Israeli Athletes, Teams Grounded at Home and Abroad by War With Iran

With a national state of emergency declared in Israel through June 30 and air travel suspended, many of the country’s top athletes and teams are stranded abroad or unable to leave for major international competitions.Athletes competing in judo, volleyball, basketball, and other sports are affecting, and the 2025 Maccabiah Games — expecting 8,000 competitors from around the world — have been postponed. Sports will remain on hold while the sirens blare and missiles are launched. Priorities have changed.“We’re hanging in there,” a sports journalist based in Jerusalem, Joshua Halickman, told The New York Sun. “A lack of sleep has been the biggest issue. The sirens and missiles aren’t pleasant, to say the least. But it is what it is. We always knew that this day would come, and here it is.”From Covid to the war in Gaza, and now this conflict with Iran, Israel’s athletes and sports teams have dealt with unprecedented adversity for the last five years. Now, a new group of athletes may miss their chance to compete on the international stage.Israel’s participation in its first-ever FIBA Under-19 Basketball World Cup is in danger. Competition begins in less than two weeks, and the FIBA requested an answer by Wednesday on how the team intends to travel to Switzerland. Israel qualified for the world championship last summer and is scheduled to open play against host Switzerland on June 27. But its status remains uncertain.“They would be the first Israeli team ever to play in the world championship,” Mr. Halickman said. “But the airspace is closed, and you don’t know if they’re going to be able to fly to Switzerland.”The chairman of Israel’s Basketball Association, Amos Frishman, appealed to the minister of culture and sports, Mike Zohar, to use emergency resources to help the team travel to Switzerland. “I am appealing to you to take every possible action to ensure the team’s participation at the World Championship,” Mr. Frishman wrote in a letter.Israel is scheduled to compete in Group C, with round-robin games against Switzerland, Jordan, and the Dominican Republic. Israel is among the teams yet to announce its roster.Mr. Halickman pointed out that it’s rare for Israel and Jordan to be in the same grouping, given their strained history. “I don’t remember that last time that happened,” he said. “That’ll be interesting in itself.”Meanwhile, the executive committee of the Israel Basketball League decided to end its 2024-25 season without a champion. Hapoel Jerusalem defeated Maccabi Tel Aviv, 77-74, in a thrilling overtime game on Thursday night to tie the best-of-three series at 1-1. A much-anticipated winner-take-all Game 3 was scheduled for Sunday but canceled due to the conflict.“Game 2 was tremendous,” Mr. Halickman said. “Who knew three hours later we’d be sitting in our bomb shelters with mass sirens going off. It was something out of a movie.”With Game 3 in jeopardy, several options were considered, including declaring both teams champions, playing the final game without fans, and finding another venue. Not everyone was happy with the decision, including Maccabi Tel-Aviv, which finished first in the regular-season standings. The basketball club issued a statement saying that “the decision not to make a decision serves neither the values of sport nor the interests of Israeli sport, which invests considerable effort in its legitimacy outside the border of Israel.”Mr. Halickman said, “I think both sets of fans would have been satisfied if the league had given them both the title.”Elsewhere, the 22nd Maccabiah Games, known as the Jewish Olympics, are postponed until next year. More than 8,000 athletes from 55 countries around the world were planning to arrive in Israel to compete between July 8 and July 22 in 45 different sports.The Maccabiah chairman, Assaf Goren, said the decision to postpone was made “due to the complex security situation created by the preemptive strike on Iran, the Home Front Command’s instructions, continued suspension of flights to Israel, and the security apparatus that is needed by us all on the home front.”Top athletes competing at the Judo World Championships in Hungary never arrived due to travel complications. Sailors Nitai Hasson and Ssar Tamir missed races due to security delays. Training is also on hold as facilities in Israel are shut down.“We’ll see how things play out,” Mr. Halickman said.

Israeli Athletes, Teams Grounded at Home and Abroad by War With Iran

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