Novak Djokovic will not participate in the BNP Paribas Open this month after the Biden administration denied his entry to the United States, due to him being unvaccinated against COVID-19.
Djokovic, 35, requested a vaccine waiver, which would have allowed him to enter the U.S. unvaccinated, but it was rejected by the Homeland Security Department.
The 22-time Grand Slam champion subsequently withdrew from the combined ATP-WTA event, which begins Wednesday at Indian Wells Tennis Garden in Indian Wells, California.
The event includes matches in both California and Miami, Florida. It runs through March 19.
The communist-like tactics pushed by the Biden regime, forcing people to do or take things that they do not want, are still in effect.
Despite mounting evidence that the vaccines may make individuals more susceptible to COVID and can be dangerous to your health and even deadly, the Biden regime is still mandating foreigners take the vaccine before coming into the country.
Djokovic refuses to take the vaccine mandated by world elites and it has prevented him from playing the game he loves. Djokovic is taking on the tyranny of the elites around the world.
Biden has prevented Djokovic entry the US before. He recently prevented him from competing in the US in January and prevented him from competing last year as well.
Djokovic was prevented from playing in the French Open and the Australian Open. This past month he was finally permitted to play in the Australian Open and he won.
💭 Orthodox Christians NOVAX & ARYNA Triumph in Australia | What Could be the Message?
💭 It’s obvious, Babylon America and Europe have become Orthodoxphobes. The Jihad is against Orthodox nations: We are seeing it in Russia, Ukraine, Greece, Serbia, Romania, Moldavia, Macedonia, Armenia, Cyprus, Syria, Iraq, Egypt and Ethiopia. All Orthodox Christian nations.
Yes, what we have seen and what we are currently seeing is the continuation of the Islamic Protestant Jihad on Orthodox Christianity.
— NATO is helping and aiding Nazis in Ukraine in massacring Orthodox Christians of Ukraine and Russia
— NATO is helping and aiding Muslims of Turkey and Azaierbjain in massacring Orthodox Christians of Armenia.
A few days ago, investigative journalist Seymour Hersh rightly noted: “”Ukraine War Will Be Over Depending On How Many People Zelensky Wants To Kill”
This is exactly what happens in Ethiopia (The fascist Oromo regime exterminating may be up to three million Orthodox Christians) and what will happen in Ukraine (the Nazi regime of Zelensky exterminating upto 10 million Orthodox Christians of Ukraine, Russia and Moldova.)
💭 ‘Bolshevist’ Congressman Jamie Raskin Calls to Destroy ‘Orthodox Christian’ Russia by Jihad
💭 Anti-Orthodox Conspiracy: NATO ‘Ready to Act’ in KOSOVO if Tensions with SERBIA Escalate
😲 It’s a justice for all the unvaccinated – Pay your Trash Bill!
Novax’s Win is How You Know God is in Control.
💭 The Serbian tennis star beat Stefanos Tsitsipas in three sets in the final in Melbourne on Sunday in front of Bill Gates. Djokovic was unable to compete in the tournament last year over his refusal to have the COVID vaccine.
In 2022, Novak Djokovic was first jailed and then deported from Australia after former immigration minister Alex Hawke found the tennis star posed a risk to public health and order because Novaxx was not vaxxed.
☆ Rafael Nadal short on sympathy for Novax Djokovic
Australian Open, January, 2022
‘If you are vaccinated, you can play’
☆ Indian Wells: Two month later, March 2022, Nadal loses finals because of chest pain and breathing problems. A pain “like a needle that being pressed”, describes Nadal downed in the final at Indian Wells.
“I was in pain. It’s hard to breathe. I don’t know if it’s in my ribs… When I breathe, when I move, it’s like a needle being pressed. And it’s not just the pain, it affects my breathing,” the then 35-year-old Spaniard explained in a press conference.
💭 Bill Gates — After Reaping Huge Profits Selling Biontech Shares — Trashes Effectiveness Of Covid Vaccines
Bill Gates, long recognized as one of the world’s foremost proponents of vaccines, raised some eyebrows at a recent talk in Australia when he admitted there are “problems” with current COVID-19 vaccines.
Speaking at Australia’s Lowy Institute as part of a talk entitled “Preparing for Global Challenges: In Conversation with Bill Gates,” the Microsoft founder made the following admission:
“We also need to fix the three problems of [COVID-19] vaccines. The current vaccines are not infection-blocking. They’re not broad, so when new variants come up you lose protection, and they have very short duration, particularly in the people who matter, which are old people.”
