Tokyo Olympics: British girls’s soccer group to take the knee towards racism at Games

Team Great Britain mentioned the choice was made after clarification from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on Rule 50, which permits athletes to make gestures on the sector supplied they accomplish that with out disruption and with respect for fellow rivals. England girls’s soccer group will probably be taking a knee in all their video games at Tokyo Olympics (Reuters Photo)Britain’s girls’s soccer group will take the knee earlier than matches on the Tokyo Olympics to boost consciousness about racism and all types of discrimination, coach Hege Riise mentioned on Thursday.

Team GB mentioned the choice was made after clarification from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on Rule 50, which permits athletes to make gestures on the sector supplied they accomplish that with out disruption and with respect for fellow rivals.The act of taking the knee is a type of protest first made by American soccer quarterback Colin Kaepernick and adopted by the Black Lives Matter motion.”We are clear that taking the knee is an important symbol of peaceful protest against discrimination, injustice and inequality in society,” Norwegian Riise mentioned in a press release https://www.englandfootball.com/articles/2021/Jul/14/20210714-GB-Football-team-to-take-the-knee-in-tokyo-as-three-captains-named.”We are glad that the IOC have acknowledged the significance of this type of freedom of expression.”Black gamers within the England males’s group have been subjected to a storm of on-line racist abuse after their defeat in Sunday’s Euro 2020 remaining, drawing vast condemnation from the squad’s captain, supervisor, royalty, spiritual leaders and politicians.The incident prompted British Prime Minister Boris Johnson to induce social media corporations to do extra to sort out on-line abuse which had “emerged from the dark spaces of the internet”.Riise additionally mentioned England’s Steph Houghton, Wales’ Sophie Ingle and Scotland’s Kim Little will share the captain’s armband sport by sport through the July 23-Aug. 8 Tokyo Games.Britain, who misplaced within the quarter-finals on the 2012 London Olympics however didn’t compete on the 2016 Rio Games, have been drawn in Group E. They face Chile within the opening sport on July 21 adopted by hosts Japan three days later and Canada on July 27.Click right here for IndiaToday.in’s full protection of the coronavirus pandemic.