Tiger selayed due to tsunami
Tiger selayed due to tsunami
Agencies, Tokyo
The second leg of a Tiger Cup semifinal has been postponed after the weekend's deadly Asian tsunami, Southeast Asian soccer officials said on Thursday.
Malaysia and Indonesia, both hit by the devastating tidal waves that swept the Indian Ocean on Sunday, were scheduled to meet in Kuala Lumpur on New Year's Day.
However, the match will now be played 48 hours later, on Monday, as a mark of respect for the victims following a plea from Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.
The tsunami, triggered by a huge underwater earthquake off Indonesia, killed more than 87,000 people and the death toll is expected to rise further.
Over half the victims were in Indonesia and more than 60 people lost their lives in Malaysia.
"In response to the Prime Minister's call to cancel all celebrations, (we) have decided to postpone the second leg," said ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) president Ahmad Rithaudeen.
The Malaysian Prime Minister said it would be inappropriate to play the match and called for people to pray for the victims of the disaster.
"This is not the time to be happy as tens of thousands of people in northern Malaysia are grieving," he said. "We've never had a disaster like this in our country."
Malaysia leads Indonesia 2-1 after the first leg, which took place in Jakarta on Tuesday.
The second leg of the other semifinal between Singapore and Myanmar will be played as scheduled on Sunday. Singapore leads the tie 4-3.
A proportion of gate receipts from that game, which takes place at the 55,000-seat National Stadium in Singapore, will be given to the tsunami disaster fund.
"As the Tiger Cup is an ASEAN tournament, it is appropriate that we extend a helping hand to the tsunami victims," Singapore soccer chief Ho Peng-kee said.
"Football can help bring people together, even in times of tragedy like this."
In Wellington, the Sri Lankan Cricket Board said on Wednesday it was canceling its national team's tour of New Zealand after the tsunami disaster.
"Taking into consideration the tsunami disaster Sri Lanka faces, Sri Lanka Cricket decided to cancel the ongoing tour of New Zealand," the board said in a statement.
The decision was taken after the board made a request to New Zealand Cricket.
"The New Zealand Cricket Inc., and Sri Lanka Cricket agreed to reschedule the tour at some appropriate time in the future," the statement said.
The tour had initially been rescheduled to allow five days of mourning after the tsunamis but NZC chief executive Martin Snedden said it had since become obvious the situation in Sri Lanka was worse than originally feared.