Soccer great Lionel Messi and tennis star Serena Williams are promoting a new campaign to help some of the 58 million children who are out of school get an education.
Both are goodwill ambassadors for the UN children’s agency UNICEF, which launched the campaign on Friday night with the FC Barcelona Foundation, which was set up by Messi’s team, and Reach Out To Asia, which is part of the Qatar Foundation and promotes education.
The “1 in 11” campaign — named for the one in 11 primary school-age children who are not in school — initially aims to help over 500,000 marginalized youngsters in Bangladesh, Indonesia and Nepal, with a goal of expanding to more nations.
PHOTO: EPA
A campaign film featuring Messi and Williams is scheduled to be shown during today’s match between Barcelona and Atletico Madrid.
UNICEF spokesman Jeremy Hartley said the campaign hopes to raise between US$12 million and US$15 million to kick-start the project at an art auction at Sotheby’s in London on Feb. 12 featuring donated works by 17 artists including Britain’s Damien Hirst, Americans Jeff Koons and Richard Serra, and Japan’s Takashi Murakami.
“Education is not a luxury, it is a necessity,” UNICEF executive director Anthony Lake said at the launch.
FC Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu said the club “is committed to society” and players donate 0.5 percent of their income to its foundation every year to promote sports and education.
Reach Out to Asia director Essa al-Mannai said the pilot program aims to reach 162,000 children in Bangladesh, 100,000 in Indonesia, including many with disabilities, and 265,000 in Nepal.
Messi said in a statement that he is supporting the campaign “because I believe every child has the right to fulfill their potential and realize their dreams.”
Williams said in a statement that the goal must be to get the number of youngsters not going to school “down to zero.”
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
HSIEH MAKES QUARTERS: Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens of Belgium won in the women’s doubles and face Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sofia Kenin of the US Top-ranked Iga Swiatek and US Open champion Coco Gauff were knocked out of the women’s singles at the Miami Open on Monday, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced in the women’s doubles. Swiatek lost to Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4, 6-2, hours after third seed Gauff fell in three sets to No. 23 Caroline Garcia 6-3, 1-6, 6-2. Alexandrova beat a top-ranked player for the first time and advanced to face Jessica Pegula, a 7-6 (7/1), 6-3 winner over Emma Navarro, in the quarter-finals. Alexandrova recorded her second win over Swiatek, following a 2021 victory in Melbourne. Swiatek had won their three matches since. “We played quite