Officials of the Second World Bridge Olympiad, in which 30 nations participated, today ruled that if the Egyptian and Lebanese teams continue to refuse tomorrow to play against the Israeli team, they will automatically forfeit their games to Israel.
The Egyptian and Lebanese teams, led, respectively, by Omar Sharif and Jean Tuerni, announced that they had received “high level” orders against participating in any games with Israelis. The Israel team captain, Henry Confino, said his group was ready to play all scheduled games and that the Israelis were under no instructions whatever from their Government. Sharif, a film actor, told the Olympiad officials he was not personally averse to playing against Israelis, but felt compelled to follow the negative orders he had received.
Olympiad officials, saying they were “shocked” by the development, declared there was no course to follow except that of “giving” the games to Israel by default if the Arabs persisted in their boycott. Baron Robert de Nexon, of France, outgoing president of the World Bridge Federation, which organized the Olympiad, and the new president of the organization, Charles J. Solomon, of Philadelphia, said they would propose a rule forbidding any teams to refuse to play with other contestants, on pain of being barred from all play.
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