Relations between Egypt and the Jewish sports world continue to improve rapidly. The latest development occurred yesterday in Cairo when four top tennis players of international repute gathered to participate in a $100,000 round robin tournament. The participants were Bjorn Borg of Sweden, Ismail el Shafei, the Egyptian tennis champ, Elliot Telscher, an American Jew who is slated to be one of the finest singles players on the U.S. 1981 Maccabiah tennis squad, and Bill Scanlon, the former National Athletic Collegiate Association tennis champion.
The round robin took place before a large audience and as was expected Borg, the number one ranked international player, took down first place and copped $50,000. Shafei was next and was awarded $25,000, while Scanlon finished third for the $15,000 prize, with Telscher finishing fourth to garner $10,000.
It’s interesting to note that Borg has participated both in Israel and in Egypt and is doing everything in his power to cement sports relationships between the two countries. A move now is on to try and arrange for a basketball game between the Israel National Team and the Egyptian National Team and there is reason to believe that this match will take place in 1980.
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