Tekle Ghebrelul, who was Greenland’s national soccer coach, said his firing was “unjustified” and had “racist motives,” local media reported on Friday.
Tekle Ghebrelul has been accused of assaulting a minor, which he denies and calls “a pretext” to fire him to silence his criticism of “hostility” against him in the North Atlantic autonomous Danish territory, which he moved to 14 years ago from Eritrea, the Sermitsiaq daily reported.
“Tekle Ghebrelul is shocked by the firing and incredibly disappointed that he has not had the opportunity to explain the many racism” incidents he went through, the paper said.
Football Federation of Greenland (GBU) president John Thorsen on Thursday said that Ghebrelul was fired because a majority of the board was “tired of all the trouble surrounding the national coach,” Sermitsiaq said.
“I’m told I’ve beaten or shaken a child, but where are the children’s parents? I have never received any concrete questions from the parents,” Ghebrelul told Sermitsiaq. “I’m shocked that [they have] fired me on those grounds without first hearing my version of the accusations against me.”
Ghebrelul, who also coached the Nuuk B-67 club, was racially abused by spectators during the semi-finals of the Futsal National Championship, public television KNR reported.
A message was circulated on Snapchat last month portraying Ghebrelul as a monkey eating a banana.
A player from a competing team who created that message was immediately axed by the federation.
Rugby organizers in Taiwan hope that a tournament in Singapore next week would be the catalyst to boost the sport in the nation. However, with a team of mostly university students up against more experienced players from their two opponents, Taiwan face a stern challenge at the first edition of the Unions Cup. Taiwan coach Huang Chi-hsang at a training session at the University of Taipei yesterday said that the other two teams — Singapore and Thailand — can draw on a wider pool of players, including those with overseas experience. Taiwan captain Chien Tzu-fan is one of the older hands on the
KING OF QUEEN’S: In London, Tommy Paul became the first US player to win the Queen’s Club Wimbledon warm-up since Sam Querrey in 2010 Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens of Belgium on Sunday claimed the Rothesay Classic doubles title in Birmingham, England, while Kazakhstan’s Yulia Putintseva won her first senior grass-court women’s singles title. Top seeds and reigning Australian Open champions Hsieh and Mertens defeated Zhang Shuai of China and Miyu Kato of Japan 6-1, 6-3 at the Edgbaston Priory Club in 59 minutes. “I’ve already played two doubles finals here and I lost all of them, so I’m very happy to win this one,” Mertens told the Lawn Tennis Association Web site. “Birmingham is of course very important in the lead up to Wimbledon,
Four of the P.League+’s six teams and all five of the T1 League’s clubs have signed a letter of intent to join a proposed new basketball league, New Taipei Kings chairman Walter Wang said on Saturday. The planned league of at least 10 teams would include the Kings, which Wang founded, and one from Southeast Asia, he told a news conference in New Taipei City. It is time to take professional basketball in Taiwan to the next level by forming a new league, he said, adding that he has been in discussions with many team owners and was working to convince the
Taiwanese world No. 3 women’s doubles star Hsieh Su-wei and Belgian partner Elise Mertens on Saturday dominated Asia Muhammad of the US and Aldila Sutjiadi of Indonesia to advance to the final at the Rothesay Classic Birmingham. Top seeds Hsieh and Mertens — who are eyeing their third doubles title this year after victories at BNP Paribas Open and the Australia Open — were to play Japan’s Miyu Kato and China’s Zhang Shuai in the final on Ann Jones Centre Court last night after press time. Hsieh and Mertens beat Muhammad and Sutjiadi 6-1, 6-2 in a swift 57 minutes at Edgbaston