LONDON: England’s Euro 2022 winning footballers on Wednesday urged the two candidates vying to become the UK’s next prime minister to ensure that all girls have access to the sport at school.
All 23 members of the squad, which beat Germany 2-1 in Sunday’s final at a sold-out Wembley Stadium, signed an open letter to Conservative Party leadership candidates Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss, calling on their help to “create real change in this country.”
“Currently only 63 percent of girls can play football in PE (physical education) lessons. The reality is we are inspiring young girls to play football, only for many to end up going to school and not being able to play,” they wrote.
“This is something that we all experienced growing up.”
The players asked the two candidates to pledge to ensure that all girls have access to at least two hours of PE sessions each week, where football is offered.
“We have made incredible strides in the women’s game, but this generation of schoolgirls deserves more,” they wrote.
“They deserve to play football at lunchtime, they deserve to play football in PE lessons and they deserve to believe they can one day play for England.
“We want to create real change in this country and we are asking you, if you were to become Prime Minister on 5 September, to help us achieve that change.”
Both candidates responded to the Lionesses’ call, without making any firm commitment on schoolgirls being able to play football.
Truss’s campaign responded by saying the candidate “is committed to investigating what prevents schools from delivering the recommended minimum of two hours PE per week.”
Sunak’s spokesman said he “would love to see all schools provide two hours of PE a week.”
England’s Euro 2022 winners urge next PM to support girls’ football
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England’s Euro 2022 winners urge next PM to support girls’ football
- All 23 members of the squad signed an open letter to Conservative Party leadership candidates Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss, calling on their help to "create real change in this country"
- Both candidates responded to the Lionesses' call, without making any firm commitment on schoolgirls being able to play football
Sri Lanka hospital releases 22 rescued Iranian sailors
- Sri Lankan authorities said the survivors from the Dena were being handled according to international humanitarian law
COLOMBO: Sri Lanka discharged from hospital 22 Iranian sailors who were plucked from life rafts after their warship was sunk by a US submarine, officials said Sunday.
The sailors were treated at Karapitiya Hospital in the southern port city of Galle since Wednesday after the IRIS Dena was torpedoed just outside Sri Lanka’s territorial waters.
“Another 10 are still undergoing treatment,” a medical officer at the hospital told AFP.
He said the bodies of 84 Iranians retrieved from the Indian Ocean were also at the hospital.
Those discharged from hospital overnight had been taken to a beach resort in the same district.
Sri Lankan authorities said the survivors from the Dena were being handled according to international humanitarian law, and the government had contacted the International Committee of the Red Cross for assistance.
The island is also providing safe haven for another 219 Iranian sailors from a second ship, the IRIS Bushehr, that was allowed to berth a day after the Dena was sunk.
Sailors from the Bushehr have been moved to a Sri Lanka Navy camp at Welisara, just north of the capital Colombo, and their ship taken over by Sri Lanka’s navy.
Sri Lanka announced it was taking the Bushehr to the north-eastern port of Trincomalee, but an engine failure and other technical and administrative issues had delayed the movement, a navy spokesman said.
Sri Lanka has denied claims that it was under pressure from Washington not to allow the Iranians to return home, and said Colombo will be guided solely by international law and its own domestic legislation.
A US State Department spokesperson said the disposition of the Bushehr crew and Iranian sailors rescued at sea was up to Sri Lanka.
“The United States, of course, respects and recognizes Sri Lanka’s sovereignty in the handling of this situation,” the spokesperson told AFP in Washington.
India, meanwhile, said Saturday that it had allowed a third Iranian warship, the IRIS Lavan, to dock in one of its ports on “humane” grounds after it too reported engine problems.
The three ships were part of a multi-national fleet review held by India before the war in the Middle East started last week.
“I think it was the humane thing to do, and I think we were guided by that principle,” Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said on Saturday.
The Lavan docked in the south-west Indian port of Kochi on Wednesday.
“A lot of the people on board were young cadets. They have disembarked and are in a nearby facility,” Jaishankar said.
