Sweden to face Israel in empty arena

STOCKHOLM: Sweden will play their Davis Cup first round tie against Israel next month in an empty arena because of security concerns, the Swedish news agency TT reported on Wednesday.

The decision was taken through a vote of the recreational committee of the southern city of Malmo, where the tie will be staged from March 6-8 in the 4,000-seat indoor Baltiska Hallen.

"This is about a high-risk match," TT quoted committee chairman Bengt Forsberg as saying. "We made the decision to play without a crowd only because of security reasons."