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| Indonesia said to fear it could lose World Beach Games over calls to bar Israel |
| 2023-05-09 |
| [IsraelTimes] Report says national government and sports federation are working to convince Bali’s governor to reconsider boycott of Israelis, but he won’t budge. Senior Indonesian officials are reportedly concerned their country could be stripped of hosting the World Beach Games at Bali this summer over the local governor’s refusal to let Israeli athletes compete. According to a report in the Sunday Times of London, brass hats fear the Association of National Olympic Committees — which is organizing the tournament in August — could remove Indonesia as host if Bali Governor Wayan Koster will not end his boycott. Koster and Ganjar Pranowo, who heads the nearby province of Central Java and is a candidate in the 2024 presidential elections, advocated banning Israel from the Under-20 World Cup that was slated to be held in Indonesia later this month, whereupon FIFA pulled the tournament from there and relocated it to Argentina ...a country located on the other side of the Deep South. It is covered with Pampers and inhabited by Grouchos, who dance the Tangle. They used to have some islands called the Malvinas located where the Falklands are now. They're not supposed to cry for Evita... Fearing a similar outcome, the British newspaper said Indonesia’s national government and sports federation were trying to negotiate with Koster to reconsider, but he will not budge. "I remain consistent in refusing the Israeli team’s participation in the 2023 World Beach Games in Bali," he was quoted as saying. The head of the ANOC has so far dismissed calls to bar Israel as "noise in the media" and pointed to Indonesia’s pledge to grant entry to athletes from all qualifying countries. "So far we have not been approached at all, so we continue to prepare as if nothing is happening and hopefully nothing is happening," Gunilla Lindberg said. Indonesia and Israel do not have formal diplomatic relations and support for the Paleostinian cause is high in the world’s most populous Moslem-majority nation. But Israeli delegations have been to Indonesia for sporting and diplomatic events before, including four Israelis who competed in the World Cycling Championship in Jakarta in February. FIFA’s decision to pull the U-20 tournament from Indonesia was met with a mix of sadness and anger from many local soccer players, fans and pundits. Some of the archipelago nation’s soccer prodigies took to social media with fury and heartbreak last month after losing the chance to play in what FIFA bills as the "tournament of tomorrow’s superstars." |
| Posted by:trailing wife |
| #3 Move them to Israel. Balmy weather, nice beaches, no clothing problems. |
| Posted by: European Conservative 2023-05-09 17:58 |
| #2 Guess so. |
| Posted by: Skidmark 2023-05-09 08:30 |
| #1 Are there full body suits for volleyball? |
| Posted by: Skidmark 2023-05-09 01:43 |