heyabbott
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By HARVEY ARATON
Published: February 15, 2009
As freshly strung racket strings pummeled defenseless balls Sunday, a more sinister tension was striking at the heart of women’s tennis. The show went on in Dubai but with Middle East politics as its top-ranked headline, with a player taken from the draw for the crime of being from the wrong country.
Shahar Peer, an Israeli, was scheduled to play a Russian, Anna Chakvetadze, in the first round Monday of the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships, a major stop on the early-season circuit that features all but one of the top-10 players. Peer, ranked 48th, had planned to play this $2 million tournament for some time, but there was always the specter of real-world invasion, the matter of a visa being granted to a Jewish player traveling on an Israeli passport. That had never happened in Dubai, which is part of the United Arab Emirates. Larry Scott, the chairman and chief executive of the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour, said Sunday that he told officials of the seven-year-old tournament that it had to happen now.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/16/sports/tennis/16araton.html?_r=1&ref=sports
It's akin to 1970's & 80's South Africa banning black athletes from competing. But of course since a Jewish person is the target no one will really care. Sharar Peer doesn't want the tournement cancelled, but the individual athletes could pull out as a show of solidarity. As if...
Published: February 15, 2009
As freshly strung racket strings pummeled defenseless balls Sunday, a more sinister tension was striking at the heart of women’s tennis. The show went on in Dubai but with Middle East politics as its top-ranked headline, with a player taken from the draw for the crime of being from the wrong country.
Shahar Peer, an Israeli, was scheduled to play a Russian, Anna Chakvetadze, in the first round Monday of the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships, a major stop on the early-season circuit that features all but one of the top-10 players. Peer, ranked 48th, had planned to play this $2 million tournament for some time, but there was always the specter of real-world invasion, the matter of a visa being granted to a Jewish player traveling on an Israeli passport. That had never happened in Dubai, which is part of the United Arab Emirates. Larry Scott, the chairman and chief executive of the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour, said Sunday that he told officials of the seven-year-old tournament that it had to happen now.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/16/sports/tennis/16araton.html?_r=1&ref=sports
It's akin to 1970's & 80's South Africa banning black athletes from competing. But of course since a Jewish person is the target no one will really care. Sharar Peer doesn't want the tournement cancelled, but the individual athletes could pull out as a show of solidarity. As if...
