Sports Tribunal Will Hear Swimmer's Olympic Petition By End Of Month

Lausanne, Switzerland (AHN) - The Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) announced Thursday Nick D'Arcy's appeal to represent his country in the coming Beijing Games will be heard before the end of May.

The 20-year-old Australian swimmer was dropped out of the national squad headed for Beijing this August by the Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) following an altercation with former Commonwealth Games swimmer Simon Cowley in a Sydney bar on March 30, the final night of the Olympic trials for swimming. D'Arcy captured the title at the 200-meter butterfly event at the trials.

D'Arcy was dismissed from the team by the AOC for having disgraced the sport and was subsequently charged with recklessly inflicting grievous bodily harm on Cowley who sustained a broken jaw, a broken nose, fractured eye socket, a crushed cheekbone and a fractured palate in the said incident. D'Arcy, who faces maximum of 10-years in prison if found guilty, is scheduled to appear before an Australian criminal court next month.

The CAS panel of three lawyers which include Australian lawyers Henric Nicholas, John Winneke and Roger Gyles will be conducting a closed door hearing to settle D'Arcy's petition.