Dubai bans Israeli tennis player from country and tournament

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...

 

Re: Dubai bans Israeli tennis player from country and tournement

It was a pretty big story on CNN International yesterday; you're exaggerating to say "no one will really care." (They're doing another segment on it as I write this. And the head of the WTA apparently is threatening that the UAE could lose the tournament. Which it should.)

 

Re: Dubai bans Israeli tennis player from country and tournement

The Emirates truly suck.
The WTA is well rid of them, as should be the PGA, the LPGA, and anyone else.

 

Re: Dubai bans Israeli tennis player from country and tournement

Tiger Woods makes too much money there for the PGA to pull out.

 

Re: Dubai bans Israeli tennis player from country and tournement

Goddamn, the one thing I've always admired about McEnroe is how much money he passed up for refusing to play in South Africa. Golf needs one of those guys, and it ain;t going to be Eldrick.

 

Re: Dubai bans Israeli tennis player from country and tournement

Given the freefall of the Dubai economy, I'm not sure how long they're going to be able to throw around ridiculous sums of money at Tiger, Rafa, Roger, et al.

 

Re: Dubai bans Israeli tennis player from country and tournement

Question, can she still play in the tournament? ;D

 

Re: Dubai bans Israeli tennis player from country and tournement

What the fuck on earth are you talking about?

Jewish people are among the most represented constituencies out there.

Try being poverty-level white trash.

 

Re: Dubai bans Israeli tennis player from country and tournement

Got that right.

 

Re: Dubai bans Israeli tennis player from country and tournement

I'd rather be a black woman

 

Re: Dubai bans Israeli tennis player from country and tournement

Seriously, abbott, that might be the single dumbest sentence ever to appear on this board.

 

Re: Dubai bans Israeli tennis player from country and tournement

Nah, I've been posting here since the previous incarnation of this site, and it's not even in the top 10