7 - 13 March 2002
Issue No.576
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 7 - 13 March 2002 Issue No.576 |
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 | Current issue | Previous issue | Site map | ||
A different game
A German court has given Egyptian football defender Hani Ramzi an eight- month suspended jail sentence for sexual assault.
The 32-year-old, who plays for German team Kaiserslautern, told Nile Sports TV last week that it was only a matter of time before he returned to the field after he met club president Eurgen Fredriche and coach Andreas Breme. "They still believe in me and told me I have the club's full support," Ramzi said, adding that his return could be as early as Sunday -- Ramzi's birthday -- when Kaiserslautern meet Hanza Rostok.
Ramzi was formally charged in a German court after a woman, whose identity has not been revealed, accused him of twisting her arm in a German restaurant. In court, Ramzi said the incident was free of sexual connotations and that it, instead, centred on an argument in which the woman taunted him, along with a group of friends, with racial epithets against Arabs.
The verdict, in which the sentence was commuted from two years to eight months, was issued while the player was in Mali in January playing in the African Nations Cup. The woman, a German who Ramzi claims is Jewish, has since left Germany to live in Australia.
Ramzi, who joined Kaiserslautern in 1998, was suspended from training sessions which he said was a procedure "that any club must take when a player is sentenced."
At a press conference in Germany, Ramzi, who is married to an Italian and has a son, publicly apologised to the woman for his conduct.
News of the incident has shocked and angered Egyptians who rallied behind the soccer star. "We're with Ramzi," said one supporter. "It's mere fabrication. In thick and thin we'll stand by him."
Widely respected on and off the field, Ramzi, who has played in Germany since 1994, intends to fight back. He has denied rumours of his return to former Egyptian club Ahli following a phone call he received from the club's soccer manager, Alaa Abdel-Sadeq. "Alaa conveyed the support of Ahli's management and fans during my ordeal. I really would like to end my career with Ahli but I consider my presence with Kaizerslautern right now to be a personal challenge and I must succeed."
Ramzi was selected best defensive midfielder in the recently-concluded African Nations Cup and is a member of FIFA's Century Club with 108 caps.
He helped Kaiserslautern reach the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup in 2001.
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