Two Iraqi wheelchair tennis players refuse to face Israel opponent in Romania

Bucharest (QNN)- Two Iraqi wheelchair tennis players withdrew from an international tournament held in Romania, refusing to face an Israeli opponent in solidarity with the Palestinian people.

The President of the Iraqi Tennis Federation, Majid Al-Ugaili, announced on Thursday that both Nasr Mahdi and Mohammad Al-Mahdi refused to face the Israeli player during the Bucharest Open Wheelchair Tennis Tournament 2022.

The tournament, which begins on 15 August, is part of the “Performance has no limits!” platform and is the result of a partnership between Licinium Foundation and the International Tennis Federation.

Iraq has no diplomatic or other ties with Israeli occupation and most of its political factions reject normalization with the occupation.

In May 2022, the Iraqi parliament gave the first reading to a bill seeking to ban the normalization or establishment of relations with ‘Israel’.

The Iraqi parliament convened and elected the members of the legal committee. As its first work, the committee examined the “Banning Normalization and Establishment of Relations with the Zionist Entity” bill, which was later sent to the MPs to discuss and would also apply to the Kurdistan Region. The bill requires almost all officials, including those in Kurdistan Region, government institutions and media to refrain from establishing relations with ‘Israel’.

The main part of the bill criminalizes the normalization of relations with the “Zionist entity,” a reference to ‘Israel’, in addition to “banning of the establishment of diplomatic, political, military, economic, and cultural relations and any other sort of relations with the invading Zionist entity.”

This is not the first time Arab players have taken such public stances against the normalization of relations with the occupation state in support of the People of Palestine.

At the 2016 Rio Olympics, the International Olympic Committee sent Egyptian Islam El Shehaby home before the end of the Games for refusing to shake the hand of an Israeli athlete.

In July 2021, Sudan’s Mohamed Abdalrasool didn’t show up to face the Israeli player Tohar Butbul in their round of 32 bout, despite weighing in for the bout earlier, as a form of rejecting normalization with the occupation state.

Also, Algerian Fethi Nourine withdrew from facing the same Israeli player in the same competition, saying he didn’t want to compete against Butbul due to his political support of Palestine.

In January, 14-year-old Kuwaiti tennis player, Muhammad Al-Awadi, pulled out from the international tennis tournament held in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to avoid facing an Israeli opponent.

In April, Kuwaiti fencing player Mohammad Al-Fadli also refused to face an Israeli player in the group stage of the World Fencing Championships held in Dubai.

In May, Kuwaiti chess player, Bader Al-Hajri, withdrew from the competitions of the Sunway International Chess Championship held in Spain as he refused to face an Israeli opponent.