Peer hoping to build bridges

Israeli tennis player Shahar Peer will be in the spotlight at the upcoming Dubai Tennis Championships, after being excluded from the event 12 months ago after the UAE refused to grant her a visa. She will be in the field this year and in an interview with the Independent’s Paul Newman, claims she hopes her appearance can ease political tensions.

Sport should be outside of politics, so obviously I want to go and play there. I think we all need to be equal. It hurt mentally and professionally, because I was playing very well. I was on a good run and I was ready for the tournament. It was a big tournament and I couldn't go, so it really stopped my momentum. To be barred from a country is not a nice feeling. I think there's no place for that in sport. I actually think that sport can make it better and help political situations, not make it worse.

Terry is good company
A lot of negative press coverage has come John Terry’s way in recent weeks. He gave an interview to the Times’ Mark Crampton shortly before the revelations about his private life came out and it seems he made a positive impression.

Over the years I have interviewed a fair few footballers. Some (Ryan Giggs) I’ve liked, some (Ruud Gullit, Alan Shearer) I have disliked, and some (Michael Owen, Steven Gerrard, Robbie Fowler, Andrew Cole) I’ve been fairly neutral about. Needless to say, taken together, they are not symptomatic of anything much; they’re just young men good at doing one thing.

Next to Giggs, Terry was probably the best company of the bunch. It’s worth saying that, unlike some of the footballers I ended up, after protracted negotiations, not interviewing, Terry didn’t demand payment for his time.

A good deal of Terry’s likeability came from his observance of the rules of simple human decency, an observance not always honoured, when we met, by some of the men listed above, some of whom gave every impression they did not care whether this latest intrusion into their cosseted existence lived or died. Terry, by contrast, shook hands, listened, gave me my agreed time (an hour), was solicitous of the various other people hanging around.