The Malaysian Insider :: Sports
The Malaysian Insider :: Sports |
| Isinbayeva condemns Green-Tregaro’s rainbow gesture Posted: 15 Aug 2013 08:52 AM PDT Green-Tregaro competed in today's qualifying round of the high jump at Luzhniki Stadium with her fingernails painted in the colours of the rainbow flag used by the gay movement. "It's disrespectful to our country, disrespectful to our citizens because we are Russians," Isinbayeva, speaking hesitantly in English, told a news conference. "Maybe we are different than European people and people from different lands. We have our law which everyone has to respect. When we go to different countries, we try to follow their rules. We are not trying to set our rules over there. We are just trying to be respectful. ""We consider ourselves, like normal, standard people, we just live boys with women, girls with boys... it comes from the history. "I hope the problem won't ruin our Olympic Games in Sochi ," added the 31-year-old, who is one of Russia's best-known athletes and won her third world title in front of an enthralled crowd on Tuesday. The controversial Russian legislation, which was passed in June, outlaws some aspects of the promotion of homosexuality and has become a political hot potato ahead of next year's Sochi Winter Olympics, when it will apply to athletes and spectators. Critics of the law have said it effectively disallows all gay rights rallies and could be used to prosecute anyone voicing support for homosexuals. Against boycott Last week, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said it had sought clarification from Russia on how the law would be applied while there have already been some calls for a boycott of the Games. Isinbayeva, who is an ambassador for Sochi 2014 and will be mayor of the main athletes' Olympic village, was against this. "Of course, I don't support this boycott," she said. "I'm also against this polemic and feel sorry that they try to involve the athletes in such a problem... because we are not prohibiting athletes from participating in Sochi even if they have no traditional relationships," added the world record holder. "It doesn't matter because... we don't care about nations, about different skin colours, we are athletes, we are one family, and we work very hard for only one goal, to take a gold medal in an Olympic Games, to participate in an Olympic games. "We are against publicity but not of course against every choice of every single person, it's their life, its their choice, it's their feelings but we are against the publicity in our country and I support our government," she added. Green-Tregaro got the inspiration for her discreet display of support from seeing a rainbow over the Russian capital. "When I first came to Moscow, the first thing I saw when I opened the curtains was a rainbow over Moscow and I thought that was a pretty good sign," the 2005 world bronze medallist told reporters. "I hadn't thought about it before, then I decided to paint my nails. I usually do my nails in something that feels good for me and it was a simple way of showing what I think." "It felt right," she said showing her brightly coloured nails painted in red, yellow, gold, blue and purple. - Reuters, August 15, 2013. |
| Former players urge Bartoli to rethink or face regret Posted: 15 Aug 2013 08:21 AM PDT Former top tennis players Goran Ivanisevic and Guy Forget have urged Marion Bartoli (pic) to reconsider her shock decision to retire from the sport, saying the Wimbledon champion would regret missing out on many great moments. The world number seven stunned the tennis world yesterday by calling it a day at the age of 28, six weeks after her first grand slam triumph. "What she did at Wimbledon was fantastic, but she will regret this decision when Wimbledon comes," Ivanisevic, unable to defend his 2001 Wimbledon title because of a shoulder injury, said in a statement released by the ATP today. "There is nothing like playing at Wimbledon as 'Wimbledon champion'," added the big-serving Croat, who retired from the sport in 2004 after losing to Australian Lleyton Hewitt in the third round of the grasscourt grand slam on Centre Court. Former men's world number four Forget said the decision announced after a second-round defeat by Romanian Simona Halep at the Western and Southern Open in Cincinnati sounded too hasty. "Marion is a very smart girl, she is so dedicated about the sport that I'm always very cautious about someone's quote right after a defeat," the former French number one said in the same statement. "I hope she is going to change her mind. You don't want to have regrets looking back. Being a professional player is such an exceptional job and you don't want to look back a few months or years later and think 'why did I stop?'." He advised Bartoli to simply take a break rather than pack up her rackets for good. "Don't rush it, just don't rush it," he said. "Take time, go to the beach for a few days, go running in the park, just get your head together... if you don't want to play the next week, just don't play it, if you want to miss the US Open, fine, but just don't quit. "Don't take such a radical decision only a few weeks after winning the biggest tournament in the world." French tennis federation president Jean Gachassin, who was not aware of Bartoli's decision before she made it public, said he had not lost hope of persuading her to reverse her decision. "Some champions have come back like (Kim) Clijsters or (Justine) Henin and I hope I will make Marion change her mind in the coming months," he told French broadcaster L'Equipe 21. Former world number one Clijsters won the US Open twice in 2009 and 2010 and the 2011 Australian Open when she returned to the sport after retiring. "Marion has been such a fighter. I want her to continue training because I know she's going to miss tennis," Gachassin added. French tennis coach Patrick Mouratoglou was convinced this was not the end of Bartoli's tennis career. "Marion, hope you are already preparing your comeback... I checked if we weren't the 1st of April when I read." he wrote on Twitter. – Reuters, August 15, 2013. |
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