Australian senator Nick Xenophon has continued his crusade against scandal-plagued FIFA, likening the world soccer governing body’s president Sepp Blatter to a character in a Monty Python movie.
Xenophon said Blatter’s denials of crisis within FIFA were akin to the “Black Knight” in the British comedy troupe’s 1975 film Monty Python and the Holy Grail, who has his legs and arms hacked off in a sword-fight, but called it a “flesh wound.”
“Sepp looked completely in denial. He looked like Monty Python’s ‘Black Knight,’” the independent senator said in a media release yesterday. “FIFA hasn’t just received a ‘flesh wound.’ It’s on the ground bleeding profusely.”
Blatter denied FIFA’s World Cup bidding process had become compromised at a bizarre media conference on Monday, publicly backing 2022 hosts Qatar amid accusations the rich Gulf state had bought the hosting rights.
Already under the spotlight over allegations that its executives had bribed FIFA delegates for their votes, Qatar was further embarrassed when suspended vice president Jack Warner produced an e-mail in which FIFA general-secretary Jerome Valcke spoke of how the country had “bought” the World Cup.
Valcke later issued a statement denying he meant to suggest anything corrupt about the Qatar bid. Qatar has denied any impropriety.
Xenophon, who described the media conference as “bizarre,” reiterated his calls on Monday for FIFA to “refund” the A$46 million (US$49.17 million) Australia spent on its failed bid for the 2022 World Cup.
Australia, awarded the 2000 Summer Olympic Games, drew just one vote, prompting cries of foul play and criticism of the federal government for financially backing the bid.
“Australians love to win, but we don’t mind losing as long as the game is fair,” he said. “It is now quite clear that we could never have won the rights to host the 2022 World Cup because it was fixed.”
SPONSORS’ IRE
AFP, PARIS, DUBAI AND BERLIN
US soft-drinks giant Coca-Cola, sponsor of the soccer World Cup since 1978, said yesterday it found allegations of corruption at the heart of FIFA “distressing.”
“The current allegations being raised are distressing and bad for the sport,” Coca Cola spokesman Petro Kacur said. “We have every expectation that FIFA will resolve this situation in an expedient and thorough manner.”
FIFA has been plunged into crisis by accusations and counter-claims of corruption in its highest echelons.
EMIRATES
Emirates airline, sponsor of all FIFA tournaments including the World Cup, said yesterday it was “disappointed” with the corruption allegations.
“Emirates, like all football fans around the world, is disappointed with the issues that are currently surrounding the administration of this sport,” Emirates spokesman Boutros Boutros said in a statement.
“Emirates’ sponsorship of all FIFA tournaments, including the FIFA World Cup, aims to help promote soccer and ensure that it is accessible to the billions of soccer fans; something FIFA has managed to do extremely well in recent years,” Boutros said.
ADIDAS
Adidas, the world’s second-biggest sportswear and equipment group, fears for the image of soccer in the wake of the turmoil gripping FIFA, a spokesman for the German company and long-term FIFA partner said yesterday.
“The repeated accusations [of corruption] are good for neither the image of football nor FIFA itself,” the spokesman said, adding, however, that “events do not bring into question our cooperation [with FIFA].”
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