WNBA, the United States’ women’s basketball league, said it was investigating reports on racist insults directed at Angel Rais during the defeat of Chicago Sky against Indiana last Saturday (17).
“WNBA strongly condemns racism, hatred and discrimination in all its forms. They have no place in our league or our society. We are aware of allegations and investigation of the matter,” Al -Douri said in a statement.
It is not clear when the alleged accident occurred in a Saturday match, but Fever issued a statement on Sunday saying that he was “familiar with the allegations of the behavior of the non -adequate fans” during the match.
“We are working closely with WNBA to complete its investigation. We maintain our commitment to providing a safe environment for all WNBA players,” said Mail Reigns, CEO of Pacers SPORTS & Entertainment, Fever owner.
With leaving 4 minutes until the end of the third room and won the fever 56-42, Rais took an offensive recovery and was heading to the basket when the Indiana star, Ketlin Clark, made a strong contact with her right leg, knocking on the wing of the sky and making the ball.
Reese, was clearly upset, immediately and tried to confront Ruler of 2024Who moved away from his back to Reese while the upper Boston put the same Indiana between the two. The lack of Clark was high from the employees of Flagrant 1, while Reese and Boston received technical errors.
Both players later reduce the accident, and it is not clear whether the alleged ethnic insults are linked to the confrontation.
Chicago Sky, Adam Fox, said that the concession “welcomes the investigation that WNBA was well conducted about the misconduct of fans” during the match.
“We will do everything we can to protect the Chicago Sky players, and we encourage the league to continue taking important measures to create a safe environment for all WNBA players,” Fox continued in a statement.
The WNBA (WNBPA) players said it is “familiar with abhorrent comments reports” and supports the WNBA investigation. “Such behavior is unacceptable in our sport,” the players’ Federation said in a statement.
“Under” there is no space for hatred “(no room for hatred) in WNBA, we trust that the league will completely achieve and take quick and appropriate measures to ensure a safe and wicked environment for everyone.”
Clark ended with a three-point score, 10 rebound balls and 10 assists-in the appearance of the first season, while Reese scored 12 points and acquired 17 rebounds. The duo faced each other four times last year in its first seasons in WNBA, with a fever winning three clashes. Clark won the title of Novice of the Year with all votes, with the exception of one of 67, with the other vote to Reese.
Both players were underestimating competition, but after hot confrontations at the university level – especially in the NCAA Women’s Championship for 2023 – basketball stars were closely linked.
Campaign against hatred
Before the new season, Wnba He launched his campaign “No space for hate”, with the aim of combating hatred and enhancing respect for women’s basketball, whether online or stadiums.
“We believe that basketball can be a unified power, a place where people of all assets meet not only to watch a game, but to call,” said the Commissioner of the WNBA Cathy Engelbert in a statement.
“We want our arenas, social, social platforms, not hate and hostility.”
Al -Douri said that the new project will provide technology to identify the language of hate over the Internet, increase safety in the squares and teams, and provides more mental health resources for players and “central consensus against hatred.”