World Cup forward involved in unexpected beach incident.
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Robin van Persie has emerged largely unhurt after a bizarre incident saw him and his Netherlands team-mate, Daryl Janmaat, hit by a kiteboard on a Rio de Janeiro beach, reports Sport24.
The Manchester United striker and the Feyenoord defender were relaxing on a beach whilst on international duty at the World Cup on Monday, when they were hit by a kiteboarder.
The Dutch pair were knocked over by the rogue boarder but have not been seriously injured by the unfortunate incident.
The KNVB were quick to play down the accident as they said in a statement: “There is no reason for concern. It’s nothing serious, just a few scratches.”
Kiteboarding is also known as kitesurfing and sees participants propelled by a large kite which is attached to the kiteboard, similar to wakeboarding. Clearly, at the mercy of the wind, riders can regularly be thrown off course.
Given Van Persie’s history of injury, any link to him and a medical problem will cause plenty of concern amongst fans of both Manchester United and Netherlands. However, this does not look likely to be a problem for the 30-year-old.
Van Persie will certainly be in action when Netherlands take on Spain on Friday night as he leads the team out as captain. Whether Janmaat will feature in the contest is less clear, but injury will rule neither of them out.
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