Peru Withdraws From Combat Games

(ATR) The SportAccord controversy hits the 2017 World Combat Games planned for Lima, Peru.

Organizers of the event say they will withdraw as host, the latest consequence from the anti-IOC stance taken by SportAccord President Marius Vizer.

In a May 22 letter to Vizer, Peru Olympics Committee President José Quinones details three reasons it can no longer host the event.

He notes that four of the marquis Olympic federations have pulled out, reaction to the speech Vizer delivered last month at the open of the SportAccord Convention in Sochi.

With IOC President Thomas Bach sitting just a few feet away, Vizer unloaded on the IOC across a range of issues, some of them part of the Olympic Agenda 2020 proposals approved by the IOC in December. The surprise attack generated a wave of defections from an organization that bills itself as the "International Federations’ Union".

Since then, a dozen and a half Olympic international federations have notified Sport Accord that they are suspending or resigning membership. Cycling and basketball became the latest to suspend on May 22.

In his letter to Vizer, Quinones says that sponsorshave withdrawn their support of the Combat Games now that boxing, weightlifting, taekwondo and wrestling have pulled out and that more could follow. He says the sponsors believe there is "great uncertainty" over the viability of the event.

As a final point, Quinones speaks on behalf of the Peruvian Olympic Committee, noting the SportAccord controversy. He says that as "an integral part of the Olympic Movement" the Peruvian NOC "supports the International Olympic Committee and the reforms of Agenda 2020, which have been widely consulted and agreed with all members".

"For these reasons, we are sure to have your comprehension and gentle understanding of the current situation that much to our regret makes infeasible the realization of the World Combat Games in our country," writes Quinones.

SportAccord was not available immediate comment on the Peruvian withdrawal.

The World Combat Games were first held in 2010 in Beijing followed by St. Petersburg in 2013. The 2017 edition in Lima was to feature 16 sports, six from the Olympics, with more than 2500 athletes.

Written by Ed Hula.