Argentina Goalkeeper Martínez Under Fire for Hitting TV Cameraman

epa11595406 Argentine national soccer team players attend a training session ahead of a Wolrd Cup qualifiers match against Colombia, at Romelio Martínez stadium in Barranquilla, Colombia, 09 September 2024. EPA/Mauricio Duenas Castaneda
epa11595406 Argentine national soccer team players attend a training session ahead of a Wolrd Cup qualifiers match against Colombia, at Romelio Martínez stadium in Barranquilla, Colombia, 09 September 2024. EPA/Mauricio Duenas Castaneda
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Argentina Goalkeeper Martínez Under Fire for Hitting TV Cameraman

epa11595406 Argentine national soccer team players attend a training session ahead of a Wolrd Cup qualifiers match against Colombia, at Romelio Martínez stadium in Barranquilla, Colombia, 09 September 2024. EPA/Mauricio Duenas Castaneda
epa11595406 Argentine national soccer team players attend a training session ahead of a Wolrd Cup qualifiers match against Colombia, at Romelio Martínez stadium in Barranquilla, Colombia, 09 September 2024. EPA/Mauricio Duenas Castaneda

A TV cameraman said Argentina goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez “slapped me” after Colombia's 2-1 win in a World Cup qualifying match.
Jhonny Jackson told Colombian media he approached Martínez after the final whistle in Barranquilla on Tuesday as the goalkeeper greeted another player. Footage he captured shows the World Cup winner who Argentines know as Dibu hitting the camera, which quickly shakes to the ground after the impact, The Associated Press reported.
“Out of the blue he slapped me,” Jackson told RCN Deportes on Wednesday. “I felt angry, very angry. I was working, just like he was. He was playing and I was shooting with my camera."
He also sent a message to Martínez: “Dibu, my brother, how are you? I am Jhonny Jackson, the cameraman you assaulted in the match against Colombia. I wanted to tell you it is all good, my brother. Everyone has lost a match in their life. This defeat clearly meant a lot to you. But look ahead, Dibu.”
Jackson works for a company that delivers footage to channels Caracol Televisión and RCN Deportes.
Footballers have been suspended from games in similar situations, and that is what Colombia's association of sports journalists — known as ACORD — wants FIFA to do. Its president Faiver Hoyos Hernández said in a statement that Martínez attacked freedom of expression.
“As the journalistic authority in this country, ACORD wants FIFA to produce an exemplary sanction against Mr. Emiliano Dibú Martínez, who is no role model for new generations," the statement said.
Martínez and South American soccer body CONMEBOL did not make comments.
Argentina leads the South American World Cup qualifying with 18 points after eight matches, two points ahead of Colombia. All teams have two more qualifying matches next month. The top six teams will get automatic spots at the 2026 World Cup.



Ostapenko on Upward Trajectory as Clay Season Gains Momentum 

Latvia's Jelena Ostapenko holds the winner's trophy following the women's singles final tennis match of the WTA tour, in Stuttgart, Germany, Monday, April 21, 2025. (Marijan Murat/dpa via AP)
Latvia's Jelena Ostapenko holds the winner's trophy following the women's singles final tennis match of the WTA tour, in Stuttgart, Germany, Monday, April 21, 2025. (Marijan Murat/dpa via AP)
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Ostapenko on Upward Trajectory as Clay Season Gains Momentum 

Latvia's Jelena Ostapenko holds the winner's trophy following the women's singles final tennis match of the WTA tour, in Stuttgart, Germany, Monday, April 21, 2025. (Marijan Murat/dpa via AP)
Latvia's Jelena Ostapenko holds the winner's trophy following the women's singles final tennis match of the WTA tour, in Stuttgart, Germany, Monday, April 21, 2025. (Marijan Murat/dpa via AP)

Jelena Ostapenko is starting to show shades of the form that saw her crowned French Open champion eight years ago with the Latvian knocking over the top two players in the world en route to winning the Stuttgart Open title on Monday.

Ostapenko became the first woman to beat the world number one and number two in the same claycourt event since Serena Williams at Madrid in 2012 by beating Aryna Sabalenka in the final and Iga Swiatek in the quarters.

Her ninth tour-level title, and just her second on clay, lifted Ostapenko six places in the world rankings to 18th, marking her out as a dark horse ahead of Roland Garros, which begins on May 25.

"Honestly, I didn't tell anyone, but I felt confident since the first day. I had a strange feeling in a good way," she told reporters in Stuttgart.

"When I came here, I felt like something's going to happen this week. I pretty much felt that I can win this tournament.

"I think I'm improving day by day and I'm playing better and better. I think I deserve it."

Ostapenko, who also beat Swiatek on the way to the Doha final in February before losing to Amanda Anisimova, has failed to reach a Grand Slam final since her Roland Garros breakthrough in 2017.

However, she said playing without the burden of expectation had worked wonders for her this season.

"I had enough pressure in my career," Ostapenko told the WTA website. "I didn't feel it even though it was the final. In my mind, I was just playing a match."

Ostapenko will be in action in Madrid this week and is also dreaming of another deep run in Paris.

"Obviously I can play well on this surface," she added.

"I will take it match by match, but anything can happen."