(MFWA/IFEX) – The crew of TV1, an Egyptian television station covering the ongoing 26th African Cup of Nations in Ghana, was on 25 January 2008 attacked by some players of the Desert Hawks, the Sudanese national team. The crew went to the hotel of the Sudanese team in Kumasi, Ghana’s second largest city, to preview […]
(MFWA/IFEX) – The crew of TV1, an Egyptian television station covering the ongoing 26th African Cup of Nations in Ghana, was on 25 January 2008 attacked by some players of the Desert Hawks, the Sudanese national team.
The crew went to the hotel of the Sudanese team in Kumasi, Ghana’s second largest city, to preview the 26 January game against their Egyptian counterparts, when the incident occurred.
“We tried to interview the team but they refused so we asked them if they could just say those words so that the Egyptian people know they have refused,” Adham El-Kamouny, a member of the crew told the BBC.
“Suddenly people from the Sudanese football federation went nuts, started cursing, throwing punches, broke our camera, assaulted me and my director – five or six players started hitting my director in a very ugly way,” said El-Kamouny.
Richard Connolly, a BBC correspondent who confirmed the attack said: “Several players manhandled the cameraman before they (the players) were eventually ushered into their hotel and (the) doors were shut.”
Mohammed Abdallah, the Sudanese coach, attributed the problem to the Egyptian media, which he said had been saying “bad things” about his team.
