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4th September 2007

Korean handball officials upset with referring decisions

Korean officials believe that they received unfair treatment from Jordanian referees at the Korean-Kuwait men’s handball match in Japan as they lost 28-20.

Members of the Korea Handball Federation are planning to visit the Kuwait Embassy in Seoul, handing in a statment of protest of the referree’s decision making.

Korea will have to win all three of its remaining games against Qatar, United Arab Emirates and Japan to move forward to the Beijing Olympics.

“We witnessed an unacceptable situation,” said the vice president of the Japan Handball Federation in an interview with a Japanese newspaper. “Should this situation continue, none of the East Asian countries would be able to participate in Olympic games forever.”

Read more: Unfair Decisions Spoil Olympic Preliminary

Lenovo goes all out at the Olympics 1 reply

Lenovo is going all out to use the 2008 Beijing Olympics to promote its brand. Lenevo took over IBM’s personal computing division over two years ago.

Ever since the takeover of the IBM’s computer division, Lenovo has faced a difficult battle to rebrand their computers and laptops in the marketplace. The company has introduced an array of Olympics-inspired laptops. The Lenovo brand is well known in China, and has a third of the market share.

Outside of Asia Lenovo is well behind rival maker’s HP and Dell. “We are aiming to build Lenovo into a strong brand known for innovation, customer service and high quality,” said Deepak Advani, senior vice-president and chief marketing officer of Lenovo. It is not surprising that IT purchasing departments have been cautious in purchasing new IBM/Lenovo branded laptops. Until Lenovo can prove that it has the ability to build and support the latest technology, will companies decide to stick with or move to the Thinkpad brand.

IT systems are the backbone of any large event including the Olympic Games. The projected IT costs of the Beijing Olympics is set to be at around $400 million. Lenovo will be supplying laptop PCs, desktops, servers, printers and other IT equipment, with its contribution totaling around 20,000 pieces of equipment and around 400 computer techinicians.

Lenovo is oranizing and sponsoring the Olympic torch relay. Their Olympic torch design was selected from over 300 entrants and was inspired by the shape of a traditional Chinese scroll.

The sponsorship of an Olympic Games is somewhat risky for a IT provider. Any IT problems are going to be quickly blamed on the providers. A successful implementation at the games, without any major issues is going to be largely ignored by the mainstream press. Hopefully for Lenovo, IT managers and IT procurement departments across the world interested in the Olympics will be paying attention.

Starbucks has big plans for China

Even though Starbucks is not an official Olympic sponsor, they have big plans for China. The company currently has 540 stores across mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau.

Even though China is traditionally a tea drinking country, Starbucks has been successful at selling coffee and introducing some tea related products to their stores. Aditionally, Starbucks sees itself as offering its customers more than just cups of coffee.

Starbucks has a global appeal where people connect. It’s a place they enjoy by themselves or with friends. Starbucks offers a perfect, perfect platform.

Read more: Q&A Starbucks exec talks of high hopes for growth in Asia

Kenya finishes second overall in Osaka

Kenya performed well in the Osaka World Athletics Championships coming second overall finishing with 13 medals including 5 gold.

Here is a list of the final results:

Gold medals:

Brimin Kiprop Kipruto 3000 Metres Steeplechase M
Alfred Kirwa Yego 800 Metres M
Janeth Jepkosgei 800 Metres W
Luke Kibet Marathon M
Catherine Ndereba Marathon W

Silver medals:

Ezekiel Kemboi 3000 Metres Steeplechase M
Eliud Kipchoge 5000 Metres M
Vivian Cheruiyot 5000 Metres W

Bronze medals:

Martin Irungu Mathathi 10,000 Metres M
Shedrack Kibet Korir 1500 Metres M
Eunice Jepkorir 3000 Metres Steeplechase W
Richard Kipkemboi Mateelong 3000 Metres Steeplechase M
Priscah Jepleting Cherono 5000 Metres W

Kenya’s Catherine Ndereba wins women’s marathon

Catherine Ndereba from Kenya won the women’s marathon at the Osaka World Athletics Championships. She finished the race with a time of 2 hours, 30 minutes and 37 seconds. Chunxiu Zhou, finished second followed by the local star Reiko Tosa.

“I guess it was the toughest marathon of my career. It was so hot,” said the deeply religious Ndereba, who was running her first marathon of the year as she focused all her attention on preparing for Osaka.

“Some people said after I did not win in Athens or Helsinki that Catherine is finished. But I showed them that with the help of God that I can win again.”

Source

Injuries threaten Russian gymnastic’s berth

Russian gymnasts Nikolai Kryukov and Anton Golotsutskov suffered injuries in the opening events during the world gymnastics championships in Stuttgart.

If they don’t recover in time, Russia’s berth in the 2008 Beijing Olympics could be severly threatened.

“It’s maybe a half chance for us to make the team finals,” he said. “You work for four years to get to the Olympic Games, it’s the most important thing.”

“If they can’t recover soon, we will plunge into big trouble”, said European all-around champion Maxim Deviatovski.

