Kuwait, the host country of the 2nd West Asian Games, has surprised the participating counties by eliminating women’s events due to a “budget shortage.”
At the meeting of competing countries in Kuwait, the emirate declined to host women's teams, citing “budget shortages and the short period of time before the (Oct. 20-30) event kicks off,” said the Jordan Times.
Kuwait's bid to host the games came after the original proposed host, Lebanon, declined in January.
However, the issue of the event being restricted to men's teams never came up when Kuwait was given the go-ahead, according to outgoing Jordan Olympic Committee (JOC) Secretary General Ismat Kurdi.
Kurdi was quoted by the daily as saying that “it was never a topic of discussion because Lebanon was the host and would have hosted women's teams. So it was surprising that Kuwait now chose to invoke a certain article in the bylaws of the West Asian Zone which allows the host country to organize the games as it chooses.”
“The rules are vague and we did not have the entire articles of the bylaws beforehand,” he added. “So it was a surprise to us.” – Albawaba.com
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