D'Arcy kicked off SA team

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.

D'Arcy had agreed to be bound by the national governing body's "Team By-laws" three days before his court case, the statement added.

Under SA's by-laws, a swimmer can be cut from the team if he was convicted of a crime.

D'Arcy, who pleaded 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.