Lionel Messi’s tour of India kicked off on a chaotic note yesterday as fans ripped up seats and threw them onto the pitch after the Argentina and Inter Miami forward’s brief visit to the Salt Lake stadium in Kolkata, the ANI news agency reported.
Messi is in India as part of a tour during which he is scheduled to attend concerts, youth soccer clinics, a Padel tournament and launch charitable initiatives at events in Kolkata, Hyderabad, Mumbai and New Delhi.
According to reports in Indian media, the 2022 World Cup winner walked around the pitch at the stadium waving to the fans, but was closely surrounded by a large group of people and left 20 minutes after arrival.
Photo: AFP
Video from ANI showed fans throwing ripped-up stadium seats and other objects onto the field and the athletics track at the site, with several people who had climbed over a fence surrounding the playing field hurling objects.
“Only leaders and actors were surrounding Messi... Why did they call us then... We have got a ticket for 12,000 rupees [US$132.48], but we were not even able to see his face,” a fan at the stadium told Indian news agency ANI.
The organizers of Messi’s tour of India did not immediately reply to a request for a comment.
Kolkata is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, which along with the states of Kerala and Goa, has long had large soccer followings in an otherwise cricket-crazed country.
Argentine soccer great Diego Maradona twice visited Kolkata and in 2017 in the presence of thousands of fans unveiled a statue of himself holding the World Cup.
Messi, who played a friendly match at the Salt Lake stadium in 2011 in which Argentina defeated Venezuela 1-0, virtually unveiled a 21m statue of himself in the city earlier yesterday.
A runner who stopped during a marathon in China to pose doing the splits and another who hoarded energy gels have been banned for two years, the local athletics association said yesterday. The incidents happened during Sunday’s marathon in Sichuan Province’s Chengdu and were widely shared online. Videos showed a female runner stopping suddenly and dropping to the ground in the splits position, holding up her arms in a heart shape as she apparently posed for a photograph. She “committed obstructive fouls during the race, affecting the safe participation of other runners,” the Sichuan Athletics Association said in a statement, which identified
Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli yesterday vowed to “keep raising the bar” after winning the Japanese Grand Prix to become the youngest driver in Formula One history to lead the championship standings. The 19-year-old Italian took advantage of a mid-race safety car to jump into the lead after a dreadful start from pole position, crossing the line ahead of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. Antonelli’s Suzuka victory came two weeks after the first grand prix win of his career in China, and sent him top of the championship standings after three races, nine points ahead of team-mate George Russell. Mercedes are struggling to
Yu Yao-hsing on Tuesday nabbed Taiwan’s only goal in the final round of qualifiers for the 2027 AFC Asian Cup, as they fell 3-1 to Sri Lanka at Taipei Municipal Stadium. Early goals from Sri Lanka in the first half left Taiwan struggling to get on the board, and Christopher Tiao’s own goal at 53 minutes sealed the team’s fate in the third round of qualifiers. While acknowledging that the defeat, Taiwan’s sixth in Group D, was disappointing, head coach Matt Ross said he saw reasons to stay positive about the team’s development. “There were lots of positive signs in terms of the
Teng Kai-wei, the only Taiwanese player on an opening-day roster in this year’s Major League Baseball (MLB) season, took his first win of the year with the Houston Astros in his season debut. Teng entered in relief in the top of the fifth inning against the Los Angeles Angels on Saturday, with the Astros trailing 5-0. He pitched 2-1/3 scoreless innings with two strikeouts, as Houston scored 11 runs during his outing to snatch an 11-9 comeback victory. The win is the Astros’ first of the season and the third of Teng’s MLB career. “It’s my first time pitching for the Astros, so
RSS