Taiwan president urges athletes to win gold
TAIPEI: Taiwan President Chen Shui-Bian yesterday urged Taiwan athletes to win gold at the 15th Asian Games, to be held from December 1-15 in Doha.
“Taiwan won its first gold in international sports events in the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. But at the fourth East Asian Games last year, we won 12 gold, 34 silver and 26 bronze. I hope you will try your best at the Asian Games and let the whole world hear the name of Taiwan,” Chen told the Taiwan team at the Tsoying national athletes’ training centre in Kaohsiung, southern Taiwan.
Chen said Taiwan is preparing to host the 2009 World Games and aims at winning seven golds at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China. Chen presented the flag of the Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee to the Taiwan team and wished them great success. Taiwan is sending a 542-member delegation to the Asian Games, including 391 athletes, 98 coaches and 53 officials and staff members. Taiwan hopes to win 10-15 gold medals in 34 events.
Last week, Sports Minister Chen Chuan-Shou vowed to resign if Taiwan athletes failed to win at least 15 gold medals at the Asian Games in Doha.
Taiwan, an island nation with 23 million people, does not have the tradition of systematic training of athletes.
[COULD THAT BE BECAUSE THEY KEEP SACKING THEIR COACHES FOR RIDICULOUS REASONS!]
Baseball is Taiwan’s national sport but the island has also produced some world-class taekwondo players.
In the 16th Intercontinental Cup baseball games which ended in Taichung central Taiwan on Sunday, Taiwan beat Japan to win the third place. Cuba and the Netherlands won the first and second place. (QNA)
India make no show
IN YET another setback to the organisers, India forfeited their opening basketball match of the Asian Games yesterday.
The referee awarded the match to opponents Bahrain, 20-0 as India failed to turn up on court at the Sport City Basketball Indoor Hall by the 12:00 start time.
In what was a strange build-up to the match, players for the Kingdom of Bahrain enjoyed an extensive warm-up, where each player was individually introduced by the stadium announcer and took their positions on court prior to tip-off. The referee then blew his whistle to start the match, then immediately blew it again to end the ‘match’ then shook hands with the Bahraini players.
“It will be difficult for us tomorrow when we play Macau, China because we concentrated on beating India today,” said Salman Ramadan, the Bahraini coach after the match. “The boys are relaxed now and we will have to work hard to get the team up again.”
“Macau, China may be not as good as India, but the Chinese are quick and organised. We have to be ready for them because they will give us a tough game.”
In what was a bonus to the squad, the forfeited encounter allowed the players to enjoy a thorough training session afterwards as they acclimatised themselves to court conditions.
After the training session player Ahmed al-Mutawa said about the non-encounter “We’ve been scouting India for a month and were looking forward to playing them, but we’ll take the win. It was good to practice in the hall, but we would rather have played the game.”
In the second match of round 1, Uzbekistan coasted to a comfortable 102-66 victory over Mongolia.
Brilliantly led by forward Aleksandr Kozlov, Uzbekistan raced to 35-15 lead in the first quarter itself. Kozlov who contributed 17 points in the quarter finished with the match’s highest 23.
Although Mongolia showed some signs of fight back in the second and third quarters, Uzbekistan were never in trouble as they entered the final quarter with a 33-point lead. Uzbekistan will next play Palestine on November.
In the day’s other matches, Afghanistan and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) rallied from behind to pull off stunning victories over Hong Kong and Kuwait respectively.
In an entertaining Group D opener, Afghanistan staged a gallant fourth-quarter comeback to claim a 65-57 win. Locked at 50-50 at one stage, Afghanistan anhilated Hong Kong to only seven points in the last 10 minutes.
In the drama-filled match, UAE rallied from an eight-point deficit to earn 80-72 victory over Kuwait.
Koreas to march together at Games
SEOUL: The South and North Korean teams will once again will march together at the opening and closing ceremonies of the 15th Asian Games in Doha.
Both countries are also discussing the North’s latest offer to work together on the possibility of fielding a single team for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, South Korea’s Unification Ministry said.
South Korea “will move in a way that respects the opinion of the sports community,” a ministry spokesman said.
The move comes amid lingering tensions on the Korean Peninsula over the North’s nuclear test last month.
The South Korean Olympic committee delivered its opinions to the Unification Ministry earlier Wednesday, calling for a joint entry at the upcoming Asian Games as well as talks with the North on forming a unified team for the Beijing Olympics.
The two sides are likely to hold talks on the joint Olympic team while in Doha, according to officials.
In previous talks, South and North Korea failed to make any headway on how to compose a single team for Beijing.
South Korea has insisted athletes should be selected based on performance, while North Korea wants equal representation based on the spirit of a 2000 inter-Korean summit.
Athletes from South and North Korea marched together at the opening ceremonies of the 2000 and 2004 Olympics, and at the 2002 Asian Games in Busan, South Korea, but competed separately.
The Koreas remain technically at war since the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a cease-fire, not a peace treaty, but their ties have warmed significantly following the 2000 summit between the two countries’ leaders. (Agencies)
Humpy: Indian chess team tough to beat
KONERU Humpy, Indian chess grand master, says her team will be the one to beat when the 15th Asian Games click into gear in Doha.
Speaking yesterday she beamed: “It’s the first time that chess has been included in the Asian Games, so we are all looking to do well. The Indian team are the best on paper and the expectations are very high.”
They should do well. Humpy, the women’s world No 2, will spearhead the team and will be joined by two top male colleagues with international pedigree.
Sashikiran Krishnan, winner of the Asian Championship and 20-year-old former junior champion Harikrishna Pentala will team-up with 19 year-old Humpy at the 15th Asian Games.
Their strongest competition will come from China, Qatar, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan.
The chess tournament at the 15th Asian Games takes place December 2 - 14 at the Al-Dana Club in Doha.
Bahrain’s Jamal looks to blaze a trail
BORN on September 16, 1984 in the same Ethiopian village as her idol Haile Gebrselassie, Zenebech Tola Kotu, as she was then known, was a latecomer to the world of athletics and only started running aged 15 in a trial organised by her school. She competed though not in the middle distances she is now associated with, but the sprint disciplines and even the high jump.
It was only a year later that Tola graduated into middle-distance running by joining the Muger Club in Addis-Ababa and then narrowly failed to make the Ethiopian junior team for the World Cross Country Championships in 2001. She finished third in the 1500m at the national junior championships next year and was invited to compete in races in Switzerland.
Tola took up the offer and won many events in this mix of road races and half marathons, prompting her to decide to base herself in Lausanne and file for political asylum in May 2002. She joined the Stade Lausanne Athlétisme club, but was fast becoming disillusioned with the sport and convinced that her future lay away from the track.
Her partner Mnashu Taye persuaded her to persevere and she duly achieved the 1500m Olympic qualifying time in 2004, prompting her to try and run for Ethiopia in the Athens Olympics. This request was turned down, as would be her subsequent application for Swiss citizenship due to the strict length of residency requirement.
Tola was confined to racing within Switzerland, but she continued to train hard hoping to find a solution to the problem. One duly arrived in the form of the Kingdom of Bahrain, who offered her and her partner citizenship.
In January 2005 Zenebech Tola Kotu became Maryam Yusuf Jamal, although she still lives and trains in Switzerland.