Since my kid brother lives and breathes tennis, I by default have been kept abreast on all tennis related news. Wimbledon, considered the most prestigious tournament of the four Grand Slam tournaments started this week with the first round well under way. I am proud of the fact that Pakistan’s very own Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi became the first of his country in over 31 years who is playing at a Grand Slam tournament. He won his first Grand Slam match at Wimbledon against Lee Childs, thereby advancing him to the second round.
Here’s what you probably did not know. Qureshi has played in Wimbledon before but in the doubles bracket. In 2002, he teamed up with Amir Hadad of Israel and together they advanced to the third round. Both players got heat from their respective countries for playing with the other. From the BBC Sport article posted June 29th 2002:
“Although he is playing in his private capacity, we officially condemn his playing with an Israeli player and an explanation has been sought from him,” said Pakistan Sports director Brigadier Saulat Abbas. “Since Pakistan has no links with Israel, Qureshi may face a ban.”
What does politics have to do with sports anyway? Does an international sports team in essence represent the nation’s values and policies? Should it?
Recall in the 2004 Olympic games, where Iran’s Arash Miresmaeili basically forfeited his first round judo match against Israel’s Ehud Vaks. Miresmaeili, the dual world champion and gold medal favorite said, “Although I have trained for months and am in shape I refused to face my Israeli rival in sympathy with the oppressed Palestinian people … I am not upset about the decision I have made.”
I wonder how much of that was political pressure and how much was personal choice?
Iranian Olympic delegation chairman, Nassrollah Sajadi, said Miresmaeili should receive a $115,000 reward for withdrawing from the match against Vaks: “I hope Iran’s sporting officials agree to give him the reward which he deserves because he could easily have won a medal,” he told Sharq newspaper.
Reward? Isn’t feeling good about standing in solidarity with an oppressed people good enough of a reward? And whats this about he could have won a medal? Yes he COULD have won a medal if he competed. Dumb dumb head.
I don’t know how much attention such stinks like this actually brings to the real graveness of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict or any other political issue at hand. Lets say we have two kinds of people. One group that think that athletics should be consistent with political policy and the other group that think that the two are mutually exclusive. The people who think that political issues should not govern international sport will think that the move by Iran was stupid; thereby voiding the effectiveness of the forfeit. So that group is out. The group that feels that sports teams must serve as ambassadors to the nations must wonder what kind of diplomacy Iran is running here. I guarantee you dear reader, that if a Palestinian wrestler or soccer team were matched up against Israel in the international arena, there would be no BS like “I am protesting to match up against you because you oppress my people.” These other governments need to get over themselves.
Posted by naveed 
reconnected 