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2/20/09 1:12 PM | Johan Lindahl
Fears that next week's ATP Barclays Championships in Dubai might have been scrapped in a visa dispute for an Israeli player has been solved.
The ATP confirmed that doubles player Andy Ram has been given a visa into the Gulf emirate less than a week after compatriot Shahar Peer's similar request was denied for a women's WTA event.
The controversy which erupted has included calls from American Jewish groups to remove Dubai from the professional tennis calendar.
Ram, who also holds an apparently unused passport from Uruguay where he was born, could have well squeezed through the loophole by which the UEA admits Israelis on their second passport.
A spokesman at the foreign ministry said Ram had been given "special permission."
The UAE has no diplomatic ties with Israel and passport holders have denied entry to the moderate Gulf state. Local feelings have been running high after Israel's three-week January bombing campaign in Gaza which reportedly killed up to 1,300 civilians.
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Great insight - good comments. It will indeed be interesting to see how this plays out next week. As for Ram attending another tournament, money rules unfortunately.
tenisbebe , 2/21/09 3:09 AM
FYI - "Knowle-Ram Reach Marseille Final" Feb 20th
tenisbebe , 2/21/09 6:56 AM
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I used to live in Dubai and am quite familiar with the sentiments of the people there with regards to the conflict between the Palestinians and the Israelis. This controversy is just the beginning of a bigger picture. NOW, tennis will be involved in an awkward situation where an important tournament will be subjected to the threat of being scrapped because of one player who should have known that his entry to the competition will spark something really nasty.
It will be very interesting to follow this story specially when Ram starts to play in the tournament.
The problem is that it has caught a lot of media attention and it became one of the selling point of the Dubai Championships.
Indeed a bad decision by Ram to come... there are lots of tournaments that he should have entered into without having much media circus such as this.
agf25agf , 2/20/09 2:44 PM