1st Ever Podcast

Podcast to the news on https://akbywerk2.wordpress.com/2008/06/19/warden-passes-sovereignty-of-piggy-bank-to-all/ is now available on IVLE in .wma format!

Very funny podcast… well, maybe.

This blog doesn’t allow the uploading of soundclips so I couldn’t upload it here… What a damper…

The Sports Post

The following articles have been culled from various sources.

* * *

 02 June 2008 (The New Paper)

WANT MY BOOTS? HAVE MY CAR INSTEAD

  BIRMINGHAM midfielder Olivier Kapo put aside the disappointment of the club’s Premier League relegation with a magnificent act of generosity – he gave his bootboy a £30,000 ($81,000) Mercedes.

The Frenchman handed the keys to his car recently to Birmingham apprentice James McPike as a thank you gesture for looking after his kit during his first season at St Andrew’s.

McPike, 20, had been disappointed when Kapo rejected his request for a pair of boots to mark the end of the campaign. Little did he expect Kapo to give him the keys to his car instead.

McPike, who signed professional terms as a 17-year-old, earns about £300 a week – 10 times less than Kapo – and told his team-mate he could not accept the gift as the car’s insurance was beyond his means.

But Kapo, 27, then drove the shocked youngster to his home, handed him the spare set of keys and the car’s logbook and insisted on paying for a year’s insurance.

LEE COOK

FORMER QPR player Lee Cook could not turn down the chance to play in the Premiership when Fulham came calling and left the club he grew up supporting. However, with his old side complaining that they had not been paid enough, Cook donated £250,000 ($675,492) to the cash-strapped club.

NIALL QUINN

THE Sunderland chairman donated the earnings from his testimonial match to education projects in Africa and Asia and hospitals in Dublin and Sunderland, thereby forming the Niall Quinn Children’s Charity. Other footballers such as Quinn’s former Republic of Ireland colleague Gary Kelly and his former team-mate at Arsenal Tony Adams, are among those to give their testimonial cash to charity.

NIALL QUINN (AGAIN)

THE Irishman displayed his generosity again last year, as chairman of Championship promotion hopefuls Sunderland. Following an away game in Cardiff, more than 100 Black Cats fans found themselves stranded in Bristol after a flight back to Newcastle was abruptly cancelled. Quinn ensured the fans got home safely by hiring 18 taxis to make the 500km trip, footing the £8,000 bill and increasing his legendary status in the north-east.

MAURICIO TARICCO

THE Argentinian had fairly successful spells at Ipswich Town and Tottenham, but fell out of favour at White Hart Lane and was transferred to West Ham in 2004. However, he tore his hamstring 27 minutes into his first game at the club, against Millwall. Knowing the injury would put him out of action for two months, Taricco offered to cancel his contract to allow manager Alan Pardew the option of signing someone else.

‘This is one of the most honest acts I have experienced,’ Pardew said later of the gesture.

DAMIANO TOMMASI

AFTER suffering a very bad knee injury against Stoke City in a pre-season friendly in 2003, Tommasi offered Roma a unique deal.

Tests on the knee proved that the former Italy international had recovered from the injury, but Tommasi felt guilty that the club was paying his wages for so long when he was doing nothing for the team.

Although Roma were prepared to offer him a lucrative new contract, Tommasi asked for the minimum union wage of 1,500 euros ($3,210) a month.

‘I try to do what I can, remembering that I am very lucky. I do a job that I love and I get a lot of money for doing it. This is a joy but also a big responsibility,’ he said later.

GEORGE WEAH

IN the late 1990s, Weah financed Liberia‘s World Cup qualifying efforts while the country was embroiled in a civil war. The former AC Milan striker set up a training camp in neighbouring countries, paying his team-mates’ travel expenses and purchasing shoes and kit. He almost single-handedly took them to the 1998 World Cup in France, but the team came up short. His devotion to his home country is even more impressive when one considers that in 1996 he suffered severe retribution after suggesting that the United Nations should move into Liberia.

His home in Monrovia was burnt down, his vehicles stolen and many of his relatives were attacked. Weah insisted that he had not done nothing extraordinary.

‘Sports is a unifying force and we have a responsibility to help all people,’ said Weah.

‘We have to show the love to everyone.’  

* * *

May 13, 2008 (The Straits Times)

Giggs and Annika are true greats

By Rohit Brijnath

 

SAY a prayer of thanks for Ryan Giggs, sing a hymn in praise of Annika Sorenstam, write a letter of admiration to Alex Ferguson.

