Haim Glovinsky secretary general of the Israel Olympic Committee, said here yesterday that Israel will resist any effort to exclude its athletes from participating in the 1978 Asian Olympic Games. His statement followed an announcement here earlier yesterday by the Asian Games Federation (AGF) that Israel will be excluded from the 1978 Games because of the security and expense involved if Israel was to participate.
The AGF ruling yesterday was the culmination of a resolution passed at the AGF executive committee meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, last April. It was decided to hold an airmail ballot among the 25 AGF members on Israeli participation in the Games. If no reply was received from member countries, it was assumed to be an approval of the resolution.
Syed Zafar, AGF secretary general, said after the Federation’s meeting here yesterday that he had received 12 replies in favor of the Kuala Lumpur resolution which stated that since the AGF was having difficulty in finding any country willing to host the Games, Israel should be asked to refrain voluntarily from taking part for security reasons.
Glovinsky denounced the ruling, declaring: “Israel will not put up with the evil design to oust her from the family of Asian nations and will continue to fight any interference of polities in sport.”
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
