Martina Navratilova chimes in on Cristiano Ronaldo's missed header at the FIFA World Cup
Tennis icon Martina Navratilova commented on the confusion surrounding Cristiano Ronaldo's missed 'goal' in Portugal's match against Uruguay at the ongoing FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
The former Manchester United striker thought he had scored the first goal of the match against Uruguay with a header from a Bruno Fernandes cross. But upon review, the goal was taken away from the Portuguese legend as he failed to get even a slight touch on the cross.
In a statement provided by FIFA to ESPN, the governing body revealed that their state-of-the-art technology had confirmed that Ronaldo did not touch the ball on its way into the net.
"In the match between Portugal and Uruguay, using the Connected Ball Technology housed in Adidas's Al Rihla Official Match Ball, we are able to definitively show no contact on the ball from Cristiano Ronaldo for the opening goal in the game. No external force on the ball could be measured as shown by the lack of 'heartbeat' in our measurements," read the statement.
Martina Navratilova concurred with FIFA's assessment, tweeting:
"Looks like there was no touch at all…"
Looks like there was no touch at all… twitter.com/JacobsBen/stat…
Martina Navratilova applauds Iga Swiatek for her stance against the president of the Polish Tennis Association
Former Polish Tennis Association president Miroslaw Skrzypczynski was recently accused of a number of heinous crimes, including domestic violence against his ex-wife, beating his daughter, and molesting underage tennis players.
World No. 1 Iga Swiatek took to social media to speak out against Skrzypczynski and denounce violence in sports and everyday life.
"I feel that as a current leader of women’s tennis, I can’t be silent," Swiatek wrote. "Considering my sensitivity, knowledge, boundaries, and strength, I have at the moment to support people who suffer and encourage you [women] to take care of your mental health. When it comes to physical violence or emotional abuse, the most important issue is being sensitive about victims."
"I’m against violence in sports, in tennis, in every discipline and in everyday life. That’s why I consider the articles about the president of the Polish Tennis Association as a serious matter. Governing bodies should determine what happened and I hope they will take care of this case after the media wrote about the stories of people who they talked with. It’s about people’s life and health," she concluded.
Swiatek was praised by many in the tennis world, including Martina Navratilova, who applauded the Polish star for using her platform to bring attention to the matter.