Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Tennis, Israeli Shahar Peer, and Dubai

[Image from internationalpropertyinvestment.com - see below]

The World Tennis Association held a tournament in Dubai just the other day - the Dubai Tennis Championships.

Shahar Peer, 21, is an Israeli tennis player, with a world ranking of 48.

Peer was supposed to have played 15th seed Anna Chakvetadze of Russia.

The United Arab Emirates refused to provide Peer with a Dubai visa.

World Tennis officials expressed disappointment and many top tennis players from around the world expressed frustration and anger at the decision.

The UAE has not commented, but some feel it has to do with the Israeli/Gaza conflict. You think? Dubai has no diplomatic relations with Israel. Could that have to do with the fact that Dubai, like most Arab countries, believes Israel has no right to exist and should driven into the sea?


According to Larry Scott, chief executive for the World Tennis Association, the WTA will "review appropriate future actions with regard to the future of the Dubai tournament."

That's nice. Why the hell didn't they cancel it?


But there's some good news, too. This from Americablog:

Many expatriates living high on the hog in Dubai have been caught in the worldwide financial maelstrom. They have acquired "crippling debts," and "are abandoning their cars at the airport and fleeing home rather than risk jail for defaulting on loans.

"Police have found more than 3,000 cars outside Dubai's international airport in recent months. Most of the cars -- four-wheel drives, saloons and 'a few' Mercedes - had keys left in the ignition."

One Western diplomat said, "Dubai is emptying out."

Heh. Heh.


An interesting related article is here.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

The WTA should cancel!!!!

If not, then the USA and other democracies should expel Dubai from all competition open to all but Israelis. Who is next to be banned? A Catholic, a Muslim, a Russian, an American etc or is it by religion, politicos, country of origin. What are the rules? What are the penalties for violating them?

If the WTA doesn’t state them clearly now, it will get worse, not better. It will not go away either.

Anonymous said...

the most amazing News i heard is that "dubai is emptying out" lol
its filled with filthy people from all around the world and the local Emiratis are becoming more and more extinct everyday! i wish that every foreigner would just leave our country and go back home!

opinions powered by SendLove.to