Such statements came as a surprise to some in light of Gates’ longstanding support of — and investments in — vaccine manufacturers and organizations promoting global vaccination. However, they were the latest in a string of developments in recent weeks that have increasingly called the COVID-19 vaccines, in particular, into question.
‘This is a grift’: Gates’ investments in mRNA vaccines reveal ‘conflict of interest’
Several analysts and commentators were critical of Gates — but not due to disagreement with the statements he made in Australia. Instead, they argued that he had previously heavily invested in mRNA vaccines at the same time he encouraged a global COVID-19 vaccination campaign and supported mandatory vaccination.
Speaking Jan. 25 on The Hill TV’s “Rising,” co-hosts Briahna Joy Gray and Robby Soave addressed Gates’ statements. Soave initially agreed at face value with Gates’ criticism of current mRNA vaccines, saying:
“He really nails it on the issues that we’re having: the short duration of protection, not a significant discernable impact on the transmission of cases … not a massive benefit for a lot of otherwise healthy and younger people.”
However, Soave — who on Jan. 19 revealed “Facebook files” indicating the CDC significantly influenced content moderation and censorship on the platform pertaining to COVID-19 vaccines — then pointed out Gates’ prior investments that contributed to the development of mRNA vaccine technology.
Soave said, “Bill Gates was a major proponent of mRNA technology … he was an investor in BioNTech, which developed the mRNA vaccine for Pfizer.”
“We were just doing some digging,” continued Soave, “[and] we saw that he sold a lot of those shares at … how much profit was that?”
“10x,” replied Gray. “He invested $55 million in BioNTech back in 2019 and it’s now worth north of $550 million. He sold some stock … at the end of last year, I believe it was, with the share price over $300, which represented a huge gain for him over when he invested.”
Soave then unleashed critical comments directed at Gates:
“Let’s follow that trajectory: [Gates] invests heavily in BioNTech, ‘mRNA vaccines are great, this is the future,’ he talks about the vaccine timeline and how we can develop it faster, ‘we might have to cut some corners on safety’ … All in … sells it … makes a huge amount of money … but now it’s ‘yeah, it’s okay, it could be better, but what we really need is this breath spray.’”
Soave was referring to a statement Gates made during his recent talk in Australia, immediately prior to his remarks regarding the mRNA vaccines, where he said:
“We think we can also have, very early in an epidemic, a thing that you can inhale that will mean that you can’t be infected, a blocker, an inhaled blocker.”
Gray raised the issue of conflicts of interest between individuals such as Gates who hold significant positions with drug and vaccine manufacturers, and the federal government’s spending of large sums of taxpayer money to purchase these products. She said:
“This is a grift. These companies are extracting money, taxpayer money as it were, to pay for medical treatments that are not indicated by medical professionals and are less useful than what we already have.
“At the same time, the Biden administration is opening its doors, revolving doors, to people from these various industries like Jeff Zients, who is the new chief of staff for Joe Biden … who has spent his entire career at the kinds of companies, investing in the kinds of companies, that have been overcharging the government for Medicare and Medicaid payments and exact kinds of overpayments. It is an enormous grift and one that is incredibly common.”
Soave then said that Gates’ statements, and the broader issue of conflicts of interest between drug and vaccine proponents and the federal government, give credence to the assertions long made by “anti-vaxxers and the like.” He said:
“For there not to be more interrogation of his conflict of interest here by the mainstream is deeply disturbing, and for people who have been skeptical of this aspect of Pfizer and the drug development around COVID and who have been shot down in the media as kooks, anti-vaxxers and the like, I frankly think that this issue of pharmaceutical corruption and people pushing various interventions, having an investment in profit, should have been an issue that the left was leading on.
“We have to be more transparent about the fact that people who are having input in what the government policy is going to be, what’s going to be required people, the Biden administration tried to require people to get this, shouldn’t it be known at least when there are hundreds of millions of dollars of financial interests at stake for the people advising this? And their tune changes as it follows the money!”
“Microsoft founder Bill Gates, who served as one of the architects of Covid hysteria and had more of an impact than any other individual on the disastrous global pandemic policies, has finally acknowledged that the mRNA shots he’s been promoting for two years are nothing more than expired pharma junk.
