Swimming-D'Arcy kicked off Australian team for worlds

MELBOURNE, April 7 (Reuters) - Nick D'Arcy has been booted off the Australian swimming team for the world championships in Rome, less than two weeks after receiving a suspended sentence for assaulting Commonwealth Games champion Simon Cowley.

D'Arcy, 21, was handed a 14-month suspended sentence by a Sydney court after pleading guilty on a charge of recklessly inflicting grievous bodily harm on Cowley during a nightclub brawl last year.

D'Arcy, who was kicked off the team for the Beijing Olympics last year in the wake of the incident, had been selected for the worlds days before his court case last month. Swimming Australia (SA), however, had decided to remove D'Arcy at a board meeting on Monday, the sport's national governing body said in a statement.

"Following Nicholas D'Arcy's conviction, the Board of Swimming Australia unanimously resolved that (his) membership of the Australian Swim Team to compete in Rome at the 2009 FINA World Championships be terminated immediately," the statement said.

D'Arcy had agreed to be bound by the national governing body's "Team By-laws" three days before his court case, the statement said. Under SA's by-laws, a swimmer can be cut from the team if he was convicted of a crime.

An SA official declined to comment on the decision or whether D'Arcy had grounds to appeal when contacted by Reuters.

D'Arcy, who pled guilty during the hearing, got into a fight with Cowley while at a Sydney bar celebrating his selection in the Olympic team.

Cowley slapped D'Arcy and he responded by striking him once in the face, causing serious injuries including a broken jaw and nose, a fractured eye socket and a crushed cheekbone.

D'Arcy's coach, Brian Stehr, slammed the decision and said he would not be surprised if the young swimmer retired.

"It's gone too far -- it is ridiculous," Stehr told Australian Associated Press.

"It goes above and beyond what most decent people think is reasonable punishment ... I wouldn't be surprised if he wanted to give the sport now." (Reporting by Ian Ransom, Editing by Peter Rutherford; To query or comment on this story email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)