Georgia’s rugby team stood holding candles before a priest on Saturday to receive words of encouragement all too similar to those issued during the country’s short 2008 war — beat Russia.
The teams met on Saturday in a European Cup qualifier played in Trabzon, Turkey — neutral territory to limit security risks.
Georgia ran out 36-8 winners, but behind the chest-beating before and after the game, the confrontation offered a glimpse into the ties that still bond the ex-Soviet neighbors.
“In a rugby game you can see brother playing against brother. Politics will always highlight those divisions, but you wait and you see that after the game they are still brothers,” the team’s vice captain Ilia Zedginidze, 33, said.
Tensions still simmer some 18 months after Russia crushed an assault by US ally Georgia on the rebel region of South Ossetia in a five-day war.
While Georgia is at odds with itself politically over whether to mend ties with its former Soviet master, its people are suffering under a trade embargo on Georgian products, visa restrictions and closed travel links.
Many say they simply want normality to return after generations of shared history between the nations.
“We respect Russians, they are no different from us,” Merab Khunjgurua, 36, said, who works for a copper exporting company. “Flowers are blooming now and memories of the war will fade. Things are returning to normal. I can’t understand why our relations cannot as well.”
Politically, there is little sign of improvement.
Just over a week ago a pro-government Georgian television channel ran a fake news report that Russian tanks had entered the Georgian capital of Tbilisi, causing panic among its citizens.
On Saturday, buses packed with Georgians flooded the Black Sea town of Trabzon, just across the frontier, after 5,800 tickets allocated to Georgia were sold out in a matter of hours.
The Russian section of the stadium was practically empty. Vladislav Korshunov, Russian rugby team captain, saw no spirit of score settling on either side.
“Today’s game had nothing to do with politics ...We played a more experienced team than we are. That’s all,” he said.
Spectators waved Georgian and NATO flags. Saakashvili’s wife Sandra was among the fans.
If the 2008 war was a mismatch of David and Goliath proportions, the rugby confrontation was more evenly matched.
In Tbilisi cars tore down street honking horns and streaming flags from the windows.
But for some fans the game brought back anger.
“If the Georgians had even started to lose I would have jumped down on the field myself and joined the scrum. After what they did to us, this is an important matter of pride,” David Shvelidze, a Tbilisi banker said.
TO THE TOP: After securing the international title on Saturday, Team Taiwan were to face Las Vegas to potentially win their 18th Little League World Series championship A team from Taipei’s Dong Yuan Elementary School won the Little League Baseball World Series’ international title on Saturday by defeating Aruba 1-0 in the annual baseball tournament held in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania. The Taiwan team, competing under the name Chinese Taipei, were after press time last night to face a team from Las Vegas, Nevada, which beat a team from Fairfield, Connecticut, in the US championship 8-2. Taiwan are seeking to win their first Little League Baseball World Series title since 1996. “Really haven’t taken a moment to data dump right now on Taiwan,” Nevada manager T.J. Fescher said. “They’re a
‘CATASTROPHE’: Despite losing several key forwards in the summer transfer window, Bayern were up 3-0 in the first half before Harry Kane scored a hat-trick in the second Harry Kane hit a hat-trick, Michael Olise a double and newcomer Luis Diaz also scored as Bayern Munich made a “statement” against RB Leipzig 6-0 at home in the Bundesliga season opener on Friday. Bayern’s big-money arrivals, all brought in from the Premier League across the past three seasons, were dominant as the Bavarians begun their title defense in style. Olise scored twice in the first half, either side of a Diaz strike. Not to be outdone, Kane scored three goals in the second half — with two assists coming from Diaz, to bring Bayern’s total to 6-0. Kane told the Bundesliga
Marc Marquez continued his winning streak as he cruised to victory in the Hungarian GP sprint by two seconds on Saturday night to pad his championship lead. It was a seventh straight Sprint victory for the Spaniard, who has also won the last six longer Sunday grand prix races on his factory Ducati. Fabio Di Giannantonio, an Italian with the VR46 Ducati satellite team was a distant second at Balaton Park, followed by his team-mate and compatriot Franco Morbidelli third. Marquez, a six-time world champion, started the race from pole position. “I felt someone really close on the first corner, from there I
Russian Diana Shnaider continued her impressive winning streak in tour-level finals at the Monterrey Open on Saturday, beating compatriot Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 in the WTA 500 event’s final. Shnaider had little trouble in the opening set but struggled in a topsy-turvy second, as Alexandrova clinched the set’s fifth and decisive break at 5-4 to force a decider. Third-seed Shnaider carved out an advantage early on in the third set when she broke Alexandrova in the first game and held serve to go 2-0 up, an advantage she would not relinquish. World No. 12 Shnaider is now unbeaten in her last five