Gulf states threaten to boycott Arab sports if Iraq participates
Gulf-Iraq, Sports, 5/17/1999

The deputy of public head of the Saudi Olympic committee, Prince Sultan Bin Fahd, confirmed that his country will announce its withdrawal from the Arab sport round in Jordan between August 12 - 28 if Iraq is able to take part at any level in this round.

In a speech published by the Saudi newspaper "El-Riyadh", Prince Sultan Bin Fahd said that the position of Saudi Arabia on this issue is fixed, especially as the circumstances leading to ruling Iraq out of the sports round are still existent and nothing new has developed that could let Baghdad take part in this session.

The Saudi threat comes after the organizing committee of the round said that Iraq will be called on to participate symbolically.

The Saudi announcement was preceded by Kuwait's announced withdrawal if Iraq takes part, as well as the United Arab Emirates and Oman, while Qatar confirmed its participation and Bahrain has not taken any formal position yet.

Previous Stories:
  Algeria hosts Arab sports officials   (2/23/1999)
  Gulf money comes first in the politics of sport   (7/14/1997)
  Kuwait and Iraq clash again, over sports   (7/9/1997)

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