‘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?"



Algeria's Nemour Outshines Biles, Qui On Uneven Bars at Olympics

FILE - Algeria’s Kaylia Nemour competes on the uneven bars to win the silver medal during the apparatus finals at the Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in Antwerp, Belgium, Saturday, Oct. 7, 2023. The 17-year-old athlete, one of the best in the world on uneven bars, was born in France. She grew up here, and still trains here. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo, File)
FILE - Algeria’s Kaylia Nemour competes on the uneven bars to win the silver medal during the apparatus finals at the Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in Antwerp, Belgium, Saturday, Oct. 7, 2023. The 17-year-old athlete, one of the best in the world on uneven bars, was born in France. She grew up here, and still trains here. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo, File)
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Algeria's Nemour Outshines Biles, Qui On Uneven Bars at Olympics

FILE - Algeria’s Kaylia Nemour competes on the uneven bars to win the silver medal during the apparatus finals at the Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in Antwerp, Belgium, Saturday, Oct. 7, 2023. The 17-year-old athlete, one of the best in the world on uneven bars, was born in France. She grew up here, and still trains here. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo, File)
FILE - Algeria’s Kaylia Nemour competes on the uneven bars to win the silver medal during the apparatus finals at the Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in Antwerp, Belgium, Saturday, Oct. 7, 2023. The 17-year-old athlete, one of the best in the world on uneven bars, was born in France. She grew up here, and still trains here. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo, File)

Algerian teenager Kaylia Nemour outshone Simone Biles on the uneven bars Sunday to qualify for the apparatus and the women's all-around finals at the Paris Olympics.

The 17-year-old French-born athlete earned an impressive 15.600 points for her bars routine -- an acrobatic, gravity-defying performance full of technical skill and difficulty at Bercy Arena, AFP reported.

China's Qiu Qiyuan, 17, who beat Nemour to gold at last year's world championships in Antwerp, was second with a score of 15.066 points.

Defending Olympic champion Nina Derwael of Belgium, a former two-time world champion, qualified fourth with 14.733.

Biles, 27, achieved 14.433 on the apparatus which is her weakest, and the four-time Olympic champion finished ninth to just miss out on the eight-woman final in a week's time.

"It's good, but could be better," said Nemour.

"It was a lot of pressure because it's the first apparatus, first Olympics, and I'm starting with the bars, my goal.

"But I'm happy, it went really well. There is still a week before the final and I still have room to improve."

Nemour also pulled off the Yurchenko double twist vault, scoring 14.000, on her final apparatus. She had a few errors on floor (13.160) and beam (13.200) but her overall total of 55.966 earned a place in Thursday's all-around final.

Nemour has competed for Algeria since last year after a dispute with the French gymnastics federation, and was delighted with the warm welcome in Paris.

"I didn't expect that," she said.

"Obviously, it's stressful but overall I'm happy with that performance."

Working on the psychological side for the past year has been "paying off", she said.

"I can still improve things. I have three days left to work, so I'm just going to make the most of it."

She will be bidding to earn a first gymnastics medal for Algeria.