Sheikh Talal replaces his suspended brother, keeps Asian Olympic leadership in Al Sabah family

Sheikh Talal’s brother, Olympic power broker Sheikh Ahmad al-Fahad al-Sabah, led the 45-nation OCA from 1991 until 2021, when he was barred from Olympic business following his conviction in Geneva for forgery.

File Photo: Sheikh Ahmad al-Fahad al-Sabah speaks during the Asian Games 2018 closing ceremony. | Photo Credit: Getty Images

Sheikh Talal Fahad Al-Sabah will replace his suspended brother as president of the Olympic Council of Asia after winning an election by four votes Saturday and taking control of the organisation their father created in the early 1980s.

Sheikh Talal’s brother, Olympic power broker Sheikh Ahmad al-Fahad al-Sabah, led the 45-nation OCA from 1991 until 2021, when he was barred from Olympic business following his conviction in Geneva for forgery. He denied the charges and has appealed his conviction.

The OCA issued a statement saying the outcome “keeps the leadership of the Kuwait-based OCA in the House of the Al Sabah family.”

The statement noted the 58-year-old Sheikh Talal is the son of the first OCA president, Sheikh Fahad Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, who was president from 1982 to 1990, and the younger brother of Sheikh Ahmad. The OCA’s former secretary general, Randhir Singh of India, led the organization on an interim basis from 2021 until the election.

Sheikh Talal won a two-way contest against fellow Kuwaiti Husain al-Musallam, who is president of world governing body for swimming and aquatics, by 24 votes to 20.

“I will follow the lead of my father and brother,” Sheikh Talal told the delegates in an election presentation, according to the OCA. “We have been with Asia for more than 40 years. I promise you I will unite Asia again.”

Sheikh Talal joined the OCA in 2007 and was a member of the executive board.

Sheikh Ahmad, an International Olympic Committee member since 1992, was warned off Olympic business by its ethics commission nearly two years ago after his conviction for forgery in Geneva in a case related to domestic Kuwaiti politics. A ruling on his appeal is not expected before September.

The OCA organizes the multi-sport Asian Games. The next edition opens Sept. 23 in Hangzhou, China, with about 12,000 athletes competing in more than 480 medal events.

The IOC has not terminated Sheikh Ahmad’s membership from which he was allowed to self-suspend in 2018 upon being indicted by prosecutors in the Swiss city.