Former Wimbledon champion Andy Murray, who was abused on social media for tweeting his support for Scottish independence last week, was disappointed over the matter, but did not “regret giving an opinion” he told the BBC yesterday.
The 27-year-old Scot tweeted his support for the “Yes” campaign a few hours before the polls opened on Thursday last week, but told the BBC he thought the UK was now going to be stronger after Scottish voters rejected independence.
Speaking to the BBC in China, he said: “It was a very emotional day for Scottish people, and the whole country and the whole of the UK — it was a big day.”
“The way it was worded, the way I sent it, is not really in my character. I don’t normally do stuff like that,” he said. “So, yeah, I was a bit disappointed by that. It’s time to move on. I can’t go back on that and I’ll concentrate on my tennis for the next few months.”
Murray was then subjected to online abuse, with one hate message referring to the Dunblane massacre in 1996. He was a pupil at the Dunblane school where Thomas Hamilton murdered 16 children and their teacher.
MALAYSIAN OPEN
AP, KUALA LUMPUR
Rajeev Ram of the US moved into the second round of the Malaysian Open by beating Australian qualifier Omar Jasika 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.
Ram next faces top seed Kei Nishikori, who reached the US Open final this month.
Also yesterday, seventh seed Pablo Andujar of Spain beat Gregoire Burquier of France 6-2, 6-4; Philipp Petzschner of Germany defeated James Ward of Britain 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (7/5); and Go Soeda won an all-Japanese match against Kento Takeuchi 6-2, 6-1.
In a late match, Pierre-Hugues Herbert of France beat Bernard Tomic of Australia 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (9/7).
Lin Yun-ju on Thursday handed Taiwan two key victories as they advanced to the semi-finals of the ITTF World Team Table Tennis Championships Finals in London. The Taiwan men’s table tennis team beat Sweden 3-2 in five singles matches. The 24-year-old Lin, Taiwan’s top-ranked player at world No. 7 and nicknamed the “Silent Assassin,” opened the tie by defeating world No. 2 Truls Moregard 3-0 (11-8, 11-9, 13-11) before clinching the deciding fifth match with a 3-0 (11-8, 11-9, 11-5) win over Anton Kallberg to hand his team the overall victory. Kuo Guan-hong put Taiwan up 2-0 with a 3-2 (4-11, 11-8, 8-11,
Aryna Sabalenka on Thursday said that she hoped she would be able to play tennis under the Belarusian flag after the International Olympic Committee lifted its ban on the country’s athletes competing in the Olympics. World No. 1 Sabalenka has had to compete under a neutral banner as a consequence of her country’s support for Russia following its ally’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The IOC earlier on Thursday lifted its ban on Belarusian athletes competing in the Olympics, although restrictions on Russian athletes remain in place. Asked whether the women’s tour would drop the ban on her representing her country, Sabalenka said:
China’s Wu Yize on Monday won the World Snooker Championship for the first time with a dramatic 18-17 victory over Shaun Murphy in the final. Wu held his nerve to seal his thrilling triumph in a tense last frame shoot-out at Sheffield’s Crucible Theatre. The 22-year-old is the second Chinese player to win the world title after Zhao Xintong beat Mark Williams to make history as the first Asian to lift the trophy last year. Wu is also the second-youngest player to be crowned world champion at the Crucible after Stephen Hendry, who was 21 when he won in 1990. “I have been trying
Real Madrid announced on Friday they had fined Aurelien Tchouameni and Federico Valverde 500,000 euros (US$588,000) each after a training ground clash that saw Valverde transported for medical care. The club did not impose any sporting sanctions on the two players, saying in a statement that the fine “thereby concludes the internal procedures” launched against them. Valverde is going to miss today’s Clasico against Barcelona as a result of the head injury he suffered during the altercation. The club said he would be out for up to two weeks. Tchouameni took part in training on Friday and could feature at Camp
RSS