BERLIN: UEFA suspended Turkiye player Merih Demiral for two matches on Friday for making a controversial gesture at the European Championship, an incident that has led to a diplomatic row between Turkiye and Germany.
The ban rules Demiral out of Turkiye’s quarterfinal against the Netherlands on Saturday, and the semifinal, should Turkiye progress.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is due to attend Saturday’s game. He scrapped plans to attend a meeting in Azerbaijan and decided to attend the match instead to support the team.
UEFA said it banned Demiral “for failing to comply with the general principles of conduct, for violating the basic rules of decent conduct, for using sports events for manifestations of a non-sporting nature and for bringing the sport of football into disrepute.”
Demiral scored both goals Tuesday in a 2-1 win over Austria to earn Turkiye’s place in the quarterfinals and celebrated with a hand sign associated with an ultra-nationalist group.
After scoring the second goal he made a sign with each hand that is used by Turkish nationalists and associated with the Turkish ultra-nationalist organization Ulku Ocaklari, which is more widely known as the Gray Wolves.
Demiral defended the gesture afterward, saying it was an innocent expression of national pride and that he was hoping he’d have “more opportunities to do the same gesture again.”
It was condemned by German interior minister Nancy Faeser and other German politicians, leading to a harsh rebuke from Turkish authorities and the summoning of the German ambassador.
Turkiye’s Foreign Ministry slammed UEFA’s investigation as a politically motivated reaction “to the use of a historical and cultural symbol” and said German authorities’ statements about Demiral’s gesture “themselves contain xenophobia.”
UEFA launched its investigation into Demiral’s gesture on Wednesday. The Turkish camp had until Friday to state its case. There was no immediate reaction from the Turkish soccer association to the ban.
Demiral was previously one of 16 Turkiye players reprimanded in 2019 for making military-style salutes at games at a time when the country was conducting a military offensive in Syria.
The Gray Wolves group was founded as the youth wing of Turkiye’s far-right Nationalist Movement Party, or MHP, which is currently in an alliance with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling party, the Justice and Development Party.
In the decades following its founding in the 1960s, the group was accused of involvement in politically motivated violence, mostly against leftist groups.
Turkiye’s Demiral banned for two games, England’s Bellingham fined
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Turkiye’s Demiral banned for two games, England’s Bellingham fined
- UEFA said Demiral was being punished “for failing to comply with the general principles of conduct”
- Bellingham’s fine and suspended one-match ban were “for violating the basic rules of decent conduct,” UEFA said
India says Rohit Sharma to remain Test and one-day captain
- Sharma, 37, helped India to their second T20 title last month after beating South Africa in final
- ODI Champions Trophy is scheduled to be held in February and March 2025 in Pakistan
NEW DELHI: Rohit Sharma will stay on as captain of India’s Test and one-day teams, the country’s cricket board said, after he ended his T20 international career with a World Cup triumph.
Senior batsman Rohit led India to the T20 title last month, ending the cricket-mad nation’s global trophy drought since the 2013 Champions Trophy.
Rohit, 37, Virat Kohli, 35, and Ravindra Jadeja, 35, announced their T20 exit after the win over South Africa in the final in Barbados.
It was also the last match for outgoing coach Rahul Dravid.
“After this victory, the next stage is the 2025 WTC (World Test Championship) final and the Champions Trophy,” Jay Shah, secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, said in a video message.
“I am truly confident that we will win both the tournaments under the leadership of Rohit Sharma.”
Shah praised the trio of veteran players, as well as Dravid.
“This was our third final in the last one year,” Shah said, referring to the ODI World Cup and the World Test Championship.
The ODI Champions Trophy is scheduled to be held in February and March 2025 in Pakistan, a nation which India has refused to tour in recent times due to political tensions.
The World Test Championship cycle will end in June 2025 with the final at Lord’s in London.
India have twice finished runners-up in the Test championship, losing the final to Australia last year.
Rohit’s India also lost the ODI final to Australia at home in 2023.
Rohit took over the captaincy of the white-ball team in 2021 and became the all-format leader a year later.
Saudi U-20 wrestlers scoop 4 medals at Arab Championship in Algeria
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s under-20 wrestling team have secured four medals at the Arab Championship in Algeria.
The team captured three gold and one silver at the event held from July 2 to 5, the Saudi Press Agency reported on Sunday.
In the Greco-Roman category, Hassan Al-Harthy and Munthir Jandu both clinched gold in the 60 kg and in 63 kg divisions, respectively.
In the same category, Saud Al-Subaie took gold and Mahmoud Hawsawi silver in the 67 kg and 87 kg divisions, respectively.
The tournament brought together 165 male and female wrestlers from Tunisia, Egypt, Syria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Palestine, Jordan and hosts Algeria.
Tears of joy at New Zealand tennis club as Sun shines at Wimbledon
- A small party broke out in the early hours of Monday morning at the local tennis club as her latest Wimbledon triumph unfolded
WELLINGTON: When qualifier Lulu Sun wept after reaching the quarter-finals at Wimbledon, tears were also being shed on the other side of the world at her tennis club in a small rural town in New Zealand.
