The Japan Amateur Swimming Federation indicated Saturday that it may not, after all, agree to the Court of Arbitration for Sport handling the appeal of Suzu Chiba over her omission for the Japanese Olympic swimming team.
Tsutomu Hayashi, head of the JASF board of directors, said the federation received Chiba's appeal asking for its consent for CAS arbitration on Friday and will may deliver its response next week.
The JASF board of directors decided a week ago to leave the details of the response to JASF President Hironoshin Furuhashi, Vice President Tokutaro Kobayashi and Hayashi, who are scheduled to meet Tuesday.
But Hayashi now says the JASF may not give its consent to having the CAS decide the case in which Chiba is charging that the Olympic team selection process was not transparent.
The JASF originally said it was willing to explain its team selection process for the Sydney Olympic Games. On Saturday, however, Hayashi said the appeal asking for the federation's consent for arbitration was not filed by Chiba herself and was full of contradictions.
Hayashi said JASF officials wanted to meet directly with Chiba and ask her about her true intentions, adding that without such a meeting consenting to CAS arbitration would be difficult.
Chiba's business partner, Kuniaki Hashimawari, however, said the swimmer has no intention of meeting with JASF officials.
"When the swimming federation received our inquiry, it told us there would be no explanation, so now it's funny that they want to talk," Hashimawari said, adding he and Chiba agree that the stage for negotiations has already passed.
"If they insist the selection process was correct, then it is strange that the swimming federation will or will not consent to arbitration based upon the contents of the appeal," Hashimawari argued.