They are young Israeli men and women, each with relatively bright futures in their respective sporting fields of cycling and tennis. In the pursuit of their dreams, the thing they lack the most is ample opportunity to prove themselves on the international stage. However, they may have broken an unofficial rule on Thursday, Yom Kippur, by opting to compete in various tournaments across the globe on the holiest day in Judaism.
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Cyclist Itamar Reinhorn, who rides for UCI WorldTeam Israel Start-Up Nation, took part on Wednesday and Thursday in the opening stage of the Tour of Slovakia and even managed to finish a respectable sixth. Yuval Ben Moshe, who rides for team Israel Cycling Academy, will also compete in stage two of the event, which begins Friday evening, Israel time.
Tennis players Nicole Khirin, Shavit Kimchi and Sahar Simon competed in the futures tournament in Johannesburg, South Africa (J3 Johannesburg Tournament 2021), where prizes worth NIS 25,000 ($7,800) were distributed among the winners. Simon and Khirin won their opening matches to advance, which Kimchi was eliminated. The three were accompanied by their coach, Yoav Schab.
As stated, the decision to compete on Yom Kippur was likely to ruffle some feathers. Such a decision likely wouldn't have been met with understanding in the 1990s, and certainly not earlier. It should be noted that UCI WorldTeam Israel Start-Up Nation is owned and funded by businessmen Sylvan Adams and Ron Baron, and is not supported in any official capacity by the State of Israel.
The Israel Tennis Association said in response: "These are personal tournaments for the players, not the official national team."
Israel Start-Up Nation said: "The Tour of Slovakia has five stages and as per the rules of racing events – absence from one of the days – in this case, Yom Kippur – doesn't allow [the rider] to continue competing in the remaining days. The choice was in the hands of the cyclists and had they asked not to compete in Slovakia, the team would have accepted their request, of course, and assigned them to a different race."
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