Athletes From Kuwait Arrive for Asian Games

Kuwaiti athletes, accompanied by one coach, arrived today for the Asian Games, their entourage diminished by Iraq’s invasion of their homeland.

The Asian Games press center said 42 athletes arrived from Saudi Arabia: 23 soccer players, four swimmers, six table tennis players, six track and field competitors and three judo competitors. They were accompanied by a swimming coach.

Games officials did not say how large a delegation Kuwait originally planned, but more coaches were to have come. Kuwait’s National Olympic Committee, now based in exile in Saudi Arabia, said athletes who were out of the country during the invasion would come to the games.

Kais al Yacoubi, a liaison officer for Iraq’s National Olympic Committee, said in Beijing last week that any Kuwaiti athletes caught inside their country during the invasion would have to apply to Iraqi authorities for exit permits to attend the games. He declined to comment on the chances they would be allowed to leave.

All 38 members of the Olympic Council of Asia are scheduled to meet Thursday to decide whether Iraq should be banned from the games. The council’s 11-member executive bureau recommended a ban, but the final decision will be made by a two-thirds majority of the full council.

Meanwhile, more than 200 Taiwanese athletes left for Beijing to attend the games, marking the first time in 20 years a Taiwan delegation is taking part in the event.

Taiwan was recently admitted back to the games after it agreed to participate under the name of Chinese Taipei instead of its official name of Republic of China.