Qatar Oympic Committee Reconsiders SportAccord Sponsorship After Vizer Speech

The Qatar Olympic Committee "is reconsidering its sponsorship of a major international sports convention following the blistering attack on the IOC by the head of the conference," according to the AP. SportAccord President Marius Vizer "criticized" the IOC and IOC President Thomas Bach. Vizer, whose umbrella body represents Olympic and non-Olympic sports federations, called the IOC system "expired, outdated, wrong, unfair and not at all transparent." The Qatar committee said, "We do not support the comments made by Marius Vizer and have therefore made the decision to reconsider our convention sponsorship accordingly." The committee is one of six second-tier "silver partners" of the convention" (AP, 4/27).