Tunisia’s top-ranked women’s singles tennis star Ons Jabeur has termed the FIFA World Cup 2022 hosted by Qatar as the ‘cleanest’ ever while slamming the critics for their ‘unjust’ criticism of the Arab nation. Qatar’s human rights record and alleged death of migrant workers brought by the country to build stadiums and other infrastructure were consistently brought into focus in the lead up to football’s biggest event.
Qatar also faced scrutiny for its alleged discrimination against women and LGBT people.
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“I think it was unjust, to be honest with you,” Jabeur told reporters. “There is in every country you can find something is not right, and for some reason, Qatar now is organizing the World Cup, and everybody was criticizing it.”
“It’s just like if you go to any country, you respect their culture, right? For me it was just you go there, you respect the rules and everything, and I feel like it was the cleanest World Cup ever. There was no stealing; there was no crime; there was nothing there that happened,” she added.
Jabeur finished runners-up at the Wimbledon Championships and US Open. She also pointed out how the proximity of the various venues made it possible for fans to watch multiple matches in a single day.
“For me, I don’t think they will have a nicer World Cup because you can watch four matches in a day, which is impossible in other World Cups. It’s just time to maybe let other countries shine, and I think Qatar had a great organization in the World Cup,” Jabeur said.
Jabeur isn’t the first to praise Qatar. FIFA president Gianni Infantino called the event as the best world cup ever.
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“(There was) unanimous praise from the FIFA council for this World Cup, the unique cohesive power it has shown, thanks to everyone involved – of course Qatar, all the volunteers who work for us and everyone who has contributed to make this World Cup the best World Cup ever,” Infantino had said.
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