state. - KUNA