Be grateful to them for reminding us about true greatness. For telling us it is about talent standing up to the challenges of the years, about the marriage of skill with consistency, about excellence being courted through time.

We need this reminding because in a world of manicured, rehearsed, pampered stars, described in press releases as ‘the most astonishing talent’ we have seen since, well, yesterday, it can be hard to find the truth behind the glitz.

In this world, first you get called ‘great’, like Michelle Wie. Then you try to live up to that label. If you fail, you’ll be a never-was-has-been, but at least a rich one.

In this world, tennis player Andy Murray, whose form is hiccuping, who hasn’t yet reached the quarter-finals of a Grand Slam event, thinks he’s done enough to merit the release of an autobiography this summer.

When he makes a Grand Slam semi-final, we’ll get the film on his life.

‘Good’ doesn’t cut it anymore. Now everyone is great, will be great, is potentially great.

Sergio Garcia won the Players Championship on Sunday and his performance might have been great, but him? No way. Not without a Major. In fact, not even necessarily with a Major. Lee Janzen has two. He’s a nice man. But great?

In fact, there are so many ‘great’ athletes that we’re constantly having to design new, and bizarre, categories.

There’s the all-time great, the modern great, the greatest right-hander, the greatest Brazilian footballer with a sad haircut and happy libido, and the greatest women’s tennis player with a sane father.

Too much of sport is exaggerated, hyped, inflated more than John Daly after an afternoon at a sponsor’s tent. And too many players, parents, media, agents, sponsors, are fine with it.

Lalit Modi, the man who cobbled together cricket’s Indian Premier League (IPL), is no mere visionary. According to a TV commentator, he is cricket’s version of…Moses!

Anthony Kim, who won the Wachovia Championship, his first PGA title, two weeks ago, at 22, is not just gifted. He’s Tiger’s next challenger!

Give me a minute while I throw up.

We all overuse the word ‘great’, we all relish comparisons, we all enjoy vodka-fuelled, spittle-sharing arguments over Federer and Sampras, Ronaldo and Ronaldinho, Senna and Schumacher.

But some things you don’t do. You don’t compare Tiger with Gandhi (as his father reportedly did), and you don’t compare Kim with Tiger.

You don’t even compare Lewis Hamilton, however thrilling he is, with Tiger because all resemblances between the two are superficial.

But Hamilton is a brand. And branding means embellishment. It means publishing an autobiography after a single season in Formula One. It means having accomplishments made to look more substantial than they actually are.

And, alas, sometimes it works.

Which is why in one list of sporting icons, I found David Beckham’s name nestled next to Michael Jordan’s. Which is akin to discovering The Da Vinci Code next to The Grapes of Wrath in the literature section of a library.

Everyone wants to be ‘great’ in sport, but only some will be. Probably Hamilton. Maybe Murray. Possibly Garcia.

But the real pleasure of sport is not the gimmicks, or the posturing, or the overstatements. But watching these athletes look for this greatness, watching them find it for a day, watching them fall short of it, watching them rise from the dust and try again.

Greatness can’t be bought on the Internet, it can’t be manufactured in an advertising studio. It’s earned every day. It’s Giggs down the wing, time and again. It’s Sorenstam hitting the green again and again.

Will I remember Andy Murray’s autobiography? No.

But I will remember Rafael Nadal last week, dressing a vicious, ugly, red, painful-just-to-look-at blister, getting up, wincing, but embracing the agony as he resumed his hunt for victory.

He lost the match, but not his authentic grip on greatness. 

* * *

June 15, 2008 (The Sunday Times)

Great, you’ve won – but on my terms

Runner Jeanette Wang has to endorse adidas to get her Sundown Marathon prize, but she’s sponsored by Nike

By Debbie Yong

 

She thought she had crossed the finish line but the winner of the inaugural adidas Sundown Marathon, Ms Jeanette Wang, has hit a new hurdle.

The 26-year-old Straits Times journalist topped the Women’s Open event two Sundays ago, clocking in at 9hr 14min 36sec in the gruelling 84km run.

But the seasoned athlete is now unable to claim one part of her prize, a sponsored trip to the Berlin Marathon this September.

The reason: adidas, the prize sponsor, wants her to use only its products on the trip, or forfeit the race altogether.

But she is in Nike’s stable of sponsored athletes and is forbidden to endorse other brands.

‘On the one hand, I want to be loyal to Nike, which has been supporting me for the past four years. On the other hand, I did win the race and I feel like I deserve something for it,’ said Ms Wang, who had also topped her age group at the 2006 Standard Chartered Ironman Korea.Her win also entitles her to a year’s sponsorship contract of adidas products worth $3,000.

