An update at today's IOC Executive Board meeting here reported that there had been "no poisitive developments" since the last meeting in March and that it is "unlikely the situation will be resolved" before the Olympics are due to open on August 5.

Kuwait athletes will still be eligible to compete as Independent Olympic Athletes (IOA), the IOC ruled after an "exceptional authorisation".

Only those who have already qualified will be able to do this, however.

At present, six shooters and one fencer have secured places.

These are Abdulrahman Al-Faihan and 2002 world champion Khaled Al-Mudhaf in the trap, Saud Habib and Abdullah Al-Rashidi in the skeet, and Ahmad Al-Afasi and Fehaid Al-Deehani in the double trap.

Al-Deehani won Olympic bronze medals at both Sydney 2000 and London 2012.

Fencer Abdulaziz Al-Shatti has also secured a spot in the men's epee for Rio 2016.

Kuwait officials, though, had previously warned they would not allow its athletes to compete at Rio 2016 under the flag of anyone else but their own.

If they competed as IOA, there would be no reference to their nationality on their accreditation or results, with the IOC to appoint a "responsible organiser and technical officials" to oversee the team.

They would march under the Olympic flag at the Opening Ceremony, with the Olympic Anthem to be played should one of the team win a gold medal.

Kuwait was banned from the IOC last October for "undue Government interference", only three years after the lifting of a similar suspension shortly before London 2012.

It followed a new law coming into force which threatened the autonomy of the Kuwait Olympic Committee and all other National Federations, it was claimed.

It reportedly allowed undue Government interference and also meant it would be compliant with the rules of the World Anti-Doping Agency and the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Relations between international sport and the Kuwait Government became increasingly hostile in the months after the ban was imposed. 

Sporting leaders - including Association of National Olympic Committees and OCA President Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah and his brother, Kuwait Olympic Committee and Kuwait Football Association President Sheikh Talal Al-Fahad Al Sabah - were handed fines and lawsuits for supposedly complying with the international governing bodies.

A meeting was eventually brokered by the United Nations earlier this year between delegations from both the IOC and the Kuwait Government in Geneva.

Two draft agreements were drawn-up but no consensus was ultimately reached.

The IOC claim they would be still ready to talk to the Kuwaitis should they change their mind and accept these agreements.

IOC Presidential spokesman Mark Adams said today that the ban would have no impact on the presence of Sheikh Ahmad in Rio de Janeiro.

Sheikh Ahmad is thought to be at the heart of the deeply political dispute.

In 2013, the IOC member claimed that former Kuwaiti Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammad Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah and former speaker Jassem Mohammad Abdul-Mohsem Al-Karafi had laundered money, misused public funds and plotted to topple the Government.

These allegations were eventually dismissed as “fabrications”, however, and he had to apologise to the ruling Emir, Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah.

There is also personal animosity between Sheikh Ahmad and his cousin Sheikh Salman Sabah Salem Al-Humoud Al-Sabah, the Minister of Information and Minister of State for Youth Affairs.

Sheikh Salman resigned as head of the Asian Shooting Confederation last year after standing unsuccessfully against Mexico's IOC member Olegario Vazquez Raña to become head of the International Shooting Sport Federation in 2014, an election he lost by 165 votes to 128.

insidethegames exclusively reported on the eve of the election that he had been allegedly using his Government position to illegally collect votes.

Sheikh Salman, a key figure behind the new law in Kuwait, blamed Sheikh Ahmad for his defeat and for spreading these allegations.