Israel Matzav

Awesome: Tunisia gets one-year Davis Cup ban for ordering player not to compete against Israeli

Shavua tov, a good week to everyone.

Tunisia has drawn a one-year suspension from Davis Cup tennis competition by ordering a player not to compete against Israeli Amir Weintraub.

Malek Jaziri withdrew from the second tier Tashkent Challenger tournament last month before his match against Israel's Amir Weintraub. Jaziri's brother told reporters the 215th ranked player had been ordered to default the match.

The governing body of men's tennis, ATP, cleared the player of wrongdoing but the International Tennis Federation (ITF) decided to impose the ban.

"The ITF Board of Directors found that the Tunisian Tennis Federation was in breach of the ITF Constitution by interfering with international sporting practice and ordering Tunisian player Malek Jaziri not to compete against Israeli player Amir Weintraub at the 2013 Tashkent Challenger in October," the ITF said in a statement on Saturday.

"The Board was not satisfied with the case put forward by the Tunisian Tennis Federation and voted to suspend Tunisia from the 2014 Davis Cup competition."

ITF President Francesco Ricci Bitti added: "There is no room for prejudice of any kind in sport or in society. The ITF Board decided to send a strong message to the Tunisian Tennis Federation that this kind of action will not be tolerated by any of our members."

I'm waiting to hear what they did to Jaziri's brother. But it's good to hear that someone is taking this seriously.

Labels: Davis Cup tennis, Muslim anti-Semitism, Tunisia

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 6:56 PM