Read more: Russia’s Olympic berth threatened after two injuries at gymnastics worlds

Osaka World Athletics Championships Medal Tally

Here are the final results for the World Athletics Championships in Oskaka, Japan. The United States finished very strongly, followed by Kenya and Russia. China’s performance and most other Asian countries were not so great.

Rank Country Gold Silver Bronze Total
1 UNITED STATES 14 4 8 26
2 KENYA 5 3 5 13
3 RUSSIA 4 9 3 16
4 ETHIOPIA 3 1 0 4
5 GERMANY 2 2 3 7
6 CZECH REPUBLIC 2 1 0 3
7 AUSTRALIA 2 0 0 2
8 JAMAICA 1 6 3 10
9 BAHAMAS 1 2 0 3
10 GREAT BRITAIN & N.I. 1 1 3 5
11 BELARUS 1 1 1 3
11 CUBA 1 1 1 3
11 PR OF CHINA 1 1 1 3
14 BAHRAIN 1 1 0 2
15 CROATIA 1 0 0 1
15 ECUADOR 1 0 0 1
15 ESTONIA 1 0 0 1
15 FINLAND 1 0 0 1
15 NEW ZEALAND 1 0 0 1
15 PANAMA 1 0 0 1
15 PORTUGAL 1 0 0 1
15 SWEDEN 1 0 0 1
23 ITALY 0 2 1 3
24 CANADA 0 2 0 2
24 FRANCE 0 2 0 2
26 SPAIN 0 1 2 3
27 UKRAINE 0 1 1 2
28 BRAZIL 0 1 0 1
28 DOMINICAN REPUBLIC 0 1 0 1
28 MOROCCO 0 1 0 1
28 NORWAY 0 1 0 1
28 QATAR 0 1 0 1
28 SLOVENIA 0 1 0 1
28 TURKEY 0 1 0 1
35 POLAND 0 0 3 3
36 BELGIUM 0 0 1 1
36 CYPRUS 0 0 1 1
36 GREECE 0 0 1 1
36 JAPAN 0 0 1 1
36 KAZAKHSTAN 0 0 1 1
36 NETHERLANDS 0 0 1 1
36 SLOVAK REPUBLIC 0 0 1 1
36 SRI LANKA 0 0 1 1
36 SWITZERLAND 0 0 1 1
36 TUNISIA 0 0 1 1
36 UGANDA 0 0 1 1

US cleans up in Osaka

The United States cleaned up at the World International Athletics championship in Osaka, winning 26 medals of which 14 of them were gold.

The results put the American team in an excellent position leading into the Beijing Olympic Games.

Here is the full list of medals:

Gold medals:

Tyson Gay 100 Metres M
Michelle Perry 100 Metres Hurdles W
Bernard Lagat 1500 Metres M
Allyson Felix 200 Metres W
Tyson Gay 200 Metres M
Jeremy Wariner 400 Metres M
Kerron Clement 400 Metres Hurdles M
United States 4×100 Metres Relay M
United States 4×100 Metres Relay W
United States 4×400 Metres Relay M
United States 4×400 Metres Relay W
Bernard Lagat 5000 Metres M
Brad Walker Pole Vault M
Reese Hoffa Shot Put M

Silver medals:

Lauryn Williams 100 Metres W
Terrence Trammell 110 Metres Hurdles M
LaShawn Merritt 400 Metres M
Adam Nelson Shot Put M

Bronze medals:

Carmelita Jeter 100 Metres W
Kara Goucher 10,000 Metres W
David Payne 110 Metres Hurdles M
Wallace Spearmon 200 Metres M
Angelo Taylor 400 Metres M
Breaux Greer Javelin Throw M
Dwight Phillips Long Jump M
Walter Davis Triple Jump M

Post-Olympic blues already predicted

Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu’s director of Asia-Pacific manufacturing, Kevin Gromley is predicting a drop in demand following the Beijing Olympics.

“Over time, this will shift and domestic consumption is going to become a bigger and bigger piece of the economy,” Mr Gromley told BusinessDay. “But, while that transition happens, there is a risk that over-investment in infrastructure will cause a bubble effect, particularly after the Beijing Olympics.”

It’s no secret that the Chinese economy has been booming the last couple of years and there is a chance that the bubble will pop some time in the future. Gromley’s comments could have meaning in the industrial sector of the Chinese economy, but China should see some uplift in foreign investment and tourism sector following the Olympic Games.

Read more: Post-Olympics hangover may be risky business

Commonwealth triathlon champion Brad Kahlefeldt gets bronze

Commonwealth Game’s gold medallist Brad Kahlefeldt, came home with a bronze in the world triathlon championship in Hamburg, Germany. German, Daniel Unger just beat Spain’s Javier Gomez to win Germany’s first trialthon’s gold medal.

Kahlefeldt is confident that he will be able to do better in the Beijing Olympics as he was able to still come third after being stepped on by a fellow competitor.

“I can’t be disappointed with the bronze. It’s my second world championship medal and I gave it everything I had,” said Kahlefeldt, who finished just 18 seconds behind Unger (1:43.18), while suffering leg cramps.

Read more: Bruised Brad set for Beijing gold


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