Ethiopian athletes slammed
2002-08-24 18:30
Addis Ababa - The nine Ethiopian athletes seeking asylum in Germany have "wronged" their country, a top sports official claimed here on Friday.
The group abandoned their team during a stopover at Frankfurt
airport en route to Tunis for the African athletics championships
last week.
Their absence was noticed when they failed to disembark with the rest of the Ethiopian squad.
Initial reports at the time suggested they had defected after
the championships.
Endalk Kelemwork, the Ethiopian athletics' federation's
technical director, claimed in the press here Friday that the group of five men and four women had "wronged the country and the people" of Ethiopia.
Kelemwork called into question the time and money that had been invested in the defectors. He said he was "disappointed" at their action.
Although no names were officially released independent sources
said that eight members of the group were Ageritu Belete, Zufan Tadesse, Assegedetch Tesfaye, Mesfin Negussie, Shiferaw Shibiru,
Defaru Asfaw, Negussie Getchamo and Kassu Chekwala.
This is not the first case of this kind - in July 2001 three
Ethiopian footballers 'jumped ship' after the junior World Cup in
Argentina.
And five years earlier around 15 members of the national team
absconded on a stopover at Rome airport on the way to a game in
Morocco. - Sapa-AFP
- SAPA