Sophie Gilchrist
Sports Editor
Sports are recreational games that should be an escape from political and social issues, not used as a pawn in diplomatic battles.
Politics, however, conflicted with sports this February during Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships when Israeli player Shahar Pe’er was refused a visa to participate in the men’s and women’s tournament in the United Arab Emirates.
While athletes should represent their countries and be a source of pride for their nation, they should not be pawns in their country’s international affairs like Pe’er was.
While Pe’er’s appearance might incite anger in the Arab country, it is an international tournament and therefore all nations should be accepted, no matter what their political views may be.
This is not the first time Pe’er’s participation in a tournament has been a factor in the Arab-Israeli conflict. She faced protests at the international women’s ASB Classic in Auckland, New Zealand in January over the 2008-2009 Israel-Arab conflict as well.
Pe’er, however, is a professional athlete, not a political diplomat. She should not be held responsible and punished for her country’s international actions.
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0AIn a press conference, Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) chief executive Larry Scott said the women’s tour was “deeply disappointed” by the refusal and that Pe’er “earned the right to play in the tournament and it’s regrettable that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is denying her this right.”
Five of the top men including defending champion Andy Roddick backed out of the tournament in protest while four other players including Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal also dropped out of the tournament, saying it was due to injuries.
“I really didn’t agree with what went on over [in Dubai],” said Roddick in a press interview. “I don’t know if it’s the best thing to mix politics and sports, and that was probably a big part of it.”
Politics have been a part of sports recently in Asia where members of both the Sri Lanka and Indian cricket teams were victims of a number of terrorist attacks. Earlier in March, a number of gunmen ambushed the Sri Lankan team when they traveled to a stadium in Pakistan.
Many cricket teams are reconsidering traveling to other countries now to compete. This would diminish the quality of cricket and, in a larger picture, would end the reason of playing sports for entertainment and therefore change the reason the world plays sports.
There is a fine line between sports and politics. If the two mix, the very premise of sports would change from a source of entertainment to an arena for political conflict.
