Schumi mourns bodyguard killed in tsunami
Schumi mourns bodyguard killed in tsunami
Seven-time world Formula One champion Michael Schumacher, who has donated US$10 million to the victims of last week's Asian tsunamis, revealed on Wednesday that one of his bodyguards died in the tragedy.
Schumacher said on his website that the bodyguard Burkhard Cramer, 44, was killed at Phuket in Thailand.
Cramer's two children Henry, five, and four-year-old Mika, are also understood to have died.
"The dawning of the New Year has not been as joyful for us this year because of the catastrophe in Asia. We sympathise with the victims in their grief," Schumacher said Tuesday after his pledge of 10 million dollars.
The death toll from the massive Dec. 26 earthquake and resulting tidal waves around the Indian Ocean stands at around 146,000.
Schumacher, second only to Tiger Woods on the Forbes magazine of the world's richest sportsmen last year with an annual income of 80 million dollars, is well known for his charitable gifts. In 2004, he donated 1.15 million euros to UNESCO and 770,000 euros the year before.
Throughout the world, leading sports personalities have rallied to the call for help.
In Colombo on Wednesday, Sri Lankan cricketers launched a fund to aid survivors of the tsunami which battered the island.
The fund, Cricket-Aid, was launched at a ceremony at the headquarters of Sri Lanka Cricket during which cricket chiefs and leading players lit oil lamps in tribute to the more than 30,000 Sri Lankans who died in the tragedy.
"Many of them were ardent cricket fans who had cheered us through the years," said national captain Marvin Attapatu after unveiling the logo of the fund -- a pair of cricketing gloves holding up a map of Sri Lanka. "It is our turn to help them."
Cricket-Aid hopes to raise two million dollars through appeals to cricket-lovers locally and internationally, through charity matches in various parts of the cricketing world, and through sales of merchandise such as autographed shirts and caps.
In Australia, officials said nearly 20,000 tickets had been sold for the Asian Tsunami Appeal fund-raising cricket one-day game at the 80,000-capacity Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) on Jan. 10.
Tracy McGrady and Kobe Bryant and five other National Basketball Association stars are teamming up with UNICEF to raise money.
Indiana's Jermaine O'Neal, Houston's Bob Sura, Memphis' Pau Gasol and Mike Miller, and Toronto's Jalen Rose have also pledged to donate 1,000 dollars for every point they score in specific games this week.
Ireland's Ryder Cup hero Padraig Harrington announced that all proceeds from the his Charity Golf Show on Jan. 22 in Dublin would go towards the Asian Tsunami Disaster Fund.
The 1,500 tickets for the show range in price from 30 euros for children to 65 for adults.
Leading women tennis stars observed a minute's silence at the Hong Kong invitational tournament.
Russia's Wimbledon champion Maria Sharapova and Venus Williams of the United States paid their respects and said they will also donate to a fund-raising auction signed racquets and other souvenirs from the event.
Sharapova had already donated $10,000 to the Thai government's victim relief fund during an exhibition event last week in Bangkok.
Former Denmark football international Stig Tofting is set to auction 53 football shirts on the internet and hopes to raise almost $10,000.
On Tuesday, German tennis star Nicolas Kiefer said he would donate $100 per ace he served in three Australian tournaments.
The German football federation and league announced a donation of 1.5 million euros, while Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich will stump up at least 300,000 euros for a school or orphanage project in Sri Lanka.
In addition, a Germany XI will play a friendly match on Jan. 25 against a Bundesliga select side, with proceeds also going to victims of the catastrophe.
The French football federation also donated one million euros. Football's world ruling body FIFA also pledged two million dollars, but specified that it was destined to help rebuild the footballing infrastructure in Asian countries hit by the tsunamis.
GetAFP 2.10 -- JAN 6, 2005 08:37:43