Tennis Channel refuses to screen Dubai tournament in support of Pe'er

By JPOST.COM STAFF
The Tennis Channel has refused to broadcast the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships, in protest of the United Arab Emirates' refusal to grant an entry visa to top Israeli player Shahar Pe'er, The New York Times reported Tuesday. The US television channel's chairman and chief executive, Ken Solomon, was quoted in the report as saying, "This is an easy decision to come by, based on what is right and wrong." "Sports are about merit, absent of background, class, race, creed, color or religion," he was quoted as saying. "They are simply about talent. This is a classic case, not about what country did what to another country. If the State of Israel were barring a citizen of an Arab nation, we would have made the same decision."