The heart-warming moment on Sunday when AS Roma manager Jose Mourinho gifted Felix Afena-Gyan a new pair of trainers after his two goals as a substitute at Genoa in Serie A was overshadowed by what some assumed was a racist remark made by somebody in the room.
In a video posted online by the Ghanaian forward on Monday, an unidentified man off-camera can be heard saying in Italian “there are bananas inside” as the 18-year-old unpacked the box given to him by Mourinho.
Neither Mourinho nor Afena-Gyan, who were speaking in English, reacted to the remark which was made while the striker was unpacking his gift.
Photo: EPA-EFE
AS Roma were not immediately available to comment, but Afena-Gyan posted a message on Monday playing down the incident, saying it was a joke about him eating lots of bananas.
“I have been reading a lot of comments about the video I published earlier today of a special moment for me with the coach,” he said on Instagram. “I want to assure you all that I was not offended by the background comment made in the video in any way — and that I truly believe there was no racist intent.”
“Since the first day I arrived at the club, I have been welcomed into the family by everyone, who have joked with me like they do all members of the family,” Afena-Gyan said.
“Because they see that I eat bananas a lot, that has become a thing we laugh about sometimes — and I believe the comment was another example of that,” he said.
The video, which was widely shared online, came after Afena-Gyan came off the bench to score two superb goals in Roma’s 2-0 Serie A win over Genoa on Sunday.
After the match, Mourinho said that he had “promised to buy him [Afena-Gyan] a pair of shoes he likes that cost 800 euros [US$901]” and the Portuguese coach kept his word.
The teenager, who arrived in Rome from his native Ghana to join the club’s Under-19 team in January, only made his senior debut last month and has yet to start a first-team match.
He was brought on for the final 15 minutes against Genoa and made a huge impact, sliding in the opener before firing home a superb long-range strike in stoppage time to send Mourinho’s side up to fifth place in the standings.
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
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
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