A check on the official adidas Sundown Marathon website showed that there were no conditions stating that the winners would go to Berlin only if they signed the adidas sponsorship contract.

Mr Fabian William, the winner of the 82km Men’s Open and who also won a Berlin trip, is already sponsored by adidas.

When asked by The Sunday Times, adidas said that donning its products at the Berlin race came with the sponsored trip. ‘It would be unheard of for an organisation to send an athlete halfway across the world to enter its own premier race with limited race slots, but have its direct competitor benefit in turn,’ said Mr Marcus Chew, the marketing manager for adidas Singapore.

‘I would go as far as saying that we are bending over backwards to accommodate her.’

The company had offered to match the value of Ms Wang’s current sponsorship contract with Nike if she signed with adidas, along with more opportunities to race overseas.

It also offered to custom-make running shoes for her for the Berlin race, said Mr Chew.

Top local marathoner Vivian Tang, 37, ran into a similar fix in 2006.

Following her win at the Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon that December, adidas had offered her a sponsored trip to the London Marathon on condition of endorsement. But she had to turn it down as she was sponsored by Nike.

Most race prizes come in the form of vouchers or cash, as most top athletes are already sponsored and ‘it would be unfair for an athlete to win a prize and not be able to claim it’, said Ms Tang.

Another veteran marathon runner, Mr Steven Chan, 39, agreed.

‘Singapore already does not have a strong pool of athletes. We shouldn’t have such rigid rules that stop them from taking part in more competitions,’ he said.

Saying that she has no plans to approach the Singapore Sports Council for help, Ms Wang added that she was considering her options and did not rule out ‘walking away from the victory empty-handed’.

She said: ‘There’s more to winning a race than the prize, but a prize shouldn’t be a business deal. It’s a reward for the hard work you put into the race.’ 

* * *

June 7, 2008 (The Straits Times)

Table tennis’ Chinese diaspora

Not good enough for China, they end up representing other nations

By Lin Xinyi

 download visual summary from ST here

 

IN HER youth, Xian Yifang was at best, a provincial player in China.

She played for the Hebei team but failed to make the national table tennis team.

When she left China in 1997 to play for a French club, she thought that her chance to compete at the Olympics went away too.

But her hopes were revived when she received French citizenship in 2005.

The 30-year-old, who resides in the north-western French city of Rouen, said: ‘Getting to compete in the coming Olympics validates my decision to leave China.

‘As an athlete, you want to be part of these Games at least once in your career.’

No less than 29 China-born women paddlers will represent their adopted countries at the Beijing Olympics.

Among them, Spain‘s Zhu Fang, Wu Xue of the Dominican Republic, Austria‘s Li Qiangbing, the United States‘ Wang Chen and Singapore‘s Li Jiawei will return to their hometown.

Zhu Fang, 32, said: ‘It’s too bad that I won’t be playing for China. That would have been perfect.

‘But I’m lucky enough to compete in my first Olympics at my birthplace.’

The effects of China‘s table tennis system is far-reaching, with products in all continents – barring Antarctica, which will not be represented at the Beijing Games.

Moving abroad has helped many paddlers kick-start, reignite or prolong their careers.

Xian, who is at the TMS Singapore Open, said: ‘There are very few opportunities in China.

‘Everyone trains very hard from a young age and no one is willing to give up their dreams so easily.’

Wang Chen was twice overlooked for the Chinese Olympic team despite being part of China‘s 1997 World Championship-winning team. She will make her Olympic debut at the age of 33 as an American.

The Americans also boast Gao Jun, 38, an Olympic silver medallist in 1992 with China.

Dang Ye Seo, formerly known as Tang Na, went to South Korea in 2001 as a sparring partner but has since emerged as an Olympic medal prospect.

But despite the player exodus, China has hardly been affected.

Since table tennis became an Olympic sport in 1988, nine of the 10 women’s gold medals were won by China.

Only one paddler has come back to haunt them – Chen Jing.

Chen was the 1988 Seoul Games singles champion with China.

But she went on to represent Taiwan at the 1996 Atlanta Games, where she claimed the silver after defeating China‘s Qiao Hong in the semi-finals.

The men’s game has not seen such an influx of Chinese players. Only slightly more than 10 former China nationals will be representing new countries in Beijing.

But that has not stopped the International Table Tennis Federation from imposing a rule in March with the aim of ensuring that countries develop their own local talent.

The rule, which takes effect on Sept 1, bars China-born citizens aged over 21 from playing for their new country in the World Championships and the World Cup, but not the Olympics.

