vancouver olympics Times – Sports Daily

South Korea’s Kim Yu-na has won the women’s figure skating gold medal at the Vancouver Winter Olympics – and did it by setting a record.
Kim shattered her own world mark by scoring 228.56 points, more than 18 higher than her previous record. She is the winner of South Korea’s first Olympic medal in the sport.
Mao Asada of Japan won the silver, but finished 23 points behind Kim.
Joannie Rochette, whose mother died four days ago, got the bronze, Canada’s first women’s medal in the games since 1988.
American Mirai Nagasu finished fourth.

The International Figure Skating Union’s Grand Prix Series enters its 15th season this weekend with its first event: The Trophee Eric Bompard Cachemire, in Paris. Competition starts Friday in competition, the first of six that will lead up to the Grand Prix Final in Tokyo in December and the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. It will feature some interesting storylines.

Ladies’ Singles

Carolina Kostner

This event has perhaps the most stacked ladies’ field of the Grand Prix season. Two of figure skating’s greatest rivals will meet in this event as Korean World Champion Kim Yu-Na and 2008 World Champion and faces Grand Prix Final champ Mao Asada of Japan.

Kim, who has been training with Brian Orser in Toronto, blew away the field at the worlds in Los Angeles with a record score. She will show off new programs choreographed by David Wilson – George Gershwin’s “Piano Concerto in F Major” in the long program and a short program to a medley of music from “James Bond 007″, considered unusual music for figure skating.

The archrivals will also be joined by Italy’s Carolina Kostner, but the hotly-anticipated comeback of American Sasha Cohen has been iced as the 2006 Olympic silver medallist who is making a comeback, has pulled out of the competition after suffering an injured calf in practice. Japan’s Yukari Nakano and Caroline Zhang of the U.S. may also challenge. There are no Canadian women in this event.

Entries: Mao Asada (Japan), Candice Didier (France), Sasha Cohen, United States, Gwendoline Didier (France), Elene Gedevanishvili, (Georgia), Alexe Gilles (USA), Yu-Na Kim (South Korea), Kiira Korpi (Finland), Carolina Kostner (Italy), Yukari Nakano (Japan), Caroline Zhang (USA), Anna Jurkiewicz (Poland)

Men’s Singles

Brian Joubert, the 2007 world champion from France, launches his season in front of his home fans and will no doubt be trying to vindicate himself after finishing with what he considered a disappointing bronze medal at the 2009 Worlds.

A five-time world medallist known for his big jumps, Joubert is likely to be challenged in Paris by Nobunari Oda. The Japanese skater is in top form, winning last year’s NHK Trophy, after being banned for three months by his national federation in 2007 for drunk driving. Russia’s Sergei Voronov and Tomáš Verner of Czech Republic will also be in the running for spots on the podium. Vaughn Chipeur is the only Canadian man in the event as he begins his quest for the nation’s second spot at the Olympics.

Entries: Vaughn Chipeur (Canada), Chao Yang (China), Tomas Verner (Czech Republic), Brian Joubert (France), Yannick Ponsero (France), Alban Preaubert (France), Peter Liebers (Germany), Nobunari Oda (Japan), Sergei Voronov (Russia), Javier Fernandez (Spain), Ryan Bradley (USA), Adam Rippon (USA)

Pairs

Canadians Bryce Davison and Jessica Dubé will face the world’s finest pairs competition right off the bat in Paris when they return to the romantic style of skating that so suited them before their experimental season last year. They will meet world champions Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy of Germany, the reigning world champs. It’s the first of two meetings between the two teams during this Grand Prix season. The second will be at Skate Canada in Kitchener, Ont., in late November.

Russians Maria Mukhortova and Maxim Trankov, coached by Olympic champ Oleg Vassiliev, may also figure into the podium.