“Translation: Gates admits that the shots are impossible to align with rapidly developing variants, they expire in lighting speed, and they don’t stop transmission. And they don’t work for the only at-risk portion of the population.”
Schachtel called this “an incredible reversal from the man who once advertised the shots as the cure to the coronavirus,” drawing upon Gates’ previous statement: “everyone who takes the vaccine is not just protecting themselves but reducing their transmission to other people and allowing society to get back to normal.”
Gates warns about ‘next pandemic,’ praises lockdowns, calls for more pandemic simulations
As reported by the Daily Mail Jan. 23, Gates’ talk in Australia was notable for some additional statements he made.
Gates “called for greater global cooperation using the COVID-19 pandemic as an example of how countries could improve on their response if they worked together,” arguing that “political leaders needed to set aside their differences and work together to prepare for the next virus.”
“Some of the things that stand out are that Australia and about seven other countries did population scale diagnostics early on and had quarantine policies.
“That meant you kept the level of infection low in that first year when there were no vaccines.”
Gates also called for more “pandemic simulations” to assist world leaders in dealing with “future pandemics.” He said:
“The one thing that still hangs in the balance is will we have the global capacity and at the regional and country levels that would mean that when an (infectious disease) threat comes up we act in such a way that it doesn’t go global.
“We need to be doing every five years a comprehensive exercise at both country and regional levels of pandemic preparedness and you need a global group that’s scoring everybody.”
As part of such preparedness, Gates called upon countries to have “standby tools,” including vaccines, in place for the next pandemic:
“So there’s a class that’s got measles in it, a class of flu, a class of coronavirus, and a fourth class, all of which we need to have standby tools, both antivirals and vaccines that can deal with those. It’s very doable. So on the tools front, we can be far more prepared.”
Schachtel noted that Gates was a sponsor of Event 201, a simulation conducted Oct. 18, 2019, which “predicted” a global coronavirus pandemic. One of the sponsors of Event 201 was the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF).
The Serum Institute also received a $4 million grant from the BMGF in October 2020 to support research and development as part of the COVID-19 response, while in August 2020, the Serum Institute, in partnership with the BMGF and Gavi, agreed to produce up to 100 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines for low- and middle-income countries.
In a posting on his official blog in December 2020, Gates wrote that his foundation “took on some of the financial risk” for the vaccine, so that if the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine was not approved, the Serum Institute wouldn’t “have to take a full loss.”
Gates’ remarks latest in a string of negative press for COVID, mRNA vaccines
Gates’ remarks in Australia — and the attention they received from the press — represent the latest in a series of less-than-flattering media portrayals about COVID-19 and mRNA vaccines in recent weeks.
She also accused vaccine makers of “deceptive advertising.”
Thanks @WSJ for taking vaccine makers + federal agencies to task for pushing the bivalent COVID-19 boosters without having any data to demonstrate that they are either safe or effective.https://t.co/cwPhbyXafd
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) on Thursday called for a Congressional investigation against vaccine manufacturers and the COVID-19 vaccine approval process, in response to the Project Veritas revelations.
“Federal health agencies have been captured by Big Pharma and grossly derelict in their duties throughout the pandemic,” said Johnson.
“It’s time for Congress to thoroughly investigate vaccine manufacturers and the entire COVID vaccine approval process,” he added.
“I write in response to troubling reports on Pfizer’s intention to mutate the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID) virus through gain-of-function, or ‘directed evolution,’ as detailed by Pfizer Director of Research and Development, Jordan Walker.
“As has been proven time and time again, attempts to mutate a virus, particularly one as potent as COVID, are dangerous. If the claims detailed in the video are true, Pfizer has put its desire for profit over the concern of national and global health and must hold itself accountable.”
Statements made by cartoonist Scott Adams of “Dilbert” fame regarding the COVID-19 vaccines also garnered attention. In a video dated Jan. 22, Adams said, “The anti-vaxxers clearly won, you’re the winners!” due to their distrust of the government and corporations.
Musk followed up with a second tweet, stating: “And my cousin, who is young & in peak health, had a serious case of myocarditis. Had to go to the hospital.”
Several comments from journalists tweeted in response to Musk’s statements anecdotally referred to increasing numbers of individuals experiencing such COVID-19 vaccine injuries.
