2023-07-07 21:53:18
The “Asian Olympic”: a battle of voices between the cheetah and the Muslim … and the “International” warns of interference
While the yellow continent awaits its “new Olympic president”, Saturday, through the General Assembly of the 42nd Asian Olympic Committees, during which Kuwaiti Sheikh Talal Al-Fahd Al-Sabah and his compatriot Hussein Al-Musallam will compete, informed sources revealed to “Al-Sharq Al-Awsat” that one of the influential supporters of Sheikh Talal Al-Fahd in the council The Olympian received a warning from the International Olympic Committee not to interfere in the elections and influence them, and that he would be subject to action by the committee if he did so.
Sheikh Talal Al-Fahd may turn the tables and win the votes of swinging countries (Middle East)
The Executive Office of the Olympic Council of Asia held its 80th meeting, Friday, in the Thai capital, Bangkok, chaired by Raja Randhir Singh, and in the presence of Prince Fahd bin Jalawi bin Abdulaziz, Vice President of the Saudi Olympic and Paralympic Committee, member of the Executive Office, Chairman of the Education Committee of the Council, who will chair Saturday, the Kingdom’s delegation participating in the 42nd General Assembly.
The meeting witnessed the discussion of a number of reports submitted to the vice-presidents of the Olympic Council of Asia for each of East Asia, East and South Asia, South Asia, Central Asia, and West Asia, in addition to the reports of the committee chairmen.
On Saturday morning, the assembly elections will be held to choose the new president of the council for the next four years, for which the door for candidacy was closed at the beginning of last April, as the nominated names were announced by the Executive Office of the Olympic Council of Asia.
Prince Fahd bin Jalawi during his attendance at the meeting of the Executive Office of the Olympic Council of Asia (Middle East)
The Kingdom’s delegation to the General Assembly includes; Prince Abdullah bin Fahd, member of the Committee’s Board of Directors, and Abdulaziz Baeshen, Chief Executive Officer and Secretary General of the Committee.
In the midst of this, Pakeret Gerard Zabeli, head of the IOC Ethics and Compliance Office, said in his letter to the former member of the Asian Council, that “we have been informed that you will visit Bangkok from 6 to 8 July 2023, just at the time of the meeting of the Executive Board of the Olympic Council.” Asian and the election of the President of the Olympic Council of Asia. This travel to Thailand can be considered interference with the activities of the Olympic Council of Asia, and may be taken into account by the Ethics Committee of the International Olympic Committee, at a time when this committee will consider your situation in light of the recommendations submitted to the Executive Board of the International Olympic Committee ».
“We recommend that you take into account the recommendations issued by the IOC Ethics Committee, approved by the IOC Executive Board in September 2021, and reconsider such travel to avoid any kind of interference with the Movement’s activities,” Zabeli said, in a stern warning. Olympic».
Other sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that Qatar and Kyrgyzstan will abstain from voting by presenting the “white paper”, while Syria and Jordan will not attend the voting process.
According to preliminary information, Hussein Al-Musallam has regarding 25 votes, while Sheikh Talal Al-Fahd has the votes of 11 countries, with other countries still swinging in their choices. However, “Friday” night may carry with it many developments that may lead Al-Fahd to turn the tables on his rival in the electoral process.
Sheikh Talal (58 years) held several positions previously, most notably the presidency of the Kuwait Olympic Committee and the Football Association, before he moved away from the sports scene in recent years due to health conditions, while Al-Muslim (63 years) occupies the position of Director General of the Olympic Council of Asia, and the presidency of the International Games Federation. hydro.
Signs of the electoral battle between the two parties appeared since last April, when the door to running for the presidency was closed, but the competition took a different turn, and witnessed exciting developments, following the Kuwait Olympic Committee sent two official letters signed by its president, Sheikh Fahd Nasser Al-Sabah, first withdrew its support for the Muslim, In the second, it demanded the support of the Cheetah.
At that time, the head of the Lebanese Olympic Committee, Pierre Jalakh, revealed, in media statements, that his committee had already received a letter from the Kuwaiti Olympic Committee regarding support for Sheikh Talal Al-Fahd, indicating that “this support will affect the electoral accounts.”
Despite the new Kuwaiti position, the official website of the Olympic Council of Asia kept the status of the Kuwaiti Olympic Committee among the committees that nominated Al-Muslim along with the committees of Bahrain, Nepal and Syria, while Sheikh Talal was nominated by the committees of Iraq, Palestine, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and Indonesia.
According to the rules of procedure, it is required that the presidential candidate enjoy the support of at least two Olympic committees, and whoever obtains the majority of the 45 continental Olympic committees wins the presidency.
And Al-Musallam sent a letter to the National Olympic Committees, in which he renewed his continuation in the elections: “The message (withdrawing the candidacy from Kuwait) came only because of external political pressure from a third party, and it has no effect on my candidacy or my intention to work … to lead our great Asian sports movement.” .
Abdullah Al-Shaheen, the head of the Kuwait Football Association, said in a previous interview with Asharq Al-Awsat that the competition for the presidency of the Olympic Council of Asia is a legitimate right for any candidate who sees himself as capable of managing the continental organization, indicating that in the General Assembly of the Kuwait Olympic Committee they adopted Hussein Al-Musallam’s nomination for the presidency of the Olympic Council of Asia, and that the “last word” will be in the General Assembly.
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