Sun, ranked 123rd in the world, cried openly on center court following her stunning 6-2, 5-7, 6-2 fourth-round win over Emma Raducanu, the 2021 US Open champion, after becoming the first New Zealand woman to reach the last eight at Wimbledon.
Sun, 23, was born in the remote town of Te Anau, near the bottom of New Zealand’s South Island.
A small party broke out in the early hours of Monday morning at the local tennis club as her latest Wimbledon triumph unfolded.
Greg Sheppard, president of Te Anau Tennis Club, said he and around 20 members had been glued to the clubhouse television to witness Sun’s victory.
“It was nerve-racking and very exciting,” Sheppard told AFP.
“When she started crying, we had a few tears in the clubhouse too. It was quite emotional.
“We’re fully pumped for her. It’s unbelievable, something we have never had before. It’ll be great to see Lulu when she is next home.”
Sun is the daughter of a Chinese mother and Croatian father.
After living in Te Anau — a town she describes as having “more sheep and deer than people” — Sun moved with her mother to Shanghai before settling in Switzerland.
Until this year, she was playing under the Swiss flag having played college tennis in the United States.
Sheppard said there was immense pride in seeing Sun play so well, so far away.
“I reckon if you dug a hole, you’d probably come out in Wimbledon. We are right on the other side,” he joked.
The draughtsman said he struggled to get any work done on Monday.
“I got home around 7am and charged my phone up, I’d run out of battery twice. My phone has been ringing red hot,” said Sheppard, who anticipates another sleep-interrupted night when Sun plays Croatia’s Donna Vekic in the last eight on Tuesday.
Sun will be bidding to become only the second New Zealand woman to reach the last four at a Grand Slam, after Belinda Cordwell at the 1989 Australian Open.
“Hopefully it will be closer to the start of the night or at the other end, where we can have a cooked breakfast to go with our next match watching,” said Sheppard, who remembers Sun as a 13-year-old winning games against the club’s top men.
Her most recent appearance at the club, which has around 120 members, was an exhibition in 2018 and they will invite Sun to a tournament in December.
“We’ll be hoping she comes along, shows us a trophy or a medal or two,” said Sheppard.
“I don’t know if we’ll get a hit of tennis out of her, it would be quite cool if we did.”
Pakistan’s Ashab Irfan beats India’s Veer Chotrani to win Kanso Open Squash Championship
- Irfan beats Chotrani 11-7, 8-11, 12-10, 8-11 and 11-8 to win the final in Houston
- Pakistani squash player won Rochester Proam Squash Tournament in April this year
ISLAMABAD: Pakistani squash player Ashab Irfan defeated India’s Veer Chotrani in the final of the Kanso Open Squash Championship in Houston recently to claim the title, months after he clinched the Rochester Proam tournament in the US.
Irfan, 20, has had an impressive run in the tournament, beating Mexico’s Jorge Luis Gomez Dominguez 8-11, 10-12, 11-4, 11-2 and 11-9 to qualify for the semifinal of the tournament on Friday. He then defeated Canadian Liam Morrison 11-8, 11-6 and 13-11 to qualify for the final.
Meanwhile, Chotrani qualified for the final after beating Mexico’s Alfredo Avila Vergara in the semifinal 11-3, 9-11, 11-7 and 11-7 to qualify for the final of the tournament.
The final between Irfan and Chotrani on Sunday was a close call, with the Pakistani star player prevailing over his Indian opponent after a hard-fought win. Irfan beat Chotrani 11-7, 8-11, 12-10, 8-11 and 11-8 to clinch the trophy.
Irfan could be seen screaming in jubilation after winning the match point, putting his squash racket on the floor as he prostrated on the court amid cheers and claps from the audience.
This is Ashab’s second international squash title this year. The emerging Pakistani talent clinched the Rochester Proam Squash Tournament in April this year after beating Dominguez in the final by a score of 12-10, 11-4, 9-11, and 11-9.
Erdogan says UEFA ban on Turkiye’s Demiral ‘political’
ISTANBUL: President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday said UEFA’s two-game ban on Turkiye defender Merih Demiral for making a ultra-nationalist salute was “political” and overshadowed the championship.
The Turkish leader canceled his visit to Azerbaijan and traveled to Berlin on Saturday to watch the quarter-final at the Olympiastadion in the German capital, which tens of thousands of Turks attended.
The Netherlands came from behind to beat Turkiye 2-1 to reach the Euro 2024 semifinals.
Demiral, who scored twice against Austria, could not play Saturday after UEFA suspended him for two matches after making a controversial salute during celebrations, associated with Turkish right-wing extremist group Grey Wolves.
“To put it bluntly, UEFA’s two-match ban for Merih has cast a serious shadow over the championship,” Erdogan was quoted as telling journalists on a plane from Berlin, the official Anadolu news agency reported.
“This cannot be explained, it is a purely political decision,” he added.
Erdogan however said the decision did not affect the team’s motivation.
“Despite all the negatives... we watched a thrilling game,” Erdogan said.
Turkiye coach Vincenzo Montella said Friday that Demiral’s ban was “unfair.”