Entries: Adeline Canac and Maximin Coia (France), Marissa Castelli and Simon Shnapir (USA), Huibo Dong and Yiming Wu (China), Jessica Dubé and Bryce Davison (Canada), Vanessa James and Yannick Bonheur (France), Maria Mukhortova and Maxim Trankov (Russia), Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy, Germany

Ice Dance

Canadians Tessa Virtue, of London, Ont. and Scott Moir, of Ilderton, Ont. are making their return to the Grand Prix circuit after missing the series last season when Virtue had to have surgery on both of her shins. They returned late in the season to earn bronze at the world championships, and they feel confident now that they are the best ice dance team in the world. They will debut their highly-anticipated new programs: a flamenco original dance and a free dance to Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 5.

Virtue and Moir enter the competition as the clear favourite but can expect some good competition from the French team of Nathalie Pechalat and Fabian Bourzat, Sinead and John Kerr of Great Britain, and Americans Emily Samuelson and Evan.

Entries: Zoé Blanc and Pierre-Loup Bouquet (France), Kristina Gorshkova and Vitali Butikov, (Russia), Madison Hubbell and Keiffer Hubbell (USA), Sinead Kerr and John Kerr (Great Britain), Kimberly Navarro and Brent Bommentre (USA), Nathalie Pechalat and Fabian Bourzat (France), Ekaterina Rubleva and Ivan Shefer (Russia), Emily Samuelson and Evan Bates (USA), Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir (Canada)

Tokyo’s hopes of hosting the 2016 Olympics were shattered Friday as the Japanese capital was eliminated in the second round of voting by the International Olympic Committee.

Rio de Janeiro was named the winner of rights to stage the 2016 Games, beating Madrid in the final round of voting to become the first South American Olympic host. Rio had 66 votes to Madrid’s 32.

Chicago was eliminated in the first round of voting before Tokyo’s exit left the race down to the Rio and Madrid. Tokyo had 22 votes in the first round and 20 in the second.

Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama released a statement Saturday congratulating the Brazilian people on Rio de Janeiro’s win in a bid to host the 2016 Summer Olympics.

‘‘I want to offer my heartfelt appreciation for the citizens of Tokyo and athletes,’’ said Tokyo Gov Shintaro Ishihara. ‘‘Let’s use this precious experience, while tackling environmental issues and contribute to the development of world cities. I pray for the success of the Games in Rio de Janeiro.’’

Under host city voting procedures, the city with the fewest number of votes in each successive round of balloting is eliminated until one city has reached a majority of the valid votes cast.

