‘Angry’ Murray Likens Texas School Shooting Survivor’s Experience to His Own

Andy Murray. (AFP)
Andy Murray. (AFP)
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‘Angry’ Murray Likens Texas School Shooting Survivor’s Experience to His Own

Andy Murray. (AFP)
Andy Murray. (AFP)

Britain's two-time Wimbledon champion Andy Murray said the mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas made him "angry", adding that a survivor's account of the incident was similar to his own experience in the 1996 Dunblane massacre in Scotland.

An 18-year-old gunman armed with a semi-automatic rifle stormed an elementary school in Texas last week, killing 19 children and two teachers.

The attack, coming 10 days after a shooting in Buffalo, New York that left 10 people dead, has intensified the long-standing national debate over US gun laws.

"It's unbelievably upsetting and it makes you angry. I think there's been over 200 mass shootings in America this year and nothing changes," Murray said. "I can't understand that ...

"My feeling is that surely at some stage you do something different. You can't keep approaching the problem by buying more guns and having more guns in the country. I don't see how that solves it.

"But I could be wrong. Let's maybe try something different and see if you get a different outcome."

Murray grew up in Dunblane and was a student at the town's local elementary school when a gunman killed 16 pupils and a teacher before killing himself. It is the deadliest mass shooting in Britain's modern history.

"I heard something on the radio the other day and it was a child from that school," Murray told the BBC. "I experienced a similar thing when I was at Dunblane, a teacher coming out and waving all of the children under tables and telling them to go and hide.

"And it was a kid telling exactly the same story about how she survived it.

"They were saying that they go through these drills, as young children ... How? How is that normal that children should be having to go through drills, in case someone comes into a school with a gun?"



Coach Ivankovic Fired by Chinese Following World Cup Elimination

Referee Rustam Lutfullin (R) talks with China’s head coach Branko Ivankovic (C) during the FIFA World Cup 2026 qualification match between Indonesia and China in Jakarta, Indonesia, 05 June 2025. EPA/BAGUS INDAHONO
Referee Rustam Lutfullin (R) talks with China’s head coach Branko Ivankovic (C) during the FIFA World Cup 2026 qualification match between Indonesia and China in Jakarta, Indonesia, 05 June 2025. EPA/BAGUS INDAHONO
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Coach Ivankovic Fired by Chinese Following World Cup Elimination

Referee Rustam Lutfullin (R) talks with China’s head coach Branko Ivankovic (C) during the FIFA World Cup 2026 qualification match between Indonesia and China in Jakarta, Indonesia, 05 June 2025. EPA/BAGUS INDAHONO
Referee Rustam Lutfullin (R) talks with China’s head coach Branko Ivankovic (C) during the FIFA World Cup 2026 qualification match between Indonesia and China in Jakarta, Indonesia, 05 June 2025. EPA/BAGUS INDAHONO

Branko Ivankovic has been fired as China's national team coach following his side's elimination from the qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup this month, the Chinese Football Association announced on Friday.

The 71-year-old Croatian coach was removed from the post as a result of China finishing fifth in Group C of the continent's preliminaries for next year's 48-team finals, which will be held in the United States, Mexico and Canada.

"The Chinese Football Association expresses gratitude to Mr. Branko Ivankovic and his coaching staff for their dedicated efforts during their tenure with the men's national team and their contributions to Chinese football," Reuters quoted a CFA statement as saying.

"We wish Mr. Ivankovic all the best in his future work and life."

Ivankovic, who led Iran at the World Cup finals in Germany in 2006, was appointed China's coach in February 2024, replacing Aleksandar Jankovic. He steered the country into the third phase of Asia's World Cup qualifying.

His team recovered from a poor start, which included a 7-0 thrashing at the hands of Japan, to maintain their hopes of a place at their first World Cup since the nation's debut appearance at the finals in 2002.

Wins over Indonesia and Bahrain kept China in contention for a berth in the fourth round of qualifying, but losses to Japan, Saudi Arabia and Australia were followed by a defeat against Indonesia on June 5 that ended any prospect of progressing.

The Chinese association said Dejan Djurdjevic, who led China to the quarter-finals of the Under 20 Asian Cup in Shenzhen in February, will take over on a caretaker basis for next month's East Asian Championship in South Korea.