GENEVA: Top officials at the International Handball Federation are pushing for the ouster of president Hassan Moustafa when he seeks a third term in office next week. Peter Muehlematter and Christer Ahl - who have a combined 50 years service with the governing body - say Moustafa has harmed handball s reputation within the Olympic movement. Sports don t deserve leaders who damage the sport, said Muehlematter, who is seeking re-election as IHF secretary-general. Moustafa was caught up in a refereeing scandal in qualifying matches for the Beijing Olympics, and has faced allegations of financial irregularities and interfering in the federation s anti-doping program. The 64-year-old Egyptian, who has led the IHF since 2000, denies any wrongdoing and is asking for another four-year mandate at the June 4-7 Congress in Cairo. Moustafa will face only one opponent - Jean Kaiser of Luxembourg - after Gudmundur Ingvarsson withdrew his candidacy over the weekend to focus on his business interests in Iceland. Moustafa welcomed the challenge from Kaiser and predicted a victory based on solidarity, collaboration and trust with the IHF s 159 members. I am always ready for the competition as my work is clear to all the handball family, he said in a recent e-mail reply to The Associated Press. Moustafa said the federation enjoyed credibility on all levels. Muehlematter, who joined the IHF administration at the Seoul Olympics in 1988, said he wanted to help restore handball s standing. In the Olympic world handball is a well-loved sport. The Congress is maybe not the last chance for change, but it is a big chance, the Swiss official told The AP. Muehlematter is standing for election despite a total breakdown in relations with Moustafa, who limited his top official s access to IHF headquarters in Basel, Switzerland, six months ago. He told me that I had nothing to do in this house and that I was to write a letter for permission, Muehlematter said. Ahl, a Swedish-born American who sits on the ruling IHF Council as head of the referees commission, said Muehlematter was ostracized for publicizing internal affairs, including Moustafa allegedly spending hundreds of thousands of Swiss francs (dollars) on travel expenses without providing receipts. Ahl said he stayed quiet to protect his work with global referee programs but was now speaking out to open the eyes of the people who don t realize how had things have been. It has become clear over the past four years that the organization s leadership has moved more and more in the direction of autocracy without any real democratic process in place, Ahl said in a telephone interview from his home in Virginia. Ahl said he decided not to seek re-election as head of the referees body after being told that Moustafa supporters have mobilized votes to block him. It is absolutely clear that if I go to Cairo I will just find that I have no chance, he said. Ahl believes he s being punished for trying to straighten out the mess of corrupt judging at the men s Olympics qualifying tournament in Asia. South Korea got its Olympic berth ahead of Kuwait in Beijing only after the tournament was replayed and the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled in its favor. The CAS panel found that Moustafa ignored Ahl s authority as head of refereeing, while the IHF Council failed badly to apply basic principles of natural justice in its investigations. Moustafa said income at the IHF, which has an annual budget of 10 million Swiss francs ($9.2 million, ?6.6 million), had increased by more than 300 percent during his nine years as president. The allegations of his spending on expenses were dealt with by the IHF council where they were proven false, Moustafa said.
