Sheikh Ahmad Without Opponents for ANOC Presidency

(ATR) As Sheikh Ahmad Al Sabah opens meetings of Olympic Solidarity and the ANOC executive in Santiago, it appears that he will draw no opposition if he runs for re-election in November.

Ahmad has been president of the Association of National Olympic Committees since 2012.

A source close to the Sheikh tells Around the Rings that he hears no interest from anyone in the ANOC leadership who wants to challenge the Kuwaiti IOC member.

"So far I have not known anyone to have those intentions. Everything indicates that Al-Sabah will be re-elected for another four years," the source tells ATR from Santiago, Chile.

Ahmad, chair of Olympic Solidarity as well as president of ANOC, will convene the first meeting of both groups in the Chilean capital.

Olympic Solidarity, with 20 members, nearly all IOC members meets Thursday.

The ANOC meeting, with 27 board members, takes place Friday.

The ANOC meeting is expected to deal with the the organization of the General Assembly in Tokyo and the elections which will take place. Japanese Olympic Committee president and IOC member Tsunekazu Takeda is expected to report.

The agenda of the meeting that will include a wrap-up on the Winter Olympic Games in PyeongChang, South Korea as well as plans for the first ANOC World Beach Games in San Diego,California.

The event scheduled Oct. 10-15, 2019 will present 15 sports, half in the water and half on land with nearly 2,000 athletes expected from as many as 100 countries. As many as 400,000 spectators are expected to attend the largely admission-free events.

In the Thursday Olympic Solidarity meeting, Al Sabah and Olympic Solidarity director Pere Miró will update the progress of the programs that fund NOC activities as well as international federations. IOC subsidies for participation in Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games will also be discussed.

The Olympic Solidarity meeting comes as the IOC orders the suspension of funding to boxing. The sport's federation AIBA is dealing with a list of demands from the IOC involving governance, ethics, anti-doping, finance and judging.

Reported by Miguel Hernandez.

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