OLYMPIC GAMES | FOOTBALL
Germany football team take stand in anti-racism walk-off
Germany's final friendly before beginning their men's football tournament at the Tokyo Olympics was marred by an incident late in the game.
Germany's men's football team walked off the pitch in a pre-Tokyo Olympics friendly against Honduras after defender Jordan Torunarigha was allegedly racially abused.
Germany's anti-racist Olympic walk-off
Saturday's match in Wakayama was tied at 1-1 when abandoned with five minutes to go, moments after Felix Uduokhai had cancelled out Douglas Martinez's first-half opener.
The Germany national team's official Twitter account later confirmed the reason for the game, which was split into three 30-minute sessions, being cut short.
"The game has ended five minutes early with the score at 1-1," the tweet read. "The Germany players left the pitch after Jordan Torunarigha was racially abused."
Olympic Games news:
Torunarigha plays for Hertha Berlin at club level and has played for Germany from Under-16s to Under-23s level.
The 23-year-old was also the alleged victim of racist abuse in February 2020 in a DFB-Pokal match between Hertha and Schalke.
Following the latest incident on Saturday, Hertha offered their support to the centre-back, tweeting of the decision to leave the pitch in unison: "That is the only right decision!"
Germany face Brazil on July 22 in their opening Group D fixture at the Olympics, before taking on Saudi Arabia and Ivory Coast.