Israeli player gets Dubai visa

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates -- Israeli tennis player Andy Ram will be allowed to play in a premier Dubai tennis tournament after officials said they would permit the seventh-ranked doubles player to enter the country.

The Persian Gulf country banned Israeli woman's tennis star Shahar Peer earlier this week from entering the UAE to participate in the lucrative Dubai Tennis Championships. Organizers said they feared fan anger over Israel's recent military offensive in the Gaza Strip would spill into riots in the Arab country if Peer were to play.

After Peer was barred, the tennis world harshly criticized the UAE for its ban of Israelis, and top past and present women players also came to Peer's defence -- including Americans Billie Jean King and Venus and Serena Williams.

Tennis governing officials warned that holding future tennis events in Dubai could be in doubt if the Emirates, which does not have diplomatic relations with Israel, continued to ban Israelis. And the ATP, which runs the men's tournament, gave the United Arab Emirates a Friday evening deadline to decide whether to grant Ram a visa.

ATP President Adam Helfant described the Emirates decision at the "right" one.

"No player, who qualifies to play an ATP World Tour event, should be denied their right to compete on the basis of ethnicity, nationality or religion and we are happy that the Dubai Tennis Championships and the UAE have shown that they share that view," he said in a statement.

Ram's lawyer, Amit Naor, said the Israeli was playing in France and had not yet been notified about the decision.

"I hope that this is a breakthrough and marks the end to these types of things. Obviously, we battled to get a player into a tournament. I'm glad that we succeeded," Naor said.

The head of the Emirates consular affairs department said a "special permit" had been granted. But Sultan al-Qurtasi stressed the decision should not be interpreted as a political one and would not change the fact that the Emirates does not have relations with Israel.

"This comes as part of UAE's commitment to organize international sport, educational and economic events and activities without putting any boundaries in front of the participation of individuals from states represented in the United Nations," al-Qurtasi was quoted by the country's state news agency, WAM.

.The controversy over the Israeli players could undermine the UAE's desire to host big-time global sporting events. The Tennis Channel cancelled plans to televise the women's tournament, which is currently under way, and the Wall Street Journal Europe withdrew as one of its sponsors.

A prominent group of Jewish American leaders also urged the Women's Tennis Association to punish the UAE for banning Peer and it had called on international tennis authorities to cancel the men's tournament if Ram was not given permission to participate.

The ban on Israeli athletes is just the latest fallout for Israel from its three-week-long offensive against militants in Gaza. Nearly 1,300 Palestinians, including hundreds of civilians, were killed in the fighting. The operation was heavily criticized around the world, and Peer had faced protests over it during a recent tournament in New Zealand.