South African police on Tuesday released facial images of two suspects who are wanted for the shooting death of national soccer team captain Senzo Meyiwa.
Police specialists created the images from descriptions provided by witnesses to Sunday’s killing of Meyiwa was a popular figure at home and his death in an apparent house robbery has shocked South Africans accustomed to violent crime.
Meyiwa, a goalkeeper for both South Africa and Premier Soccer League side the Orlando Pirates, is to be buried on Saturday in his home town of Umlazi on the country’s east coast, his club said.
Photo: EPA
Both suspects in the murder have high cheekbones and dreadlocks, according to the images and caption information. One is wearing a hood and the image of the other suspect is shown twice — with a hat and without one. A third suspect was not depicted.
On Sunday night, two of the suspects entered the home of Meyiwa’s girlfriend, actress and singer Kelly Khumalo, in Vosloorus Township near Johannesburg and demanded money and cellphones, while a third kept watch outside, according to police and witness accounts.
Meyiwa was hit by a single round in the chest while confronting the intruders, who then fled on foot.
The police have launched a huge operation to find the killers and offered a reward of nearly US$23,000 for information leading to their arrest and conviction.
Top South African sports officials visited Meyiwa’s family in Umlazi on Tuesday to offer their condolences, while the South African Football Association said it had received messages of sympathy from countries including Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, Sao Tome and Principe, Egypt and Jordan.
Egyptian club Al Ahly, which beat the Pirates last year to win the CAF Champions League final, said it was saddened by “the tragic loss of such a highly admired player.”
Meyiwa’s funeral this weekend will be partly organized by the local government of Kwazulu-Natal Province, the Pirates said.
Meyiwa’s funeral will be held on the same day as the burials of two other prominent figures in South African sports.
Former 800m world champion and Olympic silver medalist Mbulaeni Mulaudzi was killed on Friday last week in a car crash and female boxer Phindile Mwelase died a day later in a hospital after being in a coma for two weeks following a knockout in a fight.
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