The Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) has received nine official submissions from countries across Asia to host its headquarters amidst a growing expectation that the OCA will
leave Kuwait – its home for 38 years – due to the country’s deteriorating relationship with the international sports movement. sport intern understands that of the nine countries that have submitted a request to host the OCA, there are three from West Asia, one from Central Asia, two from South Asia, one from South East Asia and two from East Asia.
The Korean town of Incheon is one of the publicly known bidders with their municipal
government having announced it has proposed a number of incentives to try and attract the OCA to its city. It is believed that the OCA will make a final decision on the location of its headquarters during its General Assembly in Danang, Vietnam on September 25th.
Meanwhile, in Kuwait the country’s relationship with the Olympic Movement appears to show no signs of improving with the Kuwait government having filed a new case at the Lausanne Civil Court requesting the IOC suspension of the Kuwait NOC be overturned and the Kuwait NOC be allowed to participate under the Kuwaiti national flag at the Rio 2016 Games. This follows on from a case Kuwait filed against the IOC last month seeking 1 billion US$ in damages for the Kuwait NOC being suspended and the Kuwaiti government’s failed attempt to get the Court of Arbitration of Sport (CAS) to overturn FIFA’s suspension of the Kuwait Football Association (KFA).
Kuwait’s Public Sport Authority has since moved to take complete control of sport in the
country introducing a law which gives them the power to dissolve all National Sports Federations and the National Olympic Committee and punish anyone in Kuwait who is not in compliance with this law with three years’ imprisonment. The Lausanne Civil Court is expected to hear the case July 12th.
This story first appeared in the blog, The Sport Intern. The editor is Karl-Heinz Huba of Lorsch, Germany. He can be reached at ISMG@aol.com. The article is reprinted here with permission of Huba.