🎾 Orthodox Christian Novak Djokovic Wins Australian Open a Year After Deportation
💭 The Serbian tennis star beat Stefanos Tsitsipas in three sets in the final in Melbourne on Sunday. Djokovic was unable to compete in the tournament last year over his refusal to have the COVID vaccine.
In 2022, Novak Djokovic was first jailed and then deported from Australia after former immigration minister Alex Hawke found the tennis star posed a risk to public health and order because Novaxx was not vaxxed.
💭 Australian Open 2023 — The four Finalists:
❖ Novak Djokovic: Serbian Orthodox
❖ Stefanos Tsitsipas: Greek Orthodox
❖ Aryana Sabalenka: Belarusian Orthodox
❖ Elena Rybakina: Russian-Kazakh Orthodox
Surprisingly, Orthodox Belorusian “Aryina Sabalenka” and Orthodox Ethiopian track and field queen and multiple world record holder, Letesenbet Gidey are similar in appearance.
Posted by addisethiopia / አዲስ ኢትዮጵያ on June 23, 2018
May all these three cruel and rude nations leave Christian Russia soon!
Here is why:
Many Egyptian Christians Feel Left Out of World Cup
Egypt’s first World Cup in 28 years has captivated the soccer-crazy nation, with intense focus on the squad and the broader game.
The Egyptians played the first match of the tournament June 15 and held two-time World Cup winner Uruguay scoreless for 89 minutes, until conceding a late goal and losing 1-0.
Still, the performance – with star striker Mohamed Salah injured on the sidelines – attracted international praise and gripped the millions of people gathering in groups across Egypt to watch their team together.
It was a welcome distraction for Egyptians who are struggling under harsh economic conditions. The 3-1 loss in the next match to host Russia, even with Salah back in the lineup, ended Egypt’s chances of advancing beyond the group stage. Despite the loss, the love and respect enjoyed by the team and the players remained intact.
Yet it wasn’t an entirely unifying experience.
For the country’s Christians, about 10 percent of the population, the composition of the team and the way the squad was perceived highlighted what they believe is a problem with the sport in Egypt.
No Christian has been on the national soccer squad for more than a decade, and just one played for any of the 18 top-flight clubs last season.
Egyptian coaches and officials dismiss any suggestion of discrimination, but Christians disagree. Egypt’s Christian spiritual leader has broken the church’s silence on the issue by publicly complaining about their disproportionate representation in the sport.
Egypt’s all-Muslim World Cup squad is known for being pious. The team even chose make its World Cup base in Muslim Chechnya.
The national squad has been nicknamed the prostrators because the players offer a Muslim prayer when they score. They regularly pray together when in camp and read the opening verse of the Quran before kickoff. Some perform the Muslim ritual wash before games. Generally, they frame competition, wins and defeats in religious terms.
Hassan Shehatah, one of Egypt’s most successful coaches, said nearly a decade ago that, to him, a player’s religious piety was as important as his skills. Hassan led an all-Muslim squad to win three of Egypt’s seven African titles between 2006 and 2010.
When goalkeeper Ahmed Elshenawy was named man of the match against Uruguay, he refused the Budweiser-sponsored award on religious grounds.
The perceived exclusion of Christians from top flight soccer and the national team is at odds with the outreach to the ancient community by Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, Egypt’s general-turned-president who led the military’s 2013 ouster of an Islamist president. El-Sissi has emphatically and repeatedly spoken about inclusion and sectarian harmony. However, his government, critics and some Christians say, has failed to shield the community from the day-to-day discrimination, particularly in rural areas with less state authority and religious tolerance.
Pope Tawadros II, head of the Orthodox Coptic Christians and a close el-Sissi ally, rarely speaks publicly of discrimination, but has recently waded into the issue with uncustomary bluntness. “It’s extraordinary that all of Egypt’s football teams don’t have a single Copt who has good legs and who kicked a ball on the streets when he was little,” he said.
Ahmed Hossam, a retired striker – and a Muslim who played for some of Europe’s biggest clubs – was more blunt.
He claimed in a recent television interview that youth team coaches were driving Christians away.
“Regrettably, there’s a lot of people in Egypt who are bigoted over color, religion and ethnicity,” Hossam, better known as Mido, said. “We must confront them and not bury our heads in the sand. Can you believe it that in the history of football in Egypt, only five Christians played at the top level?”
