A major squash tournament in Malaysia has been cancelled, the sport’s governing body has said after the Southeast Asian country refused to grant visas to an Israeli team.

It is the latest instance of Muslim-majority Malaysia, which has no diplomatic relations with the Zionist entity, barring the country’s athletes.

The World Team Championship for men had been due to take place in Kuala Lumpur from December 7, with 26 squads taking part.

But the World Squash Federation (WSF) and Malaysia’s squash body said that the tournament had been axed because of the “possibility that some nations would be unable to compete due to the lack of confirmation over the issuing of visas”.

WSF president Zena Wooldridge said sport officials had sought to “influence the highest authorities of Malaysia to ensure the ability of all participating teams, including ‘Israel’, to enter Malaysia and compete.

The Israeli squash association previously said that countries that participated in a tournament from which ‘Israel’ was barred would be closing their eyes to “racism and discrimination”.

The decision came after the ISA took its case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland.

The WSF said the decision to cancel the event was ‘also influenced’ by the new Omicron coronavirus variant.

Source: Al-Jazeera