Bolivians take altitude row to soccer's highest level

ZURICH, May 31 (Reuters) Bolivian presidential minister Juan Ramon Quintana attempted to upstage FIFA's annual Congress in Zurich today as protests continued against a decision to ban international soccer matches played at high altitude.

Quintana and vice sports minister Milton Melgar flew overnight from Bolivia to Switzerland to express their country's indignation at the ban announced by world soccer's governing body on Sunday.

The two politicans stood outside the Congress hall as delegates left the building, holding up posters proclaiming that ''Football does not discriminate'' and declaring that the row was a question of ''Attitude not altitude.'' ''We came here to communicate the interest of our president, Evo Morales, in holding a meeting with (FIFA president) Sepp Blatter for which Mr Morales would be willing to travel in person to Europe,'' Quintana told Reuters.

Although they were eventually allowed into the building, the Bolivians failed in their bid to tackle Blatter on the issue and instead had to settle for a meeting with South American football confederation (CONMEBOL) president Nicolas Leoz.

Quintana and Melgar were later threatened with eviction by Congress security staff after holding up their posters beneath a large FIFA banner for the benefit of photographers.

''We are very concerned by the ban because more than 50 per cent our the Bolivian population lives above the (2,500 metres above sea-level) limit set by FIFA,'' said Melgar, a former player who won 89 caps for Bolivia and represented the country at the 1994 World Cup finals.

FIFA's executive committee insisted on Sunday that it was banning high-altitude internationals out of concern for the health of players and to stop the perceived advantage given to teams accustomed to playing at heights.

''We accept of course that there is some natural advantage, but the same can also be said for teams who are used to playing in hot or humid conditions,'' Melgar told Reuters.

CONMEBOL has already agreed to discuss the FIFA ban at a meeting in Paraguay next month.

The confederation is unlikely to present a united front however, with lower-lying nations including Argentina and Brazil frequently critical of the perceived advantage gained by their Andean neighbours.

FIFA has denied bowing to coercion by South America's more powerful footballing nations, however, insisting that health risks are the main factor behind the ban.

''It can take players up to two weeks to adjust to high altitude and roughly one in five will even suffer from high altitude sickness,'' FIFA's chief medical officer Jiri Dvorak told Reuters.

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