The Swedish golfer has announced the end of her collaboration with the Saudi oil company. This partnership was criticized.
Swedish golfer Anna Nordqvist announced on Friday that she has ended her much-criticized collaboration with Saudi oil giant Aramco last year. ” It didn’t quite go the way I had planned ,” she said in an interview with Swedish news agency TT.
“It was never about the money for me”
” I have to think about myself and I didn’t feel good about it ,” justified the 35-year-old professional player, saying she was ” unprepared to receive so much incredible hate and mean comments from people who don’t tell me. don’t even know .” Aramco, the world’s largest oil company by turnover, is one of Riyadh’s spearheads in its strategy of massive investment in sport, with major agreements in Formula 1 and golf in particular.
These billion-dollar deals have been criticized as ” sportswashing “, that is to say a way to hide the Saudi record in terms of the environment, human rights or civil liberties. The human rights NGO Amnesty International, which last year denounced the agreement between Anna Nordqvist and Aramco, welcomed a “ very wise ” decision.
” It was never a question of money for me ,” assured the Swedish golfer on Friday, ” I wanted to do something for women’s golf and especially for the European Tour “. However, she will participate in a competition in Saudi Arabia next week.
” I have to do four tournaments on the European Tour before August because my big goal is to play the Solheim Cup (the match between the United States and Europe, editor’s note) “, justified the golfer, who notably has the British Open 2021 on his list. Financial details of the agreement with Aramco had not been made public.
Last year, Saudi Arabia rocked the polished world of golf when it launched the new LIV Men’s Tour, luring many of its stars up until then to the PGA Tour, to the point of seeing justice come into play. The Americans Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau and Swede Henrik Stenson have joined the new circuit. Stenson had been stripped of his role as European Ryder Cup captain upon moving to LIV.
Source: Le Figaro
