Ali Farag said athletes couldn’t make statements about Palestine, but can freely speak their mind on Ukraine
World squash number two Ali Farag has accused sport and the Western media of double standards by freely discussing the situation in Ukraine yet refraining from talking about the plight of Palestinians.
Egyptian Farag was speaking after winning the Optasia 2022 Squash Champion title at the Wimbledon Club in London, which was his first tournament victory on British soil.
Triumphing 4-11, 11-8, 11-8, 13-11 against world number six Diego Elias, Farag took the opportunity to make a speech that wasn’t included in the official highlights of the match on the Professional Squash Association’s YouTube channel later on.
“One more thing that I know is going to get me in trouble, but you know we’ve all seen what’s going on in the world at the moment with Ukraine and nobody is happy about what’s going [on],” Farag began.
Egyptian squash player @AliFarag:
“We’ve never been allowed to speak about politics in sports but all of a sudden it’s allowed. I hope people look at oppression everywhere around the world. Palestinian have been going through that for the past 74 yrs.”