As the only Christian on his soccer youth team, Ramon Zhery says he tried everything he could to blend in with his teammates. At the end, it was not enough. Zhery, now 28, plays for a third division club in southern Egypt. He says discrimination against his faith kept him from rising further.
Speaking to The Associated Press, Zhery recounted how he tried to establish harmony with his teammates and reassure them that, though a Christian, he was just another player like them.
When they huddled before kickoff to recite the Quran’s opening verse – a ritual meant to serve as a plea for divine help – he whispered a Christian prayer to himself. When at camp, he woke up before everyone and went about rousing them to perform the dawn prayers, one of five that Muslims offer daily.
“Mohammed Salah is a world star and he prostrates every time he scores and everyone knows he is a Muslim,” said Zhery.
The Christians’ response to their perceived exclusion from domestic soccer has been “church football” – a nationwide league of five-a-side teams that is played mostly on church grounds or rented pitches.
Andrew Raafat, a physical education teacher who tried his luck in club soccer before he settled for a coaching job at a Cairo Church, says some of the better young players he works with want to play at the top level.
“I cannot tell them that they will never be selected,” Raafat said. “They get selected sometimes, but they are later let go.”
Selected Comments:
Christians better wake up. The rest of the world is not interested in living in harmony with you or treating you fairly.
Crux: when selection is not based mostly on merit, Egypt is sending a soccer team that is not as good as it coulf be. Prayers aren’t gonna solve their insufficiency. They reap what they sowed…
Well, the Egyptian soccer player PRAYERS must not have been effective…. They still lost miserably. Now we know why – they are not right with god, but seek god’s favor….
Render unto soccer that which is soccers.
Christians in the ME should be given their own country….sort of like Israel.
That was called Lebanon….but Muslims got a foothold….and you know the rest.
DISCRIMINATION AGAINST COPTS IN EGYPTIAN SPORT CLUBS
This report has been sent to the FIFA officials directly, and submitted online via the new FIFA complaint mechanism.
Copts have been struggling with widespread, comprehensive and systematic religious, governmental and societal discrimination, which extends to all aspects of life in Egypt, including sports and soccer. During the past half-century, an infinitely small number of Coptic footballers – no more than 6 – have managed to join top flight soccer clubs. Some of those have spoken out about the rampant religious intolerance and the difficulties they have encountered. For instance, former Coptic footballer Ashraf Youssef told a newspaper that his teammates refused to eat with him simply because he is Christian (1). There are currently 540 players in the top-flight soccer clubs in Egypt, and that number includes only one Coptic footballer. The Egyptian Olympic Mission to Brazil in 2016 was completely devoid of Copts, and the same applies to the Egyptian National Team at the 2018 World Cup in Russia. Not a single Copt can be found in either the main team or the reserve, and it follows that there are no Coptic sports commentators anywhere in official Egyptian media outlets or in private Muslim-owned media.
Coptic Solidarity has filed a formal complaint with FIFA in 2016 to investigate the widespread sports and soccer discrimination against Christians in Egypt. This Complaint prompted many Christians to speak up about the significant religious discrimination in soccer, which amounts to sports racism. A number of moderate brave Muslims have also addressed the same issue.
“In Egypt, we have a large number of racists who do not try to hide [their racism],” said renowned international player Ahmed Hossam – known as Mido – in a TV interview. He frankly wondered, “Does it make sense that throughout the entire history of soccer in Egypt, there have only been five Christian footballers at the top level? There are many Christian children who are not allowed to continue to play because of the racist attitude of certain coaches. I have proposed that Christians should make up at least 10% of all junior teams in order to resolve this problem”(2).
In another TV interview, footballer and sports commentator Khalid Al Ghandour mentioned a racist incident against a Coptic person at Minya Sports Club. The caller, Shenouda Wahba, reported that one of his relatives had signed up for soccer tryouts at Minya Sports Club. The club’s technical director rejected him and stipulated that he should convert to Islam in order to be selected. Mr. Al Ghandour concluded by saying, “No one knows more than I do that there are Christian soccer talents treated unfairly in Egypt, it is absurd that there are 18 major soccer teams, and not a single Coptic player in any of them” (3).
Strangely, instead of investigating this racist incident, the Sports Media Committee rebuked Khalid Al Ghandour, claiming that his statements provoke sedition and fanaticism!!!!(4).
