An American basketball player at a professional Polish women’s club was beaten and left with a head injury midweek with the attacker later detained, according to officials and reports in Polish media Sunday.
Mikayla Cowling, who plays for VBW Arka Gdynia, was attacked late Wednesday in a music club in Gdansk, a city in northern Poland, according to the RMF FM broadcaster, which also quoted the club saying the “brutal beating” left her with a fractured eye socket, among other injuries.
Gdansk is a neighboring city to Gdynia on the Baltic coast.
“I am outraged that such a shameful situation has occurred. Violence and aggression are unacceptable and must be opposed,” Gdynia Mayor Wojciech Szczurek said Sunday on X. “Fortunately, the police quickly caught the attacker. We wish the player good health!”
The attack happened after a EuroCup women’s match in which the Gdynia team defeated Switzerland rival BCF Elfic Fribourg 77-47.
The president of the Gdynia club, Boguslaw Witkowski, said in an interview with the Polish state news agency PAP that Cowling was attacked near the women’s restroom by a security guard.
Cowling was hit several times on the head, and when she fell, she was also kicked. The most serious injury was to her face and the athlete has a fractured…
