Olympics: Sheikh Ahmad re-elected Asia leader amid Swiss probe

(Reuters) – Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah has been re-elected president of the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) for an 8th period despite being embroiled in a forgery case introduced through Swiss investigators. The long-serving Kuwaiti, an effective best friend of International Olympic Committee (IOC) head Thomas Bach, became re-elected unanimously at the OCA well-known meeting in Bangkok, the OCA has stated.

An IOC member on account that 1992, Sheikh Ahmad stepped down from his roles inside the global Olympic body in November, much less than weeks after the Public Prosecutor of Geneva submitted a forgery accusation to a crook court docket in opposition the Kuwaiti and four others. Sheikh Ahmad has been head of Olympic Solidarity — the multi-million dollar IOC handbag that price range sports tasks globally — and the head of the Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC). Sheikh Ahmad has proclaimed his innocence and said in November that the Swiss court case had not anything to do with “game or corruption.”

The OCA stated Japanese Olympic Committee president Tsunekazu Takeda was retained as an OCA Vice President despite in the middle of a corruption probe added by French economic prosecutors. French investigators are probing a multi-million dollar charge made using Japan’s 2020 Olympic bidding committee to a Singaporean consultancy and placed Takeda below formal investigation on Dec. 10, a French judicial supply instructed Reuters in January. Takeda, a vice president on Tokyo 2020’s govt board, has additionally proclaimed his innocence and denied something fallacious with the bid.

The OCA stated its Ethics Commission had “reviewed” the instances of Sheikh Ahmad and Tsunekazu Takeda. Based primarily on the data to be had, no motion could be taken. “The Ethics Commission reiterated all and sundry’s proper to the presumption of innocence,” the OCA statement stated. The OCA also showed that they would invite many athletes from international locations in Oceania to compete at the 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou, China. The continental body had stated in 2017 that they could allow around 300 athletes and one hundred fifty help workforce from the Pacific Ocean nations to compete in sports activities whose qualification paths for the 2024 Paris Olympics went thru Asia.

The OCA stated that Oceania athletes from volleyball, seashore volleyball, basketball, football, and fencing could be invited to Hangzhou, a move welcomed with the aid of Australian Olympic Committee president John Coates, who has lengthily lobbied for the circulating. “Australia may be very grateful for this opportunity which becomes showed this weekend, and there could be vast interest from our Oceania friends,” Coates said in an announcement. “This is something I have been pursuing for greater than 20 years.”