SAO PAULO, Feb 27: The Pan-American Judo Union has threatened to ban members Brazil and Uruguay from the Beijing Olympics for trying to oust its leaders.

In a letter to the International Judo Federation, the Pan-American Judo Union, or UPJ, accused the Brazilian and Uruguayan federations of a plot to remove the union heads from their posts before their terms end.

The governing body of judo in the Americas said the federations scheduled a meeting in Brazil for Thursday and Friday “with the purpose and objective to (create) an illegal ‘Assembly of the UPJ,’” and depose its “democratically elected members.”

It said that only “some people” were invited to the meeting and warned that the federations’ actions could be penalized with “loss of affiliation,” which would prohibit the nations from participating in the Beijing Games.

The Pan-American union said it sent Brazil and Uruguay a copy of the letter to the IJF as a warning. It was made available to The Associated Press on Tuesday.

The Brazilian federation admitted it was promoting a meeting to discuss judo in the Americas, but denied it would be turned into an assembly to oust the UPJ’s leaders, spokesman Lucio Mattos said.—AP