NEWS UPDATE AUGUST 2001
Tibetan exiles happy to lose
The Star Monday, July 2, 2001
Football
COPENHAGEN: A football team made up of Tibetan exiles lost against an amateur squad from Greenland 4-1 in a friendly on Saturday, but the Himalayan squad still got a standing ovation as they ran around the field after the game with a huge flag.
"We're not playing for winning or losing," said striker Tenzin Dargyal. "We're playing for the Tibetan people. I have never been so happy in my life.
"China, which claims sovereignty over Tibet and rejects descriptions of it as a nation, had protested the game, but Danish authorities refused to stop it, saying it was a privately organised event.
Tibet--widely seen as the underdog against Greenland's well-structured squad--opened the scoring in the 11th minute. Forward Lobsang Norbu gunned the ball past Greenland goalie Rene Jensen, causing the 5,010 fans at Copenhagen's suburban Vanloese stadium to roar.
The crowd, including many Greenlanders and Tibetans living in Denmark, waved
more than 4,000 Tibet and Greenland flags, distributed by a local newspaper.