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Jubilee News Desk
The Japanese tennis icon Naomi Osaka has withdrawn from the major tennis tournament in New York, protesting over the police shooting of Jacob Blake.
She tweeted, ‘As a black woman I feel as though there are much more important matters at hand that need immediate attention, rather than watching me play tennis.’ ATP tournament has now been suspended.
Blake, who was black and unarmed, was shot in the back by police. His shooting on Sunday in Kenosha, Wisconsin, sparked a wave of protests, some of which have turned violent, and a growing boycott by sports stars.
Organisers of the WTA Western and Southern Open in New York have said the tournament will be suspended until Friday.
Protests have also spread to a number of other US cities, including Portland, Oregon and in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where the police killing of unarmed black man George Floyd in May sparked Black Lives Matter protests across the US and globally.
“As a sport, tennis is collectively taking a stance against racial inequality and social injustice that once again has been thrust to the forefront in the United States,” the statement from the organisors said.
The announcement came just hours after two-time Grand Slam champion Osaka said on Twitter she was pulling out of her semi final.
“I don’t expect anything drastic to happen with me not playing, but if I can get a conversation started in a majority white sport I consider that a step in the right direction,” she said in a statement in English and Japanese on Twitter.
Osaka’s parents are Japanese and Haitian and as a bi-racial woman playing for Japan, she has herself been the target of intense racism in Japan.
Her withdrawal and the subsequent suspension of the WTA tournament is not the only protest in the sports world following the Kenosha shooting.
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