Marcos Baghdatis defended his actions yesterday after being captured on video chanting anti-Turkish slogans with the Greek supporters' group involved in a clash with police at the Australian Open.
Videos circulating on the Internet, and broadcast here, show the Greek Cypriot, an Australian Open finalist in 2006, holding a flare and chanting "Turks Out of Cyprus" at a barbeque hosted by the Hellas Fan Club.
Members of the group were involved in a row at Melbourne Park on Tuesday that led to police using pepper spray to subdue rowdy fans, with 10 people ejected and three arrested.
PHOTO: AP
Baghdatis was shown arm-in-arm with the alleged ringleader of Tuesday's trouble, who has been banned from the rest of the tournament and is expected to be charged with assaulting police and resisting arrest.
In one video, the world No. 16 holds a burning flare above his head and sings a chant with others condemning Turkish occupation of part of his homeland of Cyprus.
"Turks out of Cyprus," the group chants twice, after finishing singing the Greek national anthem, the Melbourne Age reported.
PHOTO: AP
The video was shot 10 months ago and surfaced on YouTube.
In a statement issued after the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) met with his management, Baghdatis offered no apology.
"In that video from 2007 I was supporting the interest of my country, Cyprus, while protesting against a situation that is not recognized by the United Nations," he said. "Now I would like to concentrate on the tournament and ask everyone to respect that. I love the Australian Open and want to do well here."
PHOTO: AP
Cyprus has been divided along ethnic lines since 1974 when Turkey invaded the island's northern third in response to an Athens-engineered coup in Nicosia aimed at union with Greece.
International efforts to reunify the island have stalled.
The Hellas Fan Club, which is part of a worldwide network of supporters of Hellenic athletes, said the slogans being chanted had been misconstrued.
"The `Turks out of Cyprus' chant is directed towards the well documented illegal occupation of Cyprus, and is not directed towards citizens of the Turkish ethnic minority," it said in a statement.
Earlier in the tournament, Baghdatis defended the Greek supporters involved in the ugly scenes this week during a match between Chilean Fernando Gonzalez and Konstantinos Economidis of Greece.
"I heard that the police came in and just started spraying, so I didn't think the fans did anything wrong," he said.
It emerged Friday that one of those thrown out that night was a cousin of Baghdatis, who was accused of pouring beer over a police officer's head.
His VIP pass was stripped by authorities for unruly behavior, the Sun Herald reported.
The Australian Turkish Cypriot Cultural and Welfare Association on Friday demanded an apology from Baghdatis.
"This is a straight-forward provocation of our community and he is playing a different game to sport, he is not being a sportsman and should apologize," president Hakki Suleyman told reporters.
Greek community groups played down the furore, with the president of the Greek Orthodox Community of Melbourne and Victoria saying relations between the city's Greek and Turkish communities were "great".
Baghdatis beat Marat Safin in a five-set thriller on Thursday and now plays Australian Lleyton Hewitt in the third round today.
Bologna on Thursday advanced past Empoli to reach their first Coppa Italia final in more than half a century. Thijs Dallinga’s 87th-minute header earned Bologna a 2-1 win and his side advanced 5-1 on aggregate. Giovanni Fabbian opened the scoring for Bologna with a header seven minutes in. Then Viktor Kovalenko equalized for Empoli in the 30th minute by turning in a rebound to finish off a counterattack. Bologna won the first leg 3-0. In the May 14 final in Rome, Bologna are to face AC Milan, who eliminated city rivals Inter 4-1 on aggregate following a 3-0 win on Wednesday. Bologna last reached the
If the Wild finally break through and win their first playoff series in a decade, Minnesota’s top line likely will be the reason. They were all over the Golden Knights through the first two games of their NHL Western Conference quarter-finals series, which was 1-1 going back to Minnesota for Game 3 today. The Wild tied the series with a 5-2 win on Tuesday. Matt Boldy had three goals and an assist in the first two games, while Kirill Kaprizov produced two goals and three assists. Joel Eriksson Ek, who centers the line, has yet to get on the scoresheet. “I think the biggest
From a commemorative jersey to a stadium in his name, Argentine soccer organizers are planning a slew of tributes to their late “Captain” Pope Francis, eulogized as the ultimate team player. Tributes to the Argentine pontiff, a lifelong lover of the game, who died on Monday at the age of 88, have been peppered with soccer metaphors in his homeland. “Francisco. What a player,” the Argentine Football Federation (AFA) said, describing the first pope from Latin America and the southern hemisphere as a generational talent who “never hogged the ball” and who showed the world “the importance of having an Argentine captain,
Noelvi Marte on Sunday had seven RBIs and hit his first career grand slam with a drive off infielder Jorge Mateo, while Austin Wynn had a career-high six RBIs as the Cincinnati Reds scored their most runs in 26 years in a 24-2 rout of the Baltimore Orioles. Marte finished with five hits, including his eighth-inning homer off Mateo. Wynn hit a three-run homer in the ninth off catcher Gary Sanchez. Cincinnati scored its most runs since a 24-12 win against the Colorado Rockies on May 19, 1999, and finished with 25 hits. Baltimore allowed its most runs since a 30-3 loss to