Iranian player ‘pulls out of tournament’ to avoid playing against Israeli opponent
An Iranian tennis player reportedly pulled out of a tournament to avoid playing against her Israeli opponent.
Hana Shabanpour from Iran made it to the final of the junior J60 doubles tournament in Turkey last weekend. The International Tennis Federation (ITF) calls the J60 category a “mid-level tournament” on their tour, where both new and improving junior players compete.
According to the Tehran Times, a state-run news outlet, Shabanpour and her doubles partner, Samiye Idil Ozkeresteci from Turkey, had a great run to reach the women’s doubles final. But they chose to withdraw before the final match, which was supposed to be against Russia’s Eva Sultanova and Israel’s Margarita Aktuganova.
Reports say Shabanpour decided to pull out after finding out who her opponents were. She said it was in solidarity with the children from Minab School and the victims of attacks involving the US and Israel.
The ITF’s website notes that Shabanpour and Ozkeresteci “retired” from the match, and SPORTbible has reached out to the ITF for comment.
To give some background, 156 civilians, including 120 schoolchildren, were killed on the first day of the conflict between the US/Israel and Iran when a missile struck a school in southern Minab. US military investigators believe American forces likely hit the school by accident, and the Pentagon is still investigating.
Since the war began, Israel has also targeted Iran with strikes, and they had a conflict last June called the “Twelve Day War.” Although a temporary ceasefire was agreed on last month, the dispute over the Strait of Hormuz—a crucial shipping route controlled by Iran—continues.
US President Donald Trump has said Iran must reopen the Strait of Hormuz before he will end the war. He criticized Iran’s response during the ceasefire talks on his Truth Social page, also taking shots at former Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden.
He wrote, “Iran has been playing games with the United States, and the rest of the World, for 47 years. They will be laughing no longer!” In another post, he added, “I just read the response from Iran’s so-called ‘Representatives’. I don’t like it – TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE!”