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Thorgan Hazard Leaves Fans Puzzled with Goal Celebration Dedicated to Family Parakeet 

Belgium's Thorgan Hazard runs with the ball during the group G match between England and Belgium at the 2018 soccer World Cup in the Kaliningrad Stadium in Kaliningrad, Russia, on June 28, 2018. (AP) 
Belgium's Thorgan Hazard runs with the ball during the group G match between England and Belgium at the 2018 soccer World Cup in the Kaliningrad Stadium in Kaliningrad, Russia, on June 28, 2018. (AP) 
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Thorgan Hazard Leaves Fans Puzzled with Goal Celebration Dedicated to Family Parakeet 

Belgium's Thorgan Hazard runs with the ball during the group G match between England and Belgium at the 2018 soccer World Cup in the Kaliningrad Stadium in Kaliningrad, Russia, on June 28, 2018. (AP) 
Belgium's Thorgan Hazard runs with the ball during the group G match between England and Belgium at the 2018 soccer World Cup in the Kaliningrad Stadium in Kaliningrad, Russia, on June 28, 2018. (AP) 

After scoring for Anderlecht in the Belgian league Sunday, Thorgan Hazard left fans puzzled about his goal celebration.

The midfielder celebrated by mimicking a bird flapping his wings after his header put Anderlecht level at 1-1 with Sint-Truidense in the 49th minute, in a game his team went on to win 4-1 to guarantee a spot in the season's playoffs.

The 30-year-old Hazard, who joined Anderlecht in September from Borussia Dortmund, said the celebration was a request from his children after one of the family's parakeets passed away.

“We had three birds at home, but one passed away this week,” said Hazard, the younger brother of former Chelsea and Real Madrid star Eden Hazard. “Toto was a parakeet we rescued when I was in Dortmund. My children asked me to dedicate a goal for it. They are the ones who choose my celebrations.”

Anderlecht is Belgium's most successful club but has seen its supremacy challenged in recent years. The club won the most recent of its record 34 Belgian league titles in 2017. Anderlecht is currently in second place in the Belgian league, nine points behind Brussels rival Union Saint-Gilloise.

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South Korea Expresses Regret after Its Athletes Introduced as North Korea at Opening Ceremony

Athletes of South Korea travel by boat along the Seine river during the opening ceremony of the 2024 Summer Olympics, in Paris, France, Friday, July 26, 2024. (AP)
Athletes of South Korea travel by boat along the Seine river during the opening ceremony of the 2024 Summer Olympics, in Paris, France, Friday, July 26, 2024. (AP)
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South Korea Expresses Regret after Its Athletes Introduced as North Korea at Opening Ceremony

Athletes of South Korea travel by boat along the Seine river during the opening ceremony of the 2024 Summer Olympics, in Paris, France, Friday, July 26, 2024. (AP)
Athletes of South Korea travel by boat along the Seine river during the opening ceremony of the 2024 Summer Olympics, in Paris, France, Friday, July 26, 2024. (AP)

South Korea expressed regret that its delegation of athletes at the Paris Olympics opening ceremony on Friday was introduced as from rival North Korea and has demanded assurances from organizers the mistake will not happen again.

As the boat carrying South Korean athletes passed on the Seine, the announcer introduced them as the "Democratic People's Republic of Korea" - the official name of North Korea - in French and English.

The announcer used the same introduction when the North Korean delegation passed.

South Korea's vice minister for sports and culture, Jang Mi-ran, who was in Paris, had requested a meeting with International Olympics Committee President Thomas Bach, the ministry said in a statement.

"We express regret that the country was introduced as North Korea at the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympic Games when the athletes of the Republic of Korea were entering," it said.

South Korea's National Olympic Committee immediately referred the incident to the Games' organizers and requested that the error will not be repeated.

South Korea's delegation includes 143 athletes competing in 21 events. North Korea, which is returning to the Games for the first time since Rio 2016, has sent 16 athletes.