This is no bad, this is immensely disgusting!
The Tennis Federation of Tunisia orders the Arab no.1 not to play an Israeli in the quarter finals in Tashkent.
Malek Jaziri came from a straight set win against Sergiy Stakhovzky (Federer’s conqueror) and he had to face world no. 196 Amir Weintraub from Israel in the final 8, but he was forbidden.
The Tunisia Federation
The Federation wrote an email to Malek stating “Following a meeting this afternoon with the Ministry of Youth and Sports, I have the immense regret to inform you that you are ordered not to play against the Israeli player,”
The reactions from Israel
Shlomo Glickstein, director of Israel’s tennis, commented “It’s a pity for the athletes who get caught up in these situations that end up hurting their personal career”.
The reaction from the Arab tennis world
Selima Sfar was the only player to be ranked in the top 100 in the WTA circuit and she criticized the decision of Malek to follow the orders “I love and respect Malek dearly but he should have put his foot down and played
He is a professional and he must take control of his own career. In my day I played all players of different nationalities alike and I never cared to ask for permission to face anyone.
But also I never got any support from my federation and never depended on them, so I understand that he was in a tough spot because he gets some help from them.”
Sport and tennis should be far far away from politics, racism and ethnical clashes. The Tunisia Tennis Federation has definitely hit the bottom. The gave a horrible signal to their sport and they have deprived their most representative player to take a chance to reach an important semi-final.
We wonder how they can call themselves “a tennis Federation”. Disgusting.