An altercation, seen on TV, between Al Ahli club technical director, Mr. Ikrami, and a young Copt named Pierre Zouhair Shafiq, took place when the young Christian man expressed his desire to join Al Ahli. When Ikrami found out that Shafiq and his colleague were Christians, he pointed to the main door of the club and told them to get out (5). Shafiq’s colleague recalled the incident in another TV interview and confirmed that Ikrami threw them out after realizing they were Christians (6).
In an interview with Al Youm Al Sabee newspaper on March 22, 2018, Pope Tawadros II, who usually steers clear of the issue of Coptic rights, said in answer to a question about the lack of Coptic soccer players, “Do not ask Copts about this, rather address the question to clubs and playgrounds, how likely it is that there is not a single Coptic footballer to be found in all Egyptian soccer teams?!!”(7).
At the well-known clubAl Ahli, a Christian child named Tony Atef was rejected because he had a cross tattooed on his wrist. The media picked up on the incident, which forced the club to reconsider and accept him to avoid a possible scandal (8).
Dr. Yasser Ayoub, the most renowned sports reporter in Egypt, wrote several articles explicitly stating that there is widespread sports discrimination against Copts. In one of them, he observed, “It is neither logical nor natural that we do not have a single Coptic soccer player in all of the Official Egyptian league teams … One of the real reasons for this situation is the implicit oppression of Copts, which is not acknowledged due to ignorance and intolerance, or out of fear of offending sensibilities and causing tension” (9, 10, 11).
Mr. Ayoub reiterated in another interview, “Anyone who tries to prove that Christians are discriminated against in soccer is considered an agitator who is sowing sedition, so the issue is only raised in secret, while everyone denies it publicly” (12).
Egyptian intellectual Dr. Khalid Montaser put it in a nutshell in an article in Al-Watan Egyptian newspaper, “There is a chronic red line set against admitting Christians to soccer teams in Egypt … We are a racist state par excellence, and a nation adept at discriminating between its children by means of religion, and this is the reason we did not even have 10 Christian footballers over the past 100 years … If a Christian excels and tries to join a team, the coach may sing his praises, but then turns him down because ‘he is unfortunately a Christian’”(13).
Author Sami al-Behairy told one such story: his Christian friend Maged Nabih Mikhail had passed the tryouts in Al Ahli club, performing well in front of the foreign coach. However, an official at the club asked about his name to issue a player I.D., and once he realized he is Christian, he simply told him: “Sorry, we cannot admit you into the team” (14).
Famous Art critic Tariq al-Shennawi raised a question in his column at Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper about the reasons for Coptic absence in soccer, stating, “The undeniable fact is that there is a distinct Coptic absence in soccer. Are Muslim families no longer willing to let their children play soccer with the children of their Coptic neighbors?”(15).
Writer Osama Ghareib responded to this question in the same newspaper, “Copts are being excluded from soccer because they are being increasingly accused and labeled as infidels,” he explained, adding that “Exclusion from soccer is not the only repercussion, as the infidel label may make them targets for murder and rape…. Since the majority of sports officials in major clubs are newly religious, you will not find one among them who would welcome a Christian child even if his talent exceeded that of famous international footballer Messi “(16).
Mada Masr online Newspaper published an Arabic/English report on the marked exclusion of Copts from professional soccer in Egypt, highlighting a number of cases that were excluded for religious reasons (17, 18).
Writer Tawfiq Humaid called on international player Mohammed Salah to lend his support to the efforts to end religious bias in sports against Christian Egyptians. He reminded him that were he a Christian, he would not have had the opportunity to play professional soccer in Egypt; and on the other hand, if the Western World did not consider competence to be the sole criterion, Salah would not have achieved international status (19).
Islamization of Sports
The problem of Coptic absence from soccer teams reflects a wider phenomenon, namely the Islamization of Egyptian society, including sports. In Egypt, the national soccer team is known as “the kneeling team” i.e., those who kneel down to worship in the Islamic way. Former technical director of the Egyptian national team, Hassan Shehata, used to have a Muslim cleric accompany the team on international trips to recite the Quran. He once said in an interview that “a player’s relationship with God and his proper behavior are important factors when he selects players who represent Egypt internationally”(20).
In an article published in Al-Ahram newspaper, researcher Wahid Abdel-Majid criticized Shehata because of the way he mixed religion and sports (21).
