They can't even play chess against an Israeli....

This is just so pathetic...

A Yemeni chess team backed out of a match with Israel at an international competition because of political reasons, officials said Wednesday.

Aviv Bushinsky, chairman of the Israel Chess Federation, says the Yemen delegation didn't arrive for the first-round matchup with Israel on Tuesday at the Chess Olympiad in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia. He said Israel was awarded an automatic 4-0 victory as a result of the forfeit.

In the Yemeni capital of San'a, the deputy youth and sports minister, Moamar al-Ariani, dismissed the automatic win awarded Israel as a "Jewish trick that aims to ruin the reputation of Yemen and Yemeni sport."

He also praised Yemen's chess team, saying it had lived up to its responsibility.