Barrack Obama will not attend Mohammed Ali funneral
US President Barack Obama is to miss the
memorial to boxer Muhammad Ali on Friday
because it clashes with his daughter's high
school graduation.
World leaders will be among thousands
attending Friday's procession and memorial
service in Louisville, Kentucky, where Ali was
born in 1942.
The White House said Mr Obama and his wife
Michelle will be at daughter Malia's
graduation in Washington, DC.
Ali died last Friday at the age of 74 in hospital
in Phoenix, Arizona.
The Obamas will send a letter to the Ali
family with White House senior adviser
Valerie Jarrett, who knew Ali.
Obituary: Muhammad Ali
Muhammad Ali - in his own words
World pays tribute to boxing legend
Bob Gunnell, a spokesman for the Ali family,
said Mr Obama and Ali's widow Lonnie had
spoken by telephone.
Among those attending will be the President
of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and King
Abdullah of Jordan.
British former heavyweight champion Lennox
Lewis and actor Will Smith, who once
portrayed Ali on screen, will be among the
pallbearers.
Former US President Bill Clinton and actor
Billy Crystal are also set to speak.
After Ali's death, Mr Obama said he kept a
pair of his gloves in his private stud y below
the photograph of Ali beating Sonny Liston in
1964.
Ali would be remembered, he said, "not just
as skilled a poet on the mic as he was a
fighter in the ring, but a man who fought for
what was right. A man who fought for us."
On Thursday, a traditional Muslim funeral
service will be held at the 18,000-seat
Freedom Hall, where Ali fought and won his
first professional fight in 1960.
People queued from the middle of the night
on Tuesday to get the first tickets.
"I am here to get tickets for my grandson. He
is eight," Angela Smith Ward, a former Army
employee, told Agence France-Presse. "I want
him to know that you can be great no matter
where you come from."
On Friday, from 09:00 local time (13:00 GMT),
the coffin will be taken on a procession
through the streets of Louisville, passing by
locations historically important to Ali.
Ali's funeral will then take place at a large
concert and sports arena, the KFC Yum!
Center, from 14:00. The service will be open
to the public.
The boxer will be buried in a private service
at the city's Cave Hill Cemetery.
The funeral will be broadcast live on the
internet
because it clashes with his daughter's high
school graduation.
World leaders will be among thousands
attending Friday's procession and memorial
service in Louisville, Kentucky, where Ali was
born in 1942.
The White House said Mr Obama and his wife
Michelle will be at daughter Malia's
graduation in Washington, DC.
Ali died last Friday at the age of 74 in hospital
in Phoenix, Arizona.
The Obamas will send a letter to the Ali
family with White House senior adviser
Valerie Jarrett, who knew Ali.
Obituary: Muhammad Ali
Muhammad Ali - in his own words
World pays tribute to boxing legend
Bob Gunnell, a spokesman for the Ali family,
said Mr Obama and Ali's widow Lonnie had
spoken by telephone.
Among those attending will be the President
of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and King
Abdullah of Jordan.
British former heavyweight champion Lennox
Lewis and actor Will Smith, who once
portrayed Ali on screen, will be among the
pallbearers.
Former US President Bill Clinton and actor
Billy Crystal are also set to speak.
After Ali's death, Mr Obama said he kept a
pair of his gloves in his private stud y below
the photograph of Ali beating Sonny Liston in
1964.
Ali would be remembered, he said, "not just
as skilled a poet on the mic as he was a
fighter in the ring, but a man who fought for
what was right. A man who fought for us."
On Thursday, a traditional Muslim funeral
service will be held at the 18,000-seat
Freedom Hall, where Ali fought and won his
first professional fight in 1960.
People queued from the middle of the night
on Tuesday to get the first tickets.
"I am here to get tickets for my grandson. He
is eight," Angela Smith Ward, a former Army
employee, told Agence France-Presse. "I want
him to know that you can be great no matter
where you come from."
On Friday, from 09:00 local time (13:00 GMT),
the coffin will be taken on a procession
through the streets of Louisville, passing by
locations historically important to Ali.
Ali's funeral will then take place at a large
concert and sports arena, the KFC Yum!
Center, from 14:00. The service will be open
to the public.
The boxer will be buried in a private service
at the city's Cave Hill Cemetery.
The funeral will be broadcast live on the
internet
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