This general push for Islamization is reflected in the pressure put on foreign non-Muslim coaches and players to convert to Islam. Some of them have already converted to Islam so as not to lose their jobs, while others refused to, including Ivorian footballer Coulibaly who left the Egyptian team, later stating that they wanted him to convert to Islam (22).
Islamization of sports was also manifested in such statements made by Al-Azhar Institution, “Every goal scored by Mohammad Salah promotes Islam in Europe, makes English people sing the praises of Islam, and changes the way Europeans view the [Islamic] beard” (23, 24).
Coptic Reaction to Discrimination in Sports
As frustrated Copts struggle to find a way around the prevalent discrimination in sports, their options remain limited. In fact, filing complaints is about the only thing they can do, given that all sports clubs are under the supervision of the Egyptian State, and consequently their exclusion from soccer is a State policy.
A book entitled “A Goal in the Playground of Fanaticism”, published in 2010, explored in detail the exclusion of Copts from Egyptian playgrounds. Nour Qaldis, the book’s author and a Christian journalist at Coptic newspaper Watani, highlighted a large number of cases where talents were rejected on religious grounds. The book reached the conclusion that discrimination against Copts in sports is a far-reaching phenomenon, and that preventing young Copts from joining youth teams is a strategy designed to ensure that no Copts will be able to qualify for official soccer teams (25).
The only option left to Coptic churches was to organize church tournaments in small playfields within these churches, which at least gave Copts the chance to practice. However, this option is still flawed, since these are small Playgrounds, lacking professional capabilities and the ability to nominate Coptic players for official clubs (26).
Last year, a young Christian man founded the “Je Suis” Academy as a way to bring together talented Copts who were rejected by major clubs. He rented soccer fields in remote areas, thus allowing them to develop their skills. However, limited resources remain a problem, as well as the unchanging attitude of professional clubs which continue to reject those talented players
Posted by addisethiopia / አዲስ ኢትዮጵያ on May 15, 2017
Mohammed Alarefe, a Muslim cleric from Saudi Arabia, has called for Christian football players to stop making the sign of the cross after scoring a goal.
Alarefe tweeted his criticism of the act to his 17.5 million followers on 5 May. He questioned FIFA if players making religious signs on the pitch should be legal.
Translated from Arabic, Alarefe’s tweet read: “I’ve seen video clips of athletes, soccer players running, shooting and when they win they make the symbol of the cross on their chests and my question is if FIFA’s rules forbid this.”
Alarefe, who is professor of religion at King Saud University in Riyadh, drew more than 550 responses from his tweet.
THE most intolerant people in the world – the people of peace /BS Other countries have freedom of speech and freedom of expression – you don’t like it – don’t watch. How can they be so threatened by something they don’t even believe exists?
Saudi Cleric Becomes Online Laughing Stock After Telling Student The Sun Rotates Around The Earth As Otherwise Planes Would Not Be Able To Fly
A Saudi cleric has publicly claimed that the Earth is a static object which is orbited by the sun, adding that centuries of evidence to the contrary is little more than fabrication.
Sheikh Bandar al-Khaibari is believed to have been speaking at a university lecture in the United Arab Emirates when a student asked him whether the Earth rotates or is stationary.
The Islamic scholar quickly replies ‘stationary and does not move’, before launching into a long-winded and confusing explanation that appears to the suggest that if the Earth was moving, airliners would never be able to reach their destination.
Posted by addisethiopia / አዲስ ኢትዮጵያ on August 29, 2016
A charity that campaigns for equal rights in Egypt has filed a formal complaint of discrimination against Coptic Christians in the selection of Egypt’s Olympic team.
Coptic Solidarity has complained to the International Olympic Committee and to the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) claiming that Egypt has discriminated against Coptic athletes.
Coptic Solidarity says this discrimination prevents Coptic athletes from competing at national and international levels in football, athletics and many other sports, and says it has received numerous complaints from Copts complaining of exclusion.
“Despite successfully passing all selection stages, these athletes have been excluded from national and international competition for no reason other than their religious background,” says Coptic Solidarity.
About 10 million of Egypt’s 90 million citizens are Christian.
Egypt’s Olympic mission to Rio de Janeiro was made up of 122 athletes but did not include a single Copt.
Egypt’s 2012 London delegation also did not include any Copts.
Additionally, not a single Egyptian Christian player, coach or trainer can be found on any club in the country’s premier soccer league.