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The International Olympic Committee is no stranger to tough decisions. It took the risk of sending the games to Beijing and said “No” to New York in the aftermath of 9/11. Yet, despite all of that accumulated experience, some IOC members are struggling with their latest conundrum: choosing the Olympic host for 2016.
Just two days ahead of the vote, many were undecided.
And that means two things—it’s still too close to call between Rio de Janeiro, Chicago, Tokyo and Madrid and, for the next couple of days, IOC members are going to feel that they are the most popular people on the planet. Everyone in Copenhagen, where they are gathered, seemingly wants to be their new best friend.
Want to meet Michelle Obama? Not a problem if you’re an IOC member who needs a little pointer on which way to vote. The first lady, beating her husband to the Danish capital, has a two-room suite in the IOC hotel, with homely white leather furniture and an interactive table that, at the touch of a hand, gives bird’s eye views of how a Chicago Olympics might look.
Mrs Obama arrived Wednesday, two days ahead of the U.S. leader, and got straight to work on impressing IOC members.
“We’re not taking anything for granted, so I’m going to go talk to some voters,” she said.
IOC members who have been through this selection process repeatedly, previously sending the games to London, Beijing, Athens and Sydney, told The Associated Press that they could not remember a tougher choice. The AP canvassed the opinions of a dozen IOC members. With all four cities seen as amply capable, technically at least, of holding the Olympics, they said much will ride on how well or badly the cities make their case in final 45-minute presentations to the IOC on Friday before the successive rounds of secret balloting.
“I have two favorites,” IOC member Nicole Hoevertsz said. “It’s going to come down to the last, last presentation. It’s going to come down to the last minute.”
As tension mounted, so did tempers. Despite fresh IOC warnings that the cities should avoid criticizing their rivals, the Spanish Olympic Committee’s vice president, Jose Maria Odriozola, told the national Efe news agency that “Rio is the worst bid.”
Rio bid organizers said the criticism was “totally unacceptable” and formally complained to the IOC.
The outcome Friday could hinge on which cities are eliminated first and, if and when their favorites are knocked out, how IOC members subsequently line up behind the other candidates. That makes predicting a winner perilous and means that even members who say they already have made their choice are still worth lobbying.
“It is difficult enough to know where the first-round votes are going to go, so trying to imagine where the swinging votes are going to go is impossible,” said Spanish IOC member Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr, whose father served as IOC president for 21 years.
“Events in the next 48 hours will decide the winner, because they will have a significant influence on the second- and third-round votes,” he said.
Samaranch said he believes nearly all the IOC’s 106 members already have a favorite. But IOC vice president Chiharu Igaya said “many” members are undecided.
Added British IOC member Craig Reedie: “This is really close. The closer it gets the more people will say, let me think about it. We all want to see the presentations. It’s what people see that will count. Decided? No, I haven’t actually. I’m getting close.”
Late, high-powered lobbying can be important—as then-Prime Minister Tony Blair and his wife, Cherie, proved when London campaigned successfully for the 2012 Olympics. Blair traveled to Singapore ahead of the vote and spent two days lobbying members, inviting them to his hotel suite for one-on-one meetings.
Chicago tore a leaf from Blair’s playbook: Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett met with him last week to solicit his advice and get tips on navigating the IOC voting process.
But for the first time, there are no IOC executive board meetings in the days leading up to the vote. That means less opportunity for schmoozing.
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Rachael Flatt, a 16-year-old with round, ruddy cheeks and uncontainable perkiness, did not win a medal for the United States at the world figure skating championships.
But when she finished her long program Saturday night, she beamed and giggled. She placed fifth over all and was the top American woman.

With the 2010 Vancouver Games less than a year away — and only two spots, instead of three, available for the United States women — her ranking among Americans meant everything.
“It’s exciting to even think about the fact that I actually could go to the Olympics,” Flatt said as she stopped for a moment to stare into the distance. “I think it will definitely be a hard year training-wise, but I’m definitely looking forward to it.”
Right now, no Olympic spots are guaranteed for any skater, but the world championships gave them a gauge of how close they were to a possible trip to the 2010 Games — or how far.
For the skaters at or near the top, the worlds were a test to see what their chances might be at winning an Olympic medal. Kim Yu-na of South Korea won that test, hands down.
Kim, 18, dominated, winning with a record-setting performance that brought the crowd to its feet and tears to her eyes. She won by more than 16 points, an overwhelming margin.
Kim was equal parts technically sound and artistically lovely, landing jump after jump so gracefully and softly, it was as if the law of gravity did not apply to her. Afterward, South Korea’s president and its prime minister called to congratulate her.
“I can’t say there isn’t going to be any pressure, because there are a lot of fans expecting me to win,” she said of the coming Olympics. “But if the preparation goes well, just like it did for this championship, I believe that I can win again, with confidence.”
Joannie Rochette of Canada finished second, and Miki Ando of Japan was third.
Mao Asada of Japan, the 2008 world champion and Kim’s rival, cried after finishing fourth, nearly 20 points behind Kim. But not all was lost: her team fared the best among the women. Japan was the only country to secure three entries for its skaters in the Olympic women’s event, increasing their odds of standing atop the podium in Vancouver, British Columbia.
The United States men also earned three Olympic berths, with the help of the newly crowned world champion Evan Lysacek. Teams from the United States and Japan are the only two that will have three skaters each at the Games.
Heading into Vancouver, two American ice-dancing teams will be favorites to win medals. Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto won silver at the worlds, and Meryl Davis and Charlie White were fourth.

