Israel and Iranian Tennis Players Play Each Other in Youth Event
Tennis - In the past, athletes from Iran and Israel have refrained from competing against one another. However, during a doubles tennis match in a youth tournament in Yerevan, Armenia, Israel's Noam Cohen faced off against Iranian Miro Sarkissian.
Cohen competed with Russian doubles partner Egor Tsarapkin and the pair defeated Sarkissian and Russian Daniil Zhibul.
Speaking about the match, Cohen commented, "At one point my partner accidentally hit me in the head with the ball and the Iranian immediately asked me if I was all right. I knew I was going to play against an Iranian player, and I knew he was not going to drop out. He represents Iran, but he lives in Armenia. One of the Israeli tennis players, Eitan Michaeli, who trains at the tennis center in Beersheba, is friendly with him, always shakes his hand, talks to him and says he is a good guy. He told me that it doesn't bother him to play an Israeli. Of course, we shook hands."
Israel does not have diplomatic relations with Iran. In several cases, Iranians have refused to play against Israelis and in some cases, they have deliberately lost matches in order to avoid facing an Israeli player in the next round or withdrawn due to injury.
In the past, Tunisia's Malek Jaziri, acting on apparent instructions from the Tunisian tennis federation, had previously avoided playing Israelis at tournaments.
from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/2YjPDNJ
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