World Sailing “deeply regret” snub of Israeli competitors by Malaysia

World Sailing “deeply regret” that a pair of Israeli windsurfers were prevented from competing at the 2015 Youth World Championships due to the conditions imposed by Malaysian authorities.

Yoav Omer and Noy Drihan were unable to take part at the event in Langkawi between December 27 and January 3.

Malaysia does not have diplomatic relations with Israel and the Executive Committee of World Sailing, the world governing body, undertook a thorough investigation into the incident.

It was done with the full cooperation of the International Olympic Committee and the findings were reviewed at an extraordinary general meeting of the Executive Committee on January 8 in London.

World Sailing’s report into discrimination at the Youth World Championships found Malaysian authorities breached Article 7 of the World Sailing constitution, which states members are obligated “to ensure that there shall be no discrimination on the grounds of race, religion or political affiliation against any competitor representing an Member National Authority”.

World Sailing “deeply regret” the incident and warned discrimination at future events could lead the national authority concerned to have its membership cancelled.

The statement read: “In summary, going forward, in the event of a breach of the “no discrimination” regulations at a regatta, World Sailing shall at its discretion impose sanctions on the Member National Authority (MNA) concerned.

“These may include non-selection as a future venue, denial of appointment of World Sailing race officials to future regattas in the country, and/or cancellation of membership of World Sailing.”