Rachael Flatt – Long Program – 2009 World Figure Skating Championships

But the American women still remain the biggest question mark. Based on the performance of the two United States women at the worlds, Flatt and Alissa Czisny, only two Americans will compete in the women’s event at the Olympics for only the second time since 1924.
Czisny finished 11th Saturday, the worst showing for a women’s United States champion in decades. The United States failed to win a medal in the women’s event at worlds for the third year in a row, a streak last held in 1964.
“I wouldn’t say it’s a disaster,” Kristi Yamaguchi, the 1992 Olympic gold medalist, said. “I think the U.S. is in between generations right now, with a lot of older people and a lot of younger people. But I still think we have a deep pool of talent we could pull from. It will be a year of growing.”
At 24, Sasha Cohen, the 2006 Olympic silver medalist, is talking about a comeback. Kimmie Meissner, the 2006 world champion, is struggling with injuries. She is 19.
Two talented American 15-year-olds — Caroline Zhang and the 2008 national champion Mirai Nagasu — did not qualify for the worlds. Nagasu has been trying to adapt to a recent growth spurt that has thrown off her jumping abilities.
Now all of them must vie for two Olympic berths, when a third one could have turned out to golden.
If the United States women had had only two spots at the 2002 Salt Lake Games, Sarah Hughes would not have competed because she had finished third at the nationals, where the team was selected. Instead, she took that third berth and went to become an Olympic champion.
“Having two spots is definitely going to make the next year very interesting,” said Yamaguchi, who said she still had faith in the young skaters on the United States team. “A lot can happen when you are that young. Look at Rachael Flatt. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a skater who has been more consistent, and now she has a whole year to improve and grow. Her experience here at worlds will be priceless.”
She added, “The U.S. skating fans shouldn’t give up hope.”

source: nytimes.com

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Britain’s Jenson Button won the opening race of the 2009 Formula One season after dominating the Australian Grand Prix for the newly-formed Brawn GP team.
Button, who started from pole at Albert Park, was claiming the second victory of his 154-race career to complete a remarkable reversal of fortunes for the former Honda team who were facing an uncertain future when the Japanese car manufacturer withdrew from F1 late last year.

Button’s teammate Rubens Barrichello, who started second on the grid, made an appalling start and damaged his front wing in a first corner collision, but he completed a 1-2 for Brawn after profiting from a late collision involving Red Bull’s Sebastien Vettel and Robert Kubica of the BMW-Sauber team.

Promising young German Vettel was coming under pressure from Kubica for second place when the pair collided on turn three, the race finishing under the safety car as the debris was cleared off the track.

Button was emulating the feat of the legendary Juan Manuel Fangio, who won for Mercedes in their Formula One debut in 1954, and paid immediate tribute over race radio to technical guru Ross Brawn, who led a management buyout with Nick Fry to rescue the team from extinction.

“Thank you, you’re a legend, it’s going to be a great year,” he said.

Toyota’s Jarno Trulli, who had started the race from the pit lane after a technical infringement in qualifying, finished third, but lost the position to world champion Lewis Hamilton after incurring a time penalty. Hamilton had started at 18th on the grid.
Timo Glock finished fifth in the second Toyota with two-time world champion Fernando Alonso of Spain sixth for Renault.

Nico Rosberg (Williams) and Toro Rosso rookie Sebastien Buemi completed the points-scoring positions.

In contrast to his teammate Barrichello, Button made a perfect start and quickly built a commanding advantage.

The safety car was deployed for the first time after 18 of 58 laps when Kazuki Nakajima of Japan crashed heavily in his Williams.

But Button quickly rebuilt his advantage from the restart, briefly coming under pressure from Vettel and the charging Kubica after the second round of pit stops before crossing for a fairytale victory.

“An amazing day,” he said.

