GA_googleAddSlot("ca-pub-1197233282945943", "Star_Sports_Skyscraper");

Sports

Monday February 23, 2009

Venus salutes Peer in Dubai victory speech

DUBAI: Venus Williams raced to her 40th career crown on Saturday, but ensured that the raging Shahar Peer controversy was not forgotten during her Dubai Open title celebrations.

Williams told a packed crowd that it was “a shame that one of our players couldn’t be here”, in a direct reference to the United Arab Emirates’ widely-condemned decision to refuse to grant Israeli player Peer a visa.

“I thought she had to be mentioned and I felt I was going to, whether anyone else did or not,” said Wimbledon champion Williams, when it was remarked that she was the only one at the prize-giving ceremony to recall what had happened.

“I had the opportunity because I had the microphone. I thought how brave she (Peer) was to come over here, to play in Doha (last year), and suddenly here not (allowed to).

“I thought of Althea Gibson who was excluded,” she continued referring to the woman who overcame discrimination and exclusion to become Wimbledon’s first black champion in 1957.

“She played and I thought of people who stood up and played with her when no-one else would.

“My dad grew up in a place where if you spoke too much, it was your life. I had a small opportunity to say something where everyone would listen.

“It also made me think of all the people who gave something for me to be here. I am not here to rock the boat or upset anyone — I’m just here to try to do what’s right, to represent what’s right, and I think the right things will happen next week on the men’s tour.

“I think a lot of that was because of what Shahar went through, because everyone cared.

“I feel confident everyone will have the opportunity to play next year. If that wasn’t the case then we would evaluate but everyone has had the opportunity to do the right thing,” she said referring to the visa given to Andy Ram, another Israeli to play in the men’s ATP event here next week.

Williams, who eased past France’s Virginie Razzano 6-4, 6-2 to win the Dubai title, was also referring to the host of penalties announced by the WTA on Friday to punish the tournament for the Peer affair.

Organisers were hit with a record US$300,000 fine and told to post a US$2mil guarantee to ensure various conditions of entry were met for the 2010 tournament.

“Some wrong decisions were made but let’s hope they were made for the right reasons,” said Venus. “Let’s hope we will move on.” — AFP

  • E-mail this story
  • Print this story

Sports Poll