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sports Diamars 4 OctOber 2022

Indonesian recalls stinging tear gas in deadly soccer melee

(AP) — Dicky Kurniawan deadliest tragedies at a sport-
felt the sharp sting in his ing event. More than 40,000
eyes as Indonesian po- spectators were at the match,
lice fired tear gas into the all Arema fans because the
football stadium. organizer had banned Perse-
baya Surabaya supporters due
From his seat near an exit, to Indonesia’s history of vio-
he said he watched the me- lent soccer rivalries.
lee unfold Saturday night as “The chaos was on the field,
angry fans poured into the but they fired the tear gas into
field to demand answers after the stadium stands,” Kur-
host Arema FC of East Java’s niawan said as he described
Malang city lost to Persebaya the tragedy from his hospital
Surabaya, its first defeat ever bed. He received bruises on
on its home turf. The mob his face but said he was fortu-
threw bottles and other ob- nate to survive.
jects, and the violence spread “Now I am done watching
outside the stadium, where soccer in the stadium,” Kur-
police cars were overturned niawan said. incident did not stop him ing treated at hospitals, ac- together.
and torched. from loving the club. cording to the Ministry of
In the bed next to Kurniawan, Women’s Empowerment and “We came here as a team,
Kurniawan, 22, was shocked teenager Farel Panji also had Malang’s Dr. Saiful Anwar Child Protection. asking forgiveness from the
when police fired tear gas a lucky escape. General Hospital, one of sev- Arema’s Chilean coach, Ja- families impacted by this
at spectators in the stands. Panji, 16, had just left his seat eral used to treat victims, was vier Roca, led the players tragedy, those who lost their
As the stinging gas spread to go to the exit when the tear filled Sunday with grieving and other officials in paying loves ones or the ones who
through the stadium, Kurni- gas came. As people ran past relatives waiting to identify respect to the dead in a cer- are still being treated in the
awan grabbed his girlfriend him to get to the exit, Panji bodies in the morgue or for emony Monday. hospital,” Roca said.
and — like everyone else — said he got pushed down by information about their loves
dashed to the exits. the crowd and collapsed. ones. Wearing black shirts, the He said soccer violence must
“I fainted for a while. When team gathered at the statue of stop.
The mass rush led to a stam- I woke up, I was still in the Police say 323 people were a lion head outside Kanjuru- “We feel like we got a punish-
pede that killed nearly three stadium seating area,” Panji injured in the crush, with han Stadium. Dozens of Are- ment,” he said. “One match
dozen people almost instant- said. He got home safely and some still in critical condi- ma supporters also attended, result is not worth paying
ly. The death toll reached 125 was taken to the hospital the tion. At least 17 children and started to cry when the with the lives of people, let
and hundreds more were in- next day. Wearing an Arema were among the dead and players poured rose petals alone more than 100 people.”
jured in one of the world’s jersey, Panji said Saturday’s seven other children are be- around the statue and prayed

Russian court sets Brittney Griner appeal date for Oct. 25

(AP) — A Russian court not yet received a productive
on Monday set Oct. 25 response from Russia to the
as the date for American offer.
basketball star Brittney Russian diplomats have re-
Griner’s appeal against fused to comment on the
her nine-year prison sen- U.S. proposal and urged
tence for drug possession. Washington to discuss the
matter in confidential talks,
Griner, an eight-time all- avoiding public statements.
star center with the WNBA’s
Phoenix Mercury and a two- U.S. President Joe Biden met
time Olympic gold medalist, last month with Cherelle
was convicted Aug. 4 after Griner, the wife of Brittney
police said they found vape Griner, as well as the player’s
canisters containing cannabis agent, Lindsay Colas. Biden
oil in her luggage at Mos- also sat down separately
cow’s Sheremetyevo Airport. with Elizabeth Whelan, Paul
Whelan’s sister.
The Moscow region court The White House said after
said it will hear her appeal. At the time, Griner, recog- home, along with Paul Whel- the meetings that the presi-
nized as one of the great- Before her conviction, the an, an American serving a 16- dent stressed to the families
Griner admitted that she had est players in WNBA his- U.S. State Department de- year sentence in Russia for his “continued commitment
the canisters in her luggage, tory, was returning to Russia, clared Griner to be “wrong- espionage. to working through all avail-
but testified that she had in- where she played during the fully detained” — a charge able avenues to bring Brittney
advertently packed them in U.S. league’s offseason. that Russia has sharply re- Blinken didn’t elaborate, but and Paul home safely.”
haste and that she had no jected. The Associated Press and
criminal intent. Her defense The nine-year sentence was other news organizations The Biden administration
team presented written state- close to the maximum of 10 Reflecting the growing pres- have reported that Washing- carried out a prisoner swap in
ments that she had been pre- years, and Griner’s lawyers sure on the Biden adminis- ton has offered to exchange April, with Moscow releas-
scribed cannabis to treat pain. argued after the conviction tration to do more to bring Griner and Whelan for Vik- ing Marine veteran Trevor
that the punishment was ex- Griner home, U.S. Secretary tor Bout, a Russian arms Reed in exchange for the
Her February arrest came at cessive. They said in similar of State Antony Blinken took dealer who is serving a 25- U.S. releasing a Russian pi-
a time of heightened tensions cases defendants have re- the unusual step of revealing year sentence in the U.S. and lot, Konstantin Yaroshenko,
between Moscow and Wash- ceived an average sentence of publicly in July that Wash- once earned the nickname convicted in a drug traffick-
ington, just days before Rus- about five years, with about a ington had made a “substan- the “merchant of death.” ing conspiracy.
sia sent troops into Ukraine. third of them granted parole. tial proposal” to get Griner The White House said it has