Laporte lauded for knockout gesture

LONDON • Manchester City defender Aymeric Laporte paid around €5,000 (S$7,730) for the kit used by the late Alexis Vastine at the London 2012 Olympics in an auction, before donating it back to the French boxer's father.

The auction of sports memorabilia to raise money for French frontline healthcare workers was thought up by French handball player Cyril Dumoulin, a former world and European champion.

He tweeted in reaction to Laporte's generosity: "When the facts speak more than words.

"Thank you Laporte, who won this auction with the wish to leave this outfit to his father! Your talent is great, your heart too."

Laporte replied: "It's a nice thank you, especially to you for your action against the virus and these auctions that help those who need it most."

City's Raheem Sterling tweeted that he was proud of his teammate, calling his gesture "class" and using a clapping hands emoji.

Vastine won a bronze medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics in the light welterweight division, but was eliminated in the quarter-finals in London four years later.

He died in a helicopter crash in Argentina in 2015 while taking part in French reality TV show Dropped.

Nine other people, including Olympic swimming gold medallist Camille Muffat and sailor Florence Arthaud, were killed in the accident.

Dumoulin, who plays for HBC Nantes, has been selling training kits for two years to raise funds for good causes.

"At the start of confinement, I started tidying up my garage, my closets and I realised that I had accumulated a lot of clothes," he said.

"With two friends, we said to ourselves, why not make a big sale for the benefit of hospital staff?

"Other handball players naturally came forward to offer their outfits, some Nantes sports journalists activated their network to spread the idea. Since then, it has grown steadily."

Earlier this month, he said he was raising around €4,000 a day from his #SPORTAIDONS initiative.

REUTERS