Hamilton was delighted with his high finish after what looked set to be a disastrous weekend for last year’s dominant dominant teams with the Ferraris of Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen out of the points.

“We did the best job we could, it just showed the true spirit of the team,” he told BBC Sport.

The build-up to the first race of the season has been dominated by a row over an aerodynamic device used by the Brawn, Toyota and Williams teams. The three teams are racing under appeal after rival manufacturers questioned the legality of their rear diffusers which are said to give them an unfair advantage.

The FIA, motorsport’s world governing body, will consider the appeal after next weekend’s Malaysian Grand Prix where Button and the Brawn GP team will start strong favorites.

source: edition.cnn.com

When her score popped up on the monitor at the world figure skating championships on Friday, Kim Yu-na could hardly believe it.
She buried her face in her hands. Her jaw dropped. Her coach, the two-time Olympic medalist Brian Orser, grabbed and shook her.
In front of a crowd filled with South Korean fans waving South Korean flags, South Korea’s Kim dominated the short program here Friday, winning by more than 8 points. Her score was 76.12, the best ever for a woman. It easily eclipsed her previous best score of 72.24.
Joannie Rochette of Canada finished second, with 67.90. Mao Asada of Japan, the defending world champion and Kim’s longtime rival, was third, with 66.06.
“I was very comfortable when I was skating,” Kim said of her reaction to the audience, many of the fans from the sizable Korean community here. “I felt that I was able to do well because of all the people cheering me on in the stadium.”
Kim, 18, had come into worlds expecting her biggest competition to be Asada, but she had no competition at all. Her performance put her in perfect position to win her first world title on Saturday, less than a year from the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.
Skating in a black outfit that sparkled in the lights, she landed each of her jumps, but her moves in between were what mesmerized the crowd. She effortlessly floated from one element to another, often with a smile, always with grace.
“It’s one of those moments in skating people will always remember,” Orser said.
The United States team had a night to forget, with its hopes of earning three spots at the Olympics likely slipping away.
The Americans must finish at least a combined 13th for the team to be awarded three Olympic entries. After the short program, the Americans are in 21st, combined. The last time the team brought only two women skaters to the Olympics was in 1994.
Alissa Czisny, the national champion, fell twice and is 14th going into the long program. She had 53.28 points.
“Today was disappointing because that’s not the way I’ve been practicing,” she said, devoid of emotion. “I have higher expectations of myself, and it just didn’t happen.”
Rachael Flatt, who finished seventh, stepped out of a triple flip and flubbed her first combination jump. But it did not ruin her night. Flatt, 16, said she was excited, not nervous, for her first senior-level world championships. She scored 59.30 points.
“I was hopping around out back, saying, ‘Oh my gosh, this is so cool,’ ” said Flatt, who has been studying for her A.P. chemistry test and writing an English paper on “The Great Gatsby” during her down time.
The United States men could rest easy. They secured their three spots for Vancouver on Thursday. Evan Lysacek’s gold medal certainly helped the cause. At 23, he will go into the Olympic year as the gold-medal favorite.
Lysacek skated brilliantly to George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue,” landing eight triple jumps as the crowd roared. He became the first American man in 13 years to hold the world title.
“To perform it just how I imagined it hundreds of times and visualized it,” he said, “I couldn’t have asked for anything more.”

