Thousands of people rocked Orlando Stadium in South Africa’s biggest township on Thursday, singing in harmony at the first World Cup concert on the eve of the world’s most watched sporting event.
Concert-goers clapped and cheered amidst almost freezing temperatures as players, local and international singing stars took to the stage, the first time such a music event has been held as part of the World Cup opening.
“The whole world has come to Soweto ... and football was one of the things that helped people realize that we are connected — that wonderful game that brought a country together,” will.i.am of the US group Black Eyed Peas said before the band opened the colorful showcase of African music in collaboration with international artists. “This is humanity coming together.”
The concert was broadcast live around the world and stars included Alicia Keys, Angelique Kidjo and Vusi Mahlasela. Colombian pop star Shakira sang the official World Cup anthem Waka Waka (This time for Africa) with South African group Freshly Ground.
Children and the elderly alike waved South African flags and sang Shosholoza, the popular local tune sung mostly at soccer matches.
The scene in the 30,000 capacity stadium was reminiscent of 1995, when South Africa, recently free from decades of Apartheid rule, won the rugby World Cup. The tournament was widely seen as uniting a country long divided along racial lines.
“This is history in the making. Only 15 years ago, we were unsure of our identity, but here we stand as one nation,” said 44-year-old Vanitha Govender, who works for Standard Bank.
Shimmy Jiyane, leader of the Soweto Gospel Choir who performed with US singer John Legend said the world was seeing the “rainbow nation.”
“The struggle started here in Soweto ... and Soweto now we call it Hollywood — we got malls, we got beautiful soccer fields, we got trains — you aren’t scared of going anywhere because it’s beautiful to be here,” he said.
South African President Jacob Zuma and FIFA president Sepp Blatter also joined the party, calling for unity for the duration of the World Cup.
Proceeds from the concert will go to build 20 centers across Africa offering healthcare, education and soccer training for disadvantaged communities, FIFA’s official social campaign for the World Cup.
The crowd chanted “Tutu, Tutu” as the tiny figure of Nobel Laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu jigged out on to the stage sporting a green and yellow striped hat and scarf.
“It’s like I’m dreaming man — wake me up,” he told the crowd. “Thank you for helping this ugly worm, which we were, to become a beautiful, beautiful butterfly.”
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but
Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai failed to secure an Olympic berth in the pommel horse following a second-place finish at the last qualifier in Doha on Friday, a performance that Lee and his coach called “unconvincing.” The Tokyo Olympics silver medalist finished runner-up in the final after scoring 6.6 for degree of difficulty and 8.800 for execution for a combined score of 15.400. That was just 0.100 short of Jordan’s Ahmad Abu Al Soud, who had qualified for the event in Paris before the Apparatus World Cup series in Qatar’s capital. After missing the final rounds in the first two of four qualifier