蜜芽传媒

Fifty two years ago, tennis player Hoosen Bobat, who came from Durban in apartheid South Africa, was thrilled to receive an invite to the Junior Wimbledon competition.

He had done everything to meet the criteria: Won a national u19 tournament which made him the number one ranked player and joined an English tennis club.

But suddenly, with just days to go to the start of the tournament, he was summoned to an International Lawn Tennis Federation meeting in London where within an hour he was barred from Wimbledon. There had been an objection to his Wimbledon entry from the head of a white tennis union in South Africa.

It was a "shattering moment", and Bobat can still vividly recall it and to this day he says "there is still not closure". He spoke to Newsday about the experience.

Photo: Hoosen Bobat
Credit: 蜜芽传媒