Liz Cambage has denied racially abusing members of the Nigerian basketball team in a controversial pre-Olympic warm-up match.
Key points:
- Former Opal Jenna O’Hea said Liz Cambage told Nigerian players to return to their “third world country” during an Olympic warm-up game.
- A News Corp report quoted several Nigerian players as saying that Cambage also called them “monkeys”.
- Cambage said the allegations were “incorrect and misleading.”
A Sunday Telegraph report quoted anonymous members of the Australian and Nigerian teams who played the match as saying that Cambage referred to his opponents as “monkeys” after a physical confrontation.
The allegations came after former Opal Jenna O’Hea told ABC Sport Offsiders that Cambage had told Nigerian players to “return to your third world country” and that Cambage would never play in Australia again. .
In a statement posted on Instagram, Cambage denied using racial insults and intentionally hitting a Nigerian opponent with his elbow.
“I am very disappointed and saddened by the events and allegations that have unfolded in the Australian media. The account of what happened is inaccurate and misleading,” Cambage said.
“I did not use the racial insult towards the Nigerian team that has been circulating.
“After inadvertently fouling a Nigerian player on the court, I was physically assaulted by that player on the sidelines.
“They hit me in the face and pushed me to the ground, but I left.
“Before the game I asked to sit down because I was worried about my mental and physical health, which I spoke about publicly.”
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The Sunday Telegraph special quoted unnamed Nigerian players as saying that Cambage, whose father is Nigerian, called them “monkeys”.
The Telegraph also obtained a video of the closed-door confrontation of Cambage defended by Victoria Macaulay and throwing a brutal elbow to the head and neck of the Nigerian center.
Cambage has been reportedly replaced from the game but returned after a timeout and slapped a Nigerian player after getting entangled once again, with the Nigerian retaliating with his fist clenched while Cambage he was walking toward the sidewalk.
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The report quoted anonymous Australian players as facing the match, with an Opal saying that “there had been so many behavioral problems that had happened before … but this [Vegas] The incident was the final drop, which was the worst. “
The Telegraph said the Opals players were tired of what they perceived as a special treatment Cambage received from Australian superiors, with his former national teammates frustrated that the superstar center was late for the sessions. training and team meetings.
Nigerian players were also quoted by the Telegraph as saying that Cambage had told some of them a few hours before the match that he wanted to play in Nigeria because the Australian team was racist.