England and Australia players are to wear black armbands and flags at Adelaide Oval are to be flown at half-staff today in an Ashes tribute to the victims of the Bondi Beach shootings.
Two gunmen on Sunday night killed 15 people and injured dozens more at the iconic beach in Sydney. Their target was members of Sydney’s Jewish community celebrating the start of Hanukkah in what authorities said was an anti-Semitic act of terrorism.
“All of our thoughts are with the victims, their friends and families, the Jewish community and the people of Australia at this deeply distressing time. Our condolences go out to all those affected. We stand with you,” Cricket Australia and the England and Wales Cricket Board said in a joint statement.
Photo: AFP
Australia captain Pat Cummins said: “My heart goes out to the victims, their families, the people of Bondi and our Jewish community during this time. If you can, please book an appointment to donate blood.”
England captain Ben Stokes yesterday said his team was in shock as it heard news from the shootings on Sunday night.
“What happened a couple of days ago was an awful thing to watch unfold,” he said. “We were in our team room and it came up on the news about what was happening. It was silence from everyone in there seeing that happen.”
Cricket Australia said that veteran Australian folk singer John Williamson would join tributes to the victims at the start of today’s match, the third in the five-Test series, which Australia leads 2-0.
Williamson is to perform his fabled song True Blue before play begins. Williamson would follow a moment’s silence and precede the Indigenous Welcome to Country ceremony, and the Australian and England anthems.
“While sport can seem insignificant at times like this, we have the unusual opportunity to bring millions of people together to pay tribute, to console and to contemplate what we want our nation to be,” Cricket Australia chief executive Todd Greenberg said in a statement. “I’m grateful John has agreed to perform True Blue, which has at its essence is the ideal of Australians from all backgrounds sharing the same hopes and aspirations.”
South Australia Premier Peter Malinauskas said extra measures would be in place for the Ashes clash, although there was no intelligence pointing to an elevated threat level.
Additional reporting by AFP
For the first time in almost 36 years, a Parisian derby will be played in French soccer’s top flight when reigning champions Paris Saint-Germain FC take on the nouveau riche Paris Football Club (PFC) today. Not one of the players involved in today’s match — PFC’s 38-year-old third-choice goalkeeper Remy Riou is almost certainly not going to be involved — was born the last time there was a Parisian derby in Ligue 1. That was on Feb. 25, 1990, when Moroccan midfielder Aziz Bouderbala scored a brace as Racing Paris 1 beat PSG 2-1 at the Parc des Princes home that
Stan Wawrinka’s 40-year-old legs did not let him down over three-plus hours in his first singles match of a farewell tour yesterday. Three-time Grand Slam singles champion Wawrinka beat Arthur Rinderknech of France, who is ranked 29th to Wawrinka’s 157th, 5-7, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (5). The match went 3 hours, 16 minutes. Wawrinka last month announced that this year would be his last on the ATP tour. “Today was a tough battle ... it’s amazing to come here for the first time, to have so much support,” Wawrinka said yesterday. “Twenty years on tour, you kind of always play in the same place
BOUNCING BACK: Antetokounmpo had just returned from an eight-game injury absence last month, leading the Milwaukee Bucks to their third win in four games Giannis Antetokounmpo threw down the game-winning dunk with 4.7 seconds remaining to lift the Milwaukee Bucks to a 122-121 victory over the Charlotte Hornets and grab a slice of NBA history on Friday. The Bucks trailed by as many as 16 on their home floor, but Antetokounmpo scored 12 of his 30 points in the final quarter to help seal the win in a frantic finish that saw five lead changes in the final 45.7 seconds. The two-time NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) added 10 rebounds and five assists. It was his 158th regular-season game with at least 30 points, 10 rebounds and
Four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka yesterday got her season off to a winning start for Japan in the United Cup, after the UK’s Emma Raducanu pulled out of their singles clash with a fitness issue, while in Brisbane, Taiwan’s Latisha Chan and Wu Fang-hsien crashed out of the women’s doubles. In Perth, despite Osaka’s win, the UK took the match 2-1 with a deciding mixed doubles victory. Osaka was too strong for reserve and 276th-ranked Katie Swan, winning 7-6 (7/4), 6-1 as Raducanu watched from the sidelines. “I’m proud of how I fought,” Osaka said. “I’d never played here, it was tough.” Britain
RSS