The body of Iraq's Olympic cycling coach was identified two days after he was kidnapped at gunpoint him from his home this week. The murder marks another casualty in the violence in Iraq that has recently affected several sports figures, officials said. 48-year-old Mahoud Ahmed Fulayih had just returned from the Asian Games held in Doha, Qatar, where the Iraqi team had competed.
The murder of the Iraqi coach is the one of eight documented incidents since July involving violence in the form of threats, kidnappings, or assassinations against sports figures. This summer a raid on a sports conference in Baghdad resulted in the kidnapping of the chairman of the National Olympic Committee and at least 30 other officials. According to the Associated Press, the group is still being held. Hussein al-Amidi, the Acting Secretary General of Iraq's National Olympic Committee announced the death of the cycling coach, and expressed his frustration with the recent events to the AP, saying, "We lost another one; he is not a politician and has no link with any party. It looks like no one is excluded from the violence."
