Tuesday, November 30th, 2021
No squash tournament in Malaysia
Israel scandal causes World Cup cancellation
Israel wants to sue the World Squash Federation before the International Court of Sports because Malaysia does not allow the Israeli team to attend the World Cup. Now everything turns out differently: The tournament is completely canceled because the visa was not granted. But the Omikron variant probably also plays a role.
The men’s squash world championship in Malaysia has been canceled due to non-issued visas for the members of the Israeli team. The World Squash Federation (WSF) announced that “the possibility that some nations will not be able to participate because the national authorities have not confirmed the issuing of visas and travel permits” has led to the cancellation of the World Cup in Kuala Lumpur.
In addition, the WSF justified the rejection with the new Omikron variant of the coronavirus. The title fights were to take place in the Malaysian capital from December 7th to 13th. The men’s World Cup was only moved from New Zealand to Malaysia in May because the original venue was subject to Covid restrictions.
No relations between Israel and Malaysia
This relocation resulted in a number of events because Israelis are not allowed to enter Malaysia – and are now probably not allowed to participate in the World Cup in Kuala Lumpur. The matter threatened to end before the CAS International Court of Justice. Israel wanted to sue the World Squash Association there. Now the WSF canceled the whole tournament.
The Malaysian Squash Association (SRAM) initially ignored the Israel Squash Association ISA when it inquired after the relocation about the possibility of obtaining special visas so that their four players could take part in the World Cup. For the first time ever, a selection from the Jewish state had qualified for a squash World Cup. Then World Federation President Zena Wooldridge asked in Malaysia, whereupon she was informed by SRAM on September 27th that the Israeli teams could not be part of the tournament.
Israel and Malaysia do not have official diplomatic relations, and Israelis cannot visit the Southeast Asian country, where anti-Semitic views are still widespread. Conversely, Malaysian passports are labeled: “This passport is valid for all countries except Israel”.