Players aged 15 to 18 must wait five years before competing for their new country, while those aged 18 to 21 will need to wait seven years.

Those under 15 must wait three years.

But even with the new rules, Germany‘s Zhenqi Barthel does not see China‘s dominance waning.

After all, China will still keep its best talent.

She said: ‘China will always be the best team in the world now – no matter what happens.

‘In the future, it’ll be more of the same.’ 

* * *

June 10, 2008 (The Straits Times)

‘Ping-pong diplomats’ face off once more

 

YORBA LINDA (CALIFORNIA) – IT WAS an unlikely diplomatic tool amid the Cold War: a few paddles, a few ping-pong balls and nine giddy US table tennis players in a country Americans hadn’t seen for decades.

Yet table tennis games in China in 1971 helped open China to the world, changed public opinion and paved the way for a visit from president Richard Nixon, who helped restore diplomatic ties.

Decades later, China and the United States will pay homage to the ‘ping-pong diplomacy’ with a three-day event at the Richard Nixon Library & Birthplace that ends in a rematch between several of the original – and ageing – athletes.

The games are a tribute to the friendly ties between the two nations today and a prelude to the Beijing Olympics.

‘Back in the 1970s, the communist Chinese were evil people and it was a very dark country that we knew very little about,’ said Mr Steve Bull, a former Nixon aide. ‘No one was envisioning that this dramatic trip to China would be a precursor to re-establishing diplomatic relations.’

Once in China, the 1971 team marvelled at the hospitality of their hosts, but were also stunned to see the three-storey-tall portraits of Mao Zedong and chalky buildings.

The Americans also realised that the Chinese were letting them win. Mr George Braithwaite, now 69, said he won two of three matches against Mr Liang Geliang, who was one of the best in the world.

They will face off again on Thursday. Mr Braithwaite thinks Mr Liang won’t have to let him win this time: ‘I’m really looking forward to this. I’ve been practising hard.’

ASSOCIATED PRESS

 

 

Warden Passes Sovereignty of Piggy Bank to All

(Download the podcast from the IVLE!)

 

SINGAPORE – The Warden of the Piggy Bank of Chishima Kuril has awarded sovereignty over the Bank to Old Fort, Fief Teem, Tweeny Toot and two top candidates in General Paper.

The Warden delivered the judgement on Tuesday, seventeenth of June, 2008, after a round of oral pleadings by the three disputing countries on the twelfth of May, 2008.

The resources of Piggy Bank will be divided five ways, with each of the three countries receiving a portion.

The remaining two portions will be matched dollar for dollar, cent for cent, by the Warden at the end of the year. The money will be used to fund two book prizes for Mr Kwok’s GP classes.

Under the policy, the Top Scholar for the GP Promotional Examination 2008 will receive the first Book Prize. The second Book Prize will go to the candidate with the best improvement in GP for the year.

For the latter, the calculation will be based on the difference in score for the Common Test and the Promotional Examination.

In addition, the contribution of resources to the Bank by the residents of the three nations will be discontinued. The previous method of punishment for human rights violators will be re-introduced: offenders will pay the penalty to their respective country.

The three nations had put forth strong arguments in support of their case.

“In these circumstances, the Warden concludes that the judgement must benefit all in a meritocratic and democratic manner.”

The amended contribution scheme alludes to the arguments put forth by Old Fort while the manner of distribution mirrors Tweeny Toot’s stand. At the same time, Fief Teem’s “winner-takes-all” attitude should be felt in the ruling as the ones who were penalised less will get more than what they had contributed, thus rewarding those who adhered to the regulations.

The verdict brings to a close a highly volatile, 60-day old row among the countries.

At one point in time, Old Fort had even threatened to launch a nuclear strike against the other countries.

The Piggy Bank was built to ensure a harsher punishment for offenders and a more transparent system of meting out the punishment for the citizens of the three countries. Convicted citizens pay a fine of between ten cents and two dollars to the coffers, of which an estimated 67% come from Old Fort.

The Piggy Bank had been extremely effective, as noted by most of the observers and leaders. Recalcitrants, out of guilt, had also been reported to have contributed more than what their sentence required of them.

The porcelain porcine receptacle commands the respect of all for the English Language, and for courtesy and human rights.

Leaders from Old Fort, Fief Teem and Tweeny Toot had said they would accept the Warden’s decision and stressed that whichever way it went, it would not affect trilateral ties.

Moving forward, the Warden had said that the Ministers of Finance of the three countries will be meeting him to finalise the financial details to put words into action.