Israeli Tennis Team Fined for Refusing to Play on Yom Kippur
The game against the Belgian team which was scheduled for Yom Kippur one month later is one in a play-off series. Immediately after it became known that the game had been scheduled for Yom Kippur, the team's management requested an alternative date. The Belgian Tennis Association turned down Israel's request to postpone the game, but the International Tennis Federation, which sponsors the Davis Cup, intervened and changed the date of the match to Sept. 15, but ordered the Israeli national team to pay the Belgian team 10,000 euros as compensation for the inconvenience of adding a day to the tournament. The chair of the Israel Tennis Federation, Asi Tuchmayer, wrote in a statement on the association's website, "For a long time the Belgian tennis union refused to recognize our basic need to avoid playing on Yom Kippur. Only after the intervention of the World Tennis Association was it decided not to play that day." Referring to the fine imposed on the Israeli team, Tuchmayer added, "The
high penalty deals a devastating blow to our budget and professional program.
As an institution representing the State of Israel and its values, we
are proud to stand against all those who refuse to recognize the importance
of the tradition of the Jewish people."
|