Osaka Pulls Out Of Wta Semis Over Racial Injustice
Tennis champion Osaka Naomi has pulled out of a tournament in the United States as protests spread across the country over the police shooting of a black man.
Osaka was scheduled to play in a semifinal on Thursday at the Western and Southern Open in New York.
Osaka's management company says the player decided to boycott the event in the wake of Sunday's shooting in the state of Wisconsin. Jacob Blake was shot several times in the back and remains in critical condition.
Osaka wrote on Twitter that before she is an athlete, she is a black woman, and she feels there are much more important matters at hand than tennis that need immediate attention.
She added, "I don't expect anything drastic to happen with me not playing, but if I can get a conversation started in a majority white sport I consider that a step in the right direction. Watching the continued genocide of Black people at the hand of the police is honestly making me sick to my stomach. I'm exhausted of having a new hashtag pop up every few days and I'm extremely tired of having this same conversation over and over again. When will it ever be enough?"
