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| Friday, April 4th, 2008 at 11:55:32 PM #2085 |
| TotalKontrol Removed Account | NEW DELHI, India (AP) -- India's soccer captain, a Buddhist from an Indian region with ancient ties to Tibet, said on Tuesday that he won't carry the Beijing Olympic torch during its run through the Indian capital in protest over China's crackdown on recent protests in Tibet. Bhaichung Bhutia, who hails from the tiny Himalayan region of Sikkim, is reported to be the first athlete to refuse the honor of carrying the torch because of the Tibet crackdown. A Thai torchbearer also withdrew from the relay last month for similar reasons. "I strongly denounce the repression and torture unleashed by the Chinese authorities in Tibet," Bhutia told The Associated Press on Tuesday. Bhutia was one of several Indian athletes invited by the country's Olympic Association to carry the flame when it passes through New Delhi on April 17, he said Tuesday that it was "a great honor" to be chosen. "But at the same time I am sorry to inform that it is not possible for me to take part in the torch run for personal reasons," Bhutia said from Calcutta, where he plays for a top local team. Bhutia said he faxed his decision to India's Olympic Association on Monday. "This time the Olympics are going to be held in China. I don't want to carry this torch" he added. Last month, environmentalist Narisa Chakrabongse, one of six torchbearers chosen to carry the flam through Thailand, also withdrew from the relay in protest of China's actions in Tibet. "The slaying of the Tibetans ... is an outright violation of human rights," Narisa wrote in an open letter. "It happened two weeks before the Olympic torch leaves Athens and five months before the Olympic Games. This reflects the Chinese government's negligence of world sentiment." British torchbearer, television presenter Konnie Huq, was reported in local newspapers this week as saying she is considering pulling out of the relay over the Tibetan crackdown, and that if she did take part she would speak out against China. French swimmer Alain Bernard, who set three world records at the European championships, told French television last month he backed a protest of the opening ceremony. In February, Hollywood director Steven Spielberg withdrew as an artistic adviser to the opening and closing ceremonies over China's support for the Sudan government, which has been atrocities in the country's Darfur region. Bhutia's home region, Sikkim, which borders Tibet, was once among a patchwork of Buddhist kingdoms that dominated the Earth's highest peaks for centuries. Nearly all of those realms have in the past half century been taken over by larger powers -- Tibet was conquered by China in 1951; Sikkim was absorbed by India in 1975 -- and, to a degree, cut off from one another. But the religious and cultural ties dating back centuries still endure, and Bhutia said: "I have many Tibetan friends and I have taken this decision to show my solidarity with them." SOURCE: http://edition.cnn.com/2008/SPORT/04/01/india.soccer.tibet.ap/index.html |
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