The Tennis Channel will not air coverage of the 2009 Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships this week after Israel’s Shahar Peer was denied entrance into the United Arab Emirates.
Peer qualified to compete at the Premier-level Sony Ericsson WTA Tour event, but had her visa denied at the last minute.
“This is an easy decision to come by, based on what is right and wrong,” said Ken Solomon, the chairman and chief executive of the network in comments first reported by The New York Times.
“Sports are about merit, absent of background, class, race, creed, color or religion. They are simply about talent. This is a classic case, not about what country did what to another country. If the state of Israel were barring a citizen of an Arab nation, we would have made the same decision.”
Established in 2003, Tennis Channel is the only 24-hour, television-based multimedia destination dedicated to the professional sport and passionate lifestyle of tennis.
I am glad someone did something to get the point across!!!! THere has been too much lip service and not enough action.
Appalling behaviour by the Dubai Government! The WTA should dump this tournament ASAP. But they wont. As Bob Dylan said “Money doesnt talk it swears.”
It is impressive that the Tennis Channel has taken this step. Hopefully, this will inspire the WTA and ATP to follow suit and inact sanctions against Dubai swiftly.
Cheers to Tennis Channel and Andy Roddick for doing the right thing. Hopefully other players will follow the boycott!