Over the past four decades, just a handful of Copts have been included in any club at any level of professional or semi-professional competition in Egypt.
“This is not an impossible statistical anomaly, but instead is the product of deep-rooted discrimination that exists in the administration of athletics and football in Egypt, and in Egyptian society at large,” says Coptic Solidarity. “The infusion of religious bigotry into sports has become all too pervasive in Egypt, and is undermining the very meaning of sportsmanship. The shameful action of Egypt’s judoka, Islam El Shehaby in refusing to shake hands with his Israeli counterpart at the 2016 Olympic Games was condemned worldwide, yet in Egypt celebrated as a contrived religious victory.“
The charity says it has at least 10 such cases where athletes are prepared to testify regarding the religious discrimination they have endured in Egyptian athletics.
It reports hundreds, if not thousands, of other cases that have not been publicized because of the perceived futility of even trying.
This is just UNBELIEVABLE! Why should the world community tolerate this shameful episode? Compare the horrendous situation of Christians in the Arab republic of Egypt with the degree of tolerance and freedom ungrateful Muslims experience in Christian Ethiopia. Why isn’t Egypt excluded from international sport events?
Posted by addisethiopia / አዲስ ኢትዮጵያ on July 11, 2016
Congratulation to Portugal – They deserve it after many years of sacrifice
Generally speaking, the quality of the matches was very low. The final was between Africa N°1 & Africa N°2.Even the presence of “African” players couldn’t help to spice up the lame championships.
It looks as though, these rich dudes who’re paid millions do not seem to have the motivation and the hunger for success. The players all look like lame duck squawkers; spoiled, emasculated, de-spiritualised, impotent, selfish, ungrateful, and spiteful – just the exact reflection of Western societies.
Posted by addisethiopia / አዲስ ኢትዮጵያ on July 11, 2015
Daniel Teklehaimanot escapes on stage six of the 2015 Tour de France
In a historic day for the Tour de France, Eritrean Daniel Teklehaimanot has become the first African rider to wear the coveted King of the Mountains jersey on 10 July. Teklehaimanot, aged 26, races with the South African MTN-Qhubeka team.
“I want to hold it until the end in Paris but it’s not easy to keep this jersey,” said Teklehaimanot. “For one rider, for one day on the podium is enough. I would be happy to keep it just for one day but obviously I would like to keep it for all the races.”
Racism in cycling
The Eritrean’s triumph has been underscored by a level of racial abuse in the Tour de France and top level bicycle racing.
During the Tour of Austria, it was Eritrean Natnael Berhane who was targeted, who is also a rider with MTN-Qhubeka.
Belarusian Branislau Samoilau, a rider for Pro-Continental team CCC-Sprandi-Polkowice, has been referred to the Union Cycliste Internationale, the sport’s governing association, for uttering a racial slur directed towards the African rider.
“Get out of the way, you f*****g n****r” Samoilau allegedly told Berhane, sponsored by MTN Qhubeka.
To apologise, Samoilau has reportedly promised to donate a month’s worth of his salary to the team’s Qhubeka charity. In South Africa, Qhubeka provides bicycles, organises sports events, and gets children riding. Qhubeka and CCC-Sprandi-Polkowice did not respond to requests for comment.
The incident has raised questions about a history of racism in cycling.
According to the Telegraph, MTN-Qhubeka team principal Doug Ryder said that his riders had regularly had to battle prejudice and bullying in professional cycling, with the team’s non-African signings such as Tyler Farrar and Edvald Boasson-Hagen having to step in on occasion.
He also complained about abuse on mountain stages of the Tour of Spain in 2014. “We have [white] riders like Tyler and Edvald, riders who are well respected in the peloton, and [Berhane and Teklehaimanot] are their teammates, and they say, ‘Hey guys, come on, these guys deserve to be here,'” he told the Telegraph.
“How disrespectful ! These guys have had to work at least 4 times harder from their beginnings and equipment to get to the tour. They aren’t from wealthy nations, neighborhoods or state sponsored development teams. Think of the roads they have to train on, and the dangers along those roads. I’ll be willing to bet most of the peleton would not be able to hack their way to a pro team if the roles were reversed and they had the same conditions to start with. THEY ARE REAL HEROES. Maybe they will take that disrespectful scorn as fuel to fire their way to the top, in yellow and polka-dots. cheers guys !”
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