Kuwait Olympic Committee suspended by IOC

Berlin (dpa) - The Kuwait Olympic Committee (KOC) has been suspended by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) due to government interference in sport, the governing body said Tuesday.

The decision was made at an IOC executive board meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland, on October 12 that unless the government amended legislation threatening the autonomy of the KOC by October 27, a suspension would be put in place.

"The IOC hopes that all concerned parties will soon reach a satisfactory solution to rectify this very unfortunate situation in the interest of the Olympic Movement in Kuwait and the athletes‘ participation in the numerous international sporting events coming up, in particular the Olympic Games Rio de Janeiro 2016," the IOC said in a statement.

While the KOC is suspended, athletes are banned from competing and the KOC will be banned from receiving funding from the Olympic movement.

World football governing body FIFA suspended the Kuwait Football Association for similar reasons on October 16. That decision bars Kuwaiti football teams from international competition and prevents the KFA from participating in FIFA and Asian Football Confederation development programmes.