Organizers of the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games warn that they will be unable to fund the construction of Olympic projects if a new law passes reducing the state's oil revenues.
The Brazilian Olympic Games Organizing Committee said in a statement that a bill approved last week in the country's lower house of congress would mean that Rio de Janeiro state would lose about $4 billion in annual oil revenues.
Currently, Rio de Janeiro state receives a large share of the royalties for any oil extracted from the offshore fields off its coast. Under the new bill, those royalties will be shared equally between the federal government and all of Brazil's 26 states.
The committee said the impact would ``leave Rio de Janeiro without the conditions needed to (finance) the projects needed for the 2016 Games.''
The bill still faces debate and a vote in Brazil's senate. President Luiz Inacio da Silva has promised to veto it if changes aren't made so it doesn't jeopardize the games.
Earlier, Silva said Brazil plans to build sport centers in poor communities across the country.
``So when the 2016 Olympics are held, we will have poor children from all over the country competing for a gold medal,'' Silva said during his weekly radio program.
Also Monday, the Brazilian Futsal Confederation said it wants the sport to be included in the next Olympics. Futsal is a version of soccer typically played indoors and is regulated by FIFA.
In a statement on its Web site, the confederation said its president and vice president recently met with honorary FIFA president Joao Havelange, who promised to ask FIFA president Joseph Blatter to persuade the IOC to include the sport.
The statement says that Havelange support the sport's inclusion and plans to discuss the matter with Blatter in May.
Havelange and Blatter are also expected to discuss Brazil hosting a women's futsal world cup, the confederation said, adding it could be held this December.
``One of the reasons the IOC has not accepted including futsal is the fact there is no women's world cup, which is why we want to organize such an event in Brazil in 2010,'' confederation president Aecio de Borba Vasconcelos said.
