Indonesia out of Fed Cup in protest

July 4, 2006

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) -- Indonesia pulled out of a planned Fed Cup tennis match in Israel to protest that country's actions in the Gaza Strip, a foreign ministry spokesman said Tuesday.

"We are witnessing a military invasion by Israel and the arrest of scores of Palestinian officials," Desra Percaya said. "It is now impossible to play there."

Moshe Haviv, the director of the Israeli Tennis Federation, said Indonesia would be fined if it doesn't attend its scheduled match.

"We haven't heard anything about this," he said. "Usually in tennis, we don't mix sports and politics."

Israel's Foreign Ministry had no comment.

Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, had earlier asked that the venue be changed to a neutral country because it has no diplomatic relations with Israel.

But in May, the government said it would allow the team to travel to Israel for the matches which were scheduled for July 15-16 in Tel Aviv.

The two countries have met twice in the Fed Cup -- in Italy (1974) and Japan (1981) -- and Israel won both times. Indonesia must win July's playoff to stay in World Group II.

In London attending Wimbledon, the International Tennis Federation said that it had not been officially informed of Indonesia's decision and would make no comment.

Update:

Israel wins Fed Cup match by forfeit