Members of the Sports Committee of the Knesset in the plenum today asked Aharon Yadlin, Minister of Education and Culture, for the government’s viewpoint about the Indian government’s refusal to extend visas to the Israel table tennis team for competition in the upcoming International Championships which will be held in Calcutta commencing Feb. 6.
Yadlin, replying to questions posed by various members, said that all efforts have been made to exert pressure on the Indian government to end its opposition to admittance of the Israeli table tennis competitors. He pointed out that all sport bodies around the world have been contacted by the Israel Sport Federation and sport committees in governments have been asked to intervene in the matter.
The Minister of Education bitterly decried the fact that once again politics was permitted to obstruct the conduct of an intenational championship set of games. “This is the first time in the history of international sports that a country is being allowed to discriminate against a member of good standing in a sport federation without the heads of the sport federation making every possible effort to change the thinking of the government involved in this very vital matter,” he said.
“It marks the first time ever that a situation of this nature has arisen and the governing International Sports Federation has not intervened to either cancel the event entirely or insist on a change of venue,” Yadlin pointed out.
DANISH STAR PROTESTS INDIA’S ACTION
It has been learned locally that one of the leading Indian daily newspapers has written a strong editorial condemning the attitude of its government. In the meantime, the Israeli government is keeping a close eye on the matter and is requesting help from other national entities to rectify the wrong being perpetrated on the Israelis.
One pleasant aspect in the whole affair is the attitude of Klaus Peterson, a star of the Danish table tennis squad, who has refused to accompany his team to India for the championships on the ground that if Israel is not permitted to participate, the tournament is not a valid one and should not be attended by members of the International World Table Tennis Association.
Shmuel Lalkin, secretary general of the Israel Sport Federation, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that Peterson, as a reward for his humanitarian stand in the matter, is being invited to Israel as the guest of the Sport Federation to compete in exhibition matches against local table tennis stars.
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