FEZ, Morocco(AP) Israeli tennis player Shahar Peer will take part in the Grand Prix SAR tournament in Morocco this week after she was denied a visa to play in the United Arab Emirates earlier this year.
Moroccan organizers confirmed Monday that the 48th-ranked Peer had arrived in the country and would play Aravane Rezai, a French citizen of Iranian descent, in the first round of the clay-court tournament.
It's purely a sports event,'' Royal Tennis Club manager Mohamed Kharchafi said.Politics has nothing to do with it.''
Peer will playing in an Arab country for the first time since she was denied a visa for the Dubai Tennis Championships in February. Dubai authorities cited security fears to justify their decision, which came as many Arab countries stepped up their boycott against Israel in the wake of its deadly military offensive in the Gaza Strip.