Beirut: A 36-year-old Lebanese international tennis champion, Mohamed Ataya, have withdrawn from the final of the Cyprus International Championship for refusing to confront an Israeli player and rejecting normalization.
The Islamic Action Front in Lebanon praised the Mohamed Ataya position, who joined a group of world heroes for refusing normalization in response to the call of Arab and national duty to boycott the occupation.
Lebanese authorities and tweeters considered that the player, Attaya, achieved with this withdrawal a new victory for Lebanon and Lebanese sports, describing his position as honorable and heroic, with calls to boycott any activity with the Israeli occupation and continue to renounce it.
This is not the first time a country has withdrawn from a tournament.
Earlier, number of Lebanese and Arab players withdrew from many and varied world championships, rejecting normalization with the Israeli occupation, and they received wide welcome and praise through Arab platforms.
