Israel Active

Paralympian Moran Samuel claimed a silver medal at the World Rowing Championships in Sarasota, Florida. It was her third medal in a row, having won silver in 2014 and gold in 2015.

40-year-old Israeli Yoni Erlich claimed his first ATP Tour title in almost two years, winning the Chengdu Open doubles event in China with Pakistani Muslim partner Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi.

Three Israeli judokas won gold medals at the Tashkent Grand Prix in Uzbekistan. Or Sasson won the men’s over-100 kg class, Sagi Muki won the men’s under 81kg class and Betina Temelkova won the women’s under-52 kg class.  Israel topped the medals table of the 27 competing nations.

Iconic British band Take That are to hold a revival concert on Nov 27 in Tel Aviv. Three of the original members, Gary Barlow, Howard Donald and Mark Owen, will perform the band’s hits from the years of success, 1990 to 1996, when the band also included Robbie Williams.

From Oct 1 - Nov 16, the third Jerusalem Biennale features 17 group and 8 solo contemporary Jewish art exhibitions on the theme “Watershed”. They include photography, video, installation and performance art created by 200 artists from the US, Europe, Argentina, India, Singapore and of course Israel.

Israel’s Tamar festival takes place from Oct 8-11 near the Dead Sea with shows at Masada, Kibbutz Ein Gedi and the Neot Hakikar Eco Park. Performers include Jane Bordeaux, Ehud and Eviatar Banai and Hadag Nahash.

Condé Nast Traveller (UK edition) just gave a nod to the Israel-based Brown Hotels boutique hotel chain, naming The Poli House in Tel Aviv and Brown Beach House Croatia as two of the year’s best new hotels in its Hot List 2017.  The Poli house is one of Tel Aviv’s historic Bauhaus properties.

Israeli tennis star Dudi Sela pulled out of his ATP tour match against Alexandr Dolgopolov in China because the holiday of Yom Kippur was about to begin. His original request for an earlier match start was refused. So, at one-set all, Dudi quit and forfeited the $30,000 prize money he was guaranteed.

Israel’s Karmit Dor won a gold medal in the Czech Open Table Tennis Championship. She beat Poland’s Karolina Peck in 5 sets to win the Women’s Singles - light disability class. Dor also won a bronze in the doubles with Israel’s Anat Siara Sagi.

The Giro d'Italia cycling race will open next year's event in Israel, marking the first time in its 101-year history that the race will begin outside of Europe.  More than 175 of the world's best cyclists will arrive in Israel to compete in the first three stages of the race.