BAGHDAD – Iraq’s Olympic Committee yesterday elected its former treasurer, Sarmad Abdelilah, as president, filling a vacancy that had threatened to jeopardise the country’s participation in next year’s Tokyo Games.
The embattled organisation had been suspended and put under the supervision of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) after a long-running conflict with the Sports Ministry. IOC oversaw yesterday’s election via video link.
The 46-year-old Abdelilah, a former international swimmer, received 19 votes, with 17 for outgoing president Raad Hammoudi, the former Iraq goalkeeper elected to lead the committee for a second time last year.
“The task that awaits promises to be difficult. We will have to put the whole of Iraqi sport back on track,” said Abdelilah following his election at a hotel here.
The national Olympic panel was dissolved by US-led occupation forces in 2003 because it was headed by Uday Hussein, the son of former dictator Saddam Hussein.
The committee regrouped with new members and was active for 15 years, until the outgoing youth minister suddenly cancelled its 2018 membership elections.
The ministry claimed that the committee’s status was never properly re-established after 2003, adding that its finances should therefore be managed by the ministry. – AFP, November 15, 2020
