Israeli Tennis Team Fined for Refusing to Play on Yom
Kippur
The Israel Davis Cup team will be fined 10,000 euros (about $13,340) for
refusing to compete on Yom Kippur, it was reported on Sunday, August 12,
2013.
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."
[From an article by by Elad Benari on //israelnationalnews
(Arutz 7).]
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