source: nytimes.com

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The World Baseball Classic belongs to Japan again. Seattle Mariners star Ichiro Suzuki hit a two-out, two-run single in the top of the 10th, and Japan beat reigning Olympic champion South Korea 5-3 Monday night to win its second straight WBC title before a boisterous crowd of 54,846 at Dodger Stadium.
The Japanese won the inaugural tournament three years ago, beating Cuba 10-6 in the finals at Petco Park in San Diego.
South Korea had tied the game at 3 with two outs in the bottom of the ninth on Lee Bum-ho’s run-scoring single off Japanese closer Yu Darvish (2-1), who got in trouble by issuing one-out walks to Kim Hyun-soo and Kim Tae-kyun, the 3-4 hitters in the lineup.
Darvish struck out Choo Shin-soo before Lee lined a 1-1 pitch into left field, with pinch runner Lee Jong-wook scoring easily from second.
Seiichi Uchikawa opened the 10th with a single, was sacrificed to second and took third on a single by Akinori Iwamura. After pinch-hitter Munenori Kawasaki popped out, Iwamura took second on defensive interference.
Suzuki managed to foul off a pitch after it had bounced then lined the eighth pitch of the at-bat from Lim Chang-yong (1-1) to center for his fourth hit. The Mariners’ star entered with a .211 average and three RBIs in eight previous games.
Given the lead, Darvish worked around a leadoff walk to retire South Korea in the bottom of the 10th, setting off a wild celebration when he struck out Lee Jin-young to end the four-hour game.

Ichiro Suzuki (AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi)

Japan’s Daisuke Matsuzaka won the MVP award for the second straight time after going 3-0 — the same record he had in the inaugural Classic. The Boston Red Sox right-hander had a 2.45 ERA in 14 2-3 innings over three starts.
The game was the latest in an intense rivalry between the Asian powerhouses — a Far East version of a Yankees-Red Sox matchup. They split four previous games in this 16-team tournament, with Japan’s 6-2 triumph in San Diego last Thursday giving it the Pool 1 title in the second round.
Two days earlier, South Korea won a 4-1 decision, and its players planted the nation’s flag on the mound afterward — not the first time that’s happened. Suzuki made sure it wouldn’t happen on this night. Suzuki is 6-for-10 in two WBC title games.
South Korea beat Japan twice last summer in the Beijing Olympics en route to the gold medal. The South Koreans also beat Japan twice in the inaugural WBC three years ago before the Japanese won their semifinal matchup. And South Korea beat Japan 3-1 to win the bronze medal in the 2000 Olympics after losing to its rival 8-0 earlier in the Games.
Japan, which outhit South Korea 15-5, blew several scoring opportunities and stranded 14.
Japan took a 3-1 lead with single runs in the seventh and eighth. Yasuyuki Kataoka singled off Jong Hyun-wook to open the seventh, stole second, took third on Suzuki’s bunt single and scored on Hiroyuki Nakajima’s single. Japan had a chance to blow the game open, but after Suzuki took third on Norichika Aoki’s fly to deep right, Kenji Johjima grounded into an inning-ending double play.
Iwamura’s sacrifice fly off Hyunjin Ryu in the eighth gave the Japanese a two-run lead. The run was charged to Jong, who left after giving up a one-out single to Uchikawa. Atsunori Inaba followed with a ground-rule double before Iwamura’s fly to left.
South Korea got a run back in the bottom of the inning when Lee doubled, took third on an infield out and scored on pinch hitter Lee Dae-ho’s sacrifice fly. Toshiya Sugiuchi relieved after starter Hisashi Iwakuma issued a two-out walk to Park Ki-hyuk, and retired Lee Yong-kyu on a liner to left.
Iwakuma, a 27-year-old right-hander who won 21 games for the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles last year, worked 7 2-3 innings, longest outing of the WBC, and allowed just four hits and two runs. He walked two, struck out six and threw 97 pitches — three shy of the maximum.
Japan took a 1-0 lead with an unearned run off Bong Jung-keun in the third on Michihiro Ogasawara’s RBI single, but it could have been a lot worse because Japan loaded the bases with one out before Kenta Kurihara grounded into an inning-ending double play.
Choo tied the game by hitting a 1-1 pitch from Iwakuma over the center field fence to open the fifth for his second homer in as many games. Iwakuma allowed only one baserunner in the first four innings.
Bong allowed six hits and one run in four-plus innings with three walks and one strikeout while using 94 pitches. Jong relieved with runners at first and third and nobody out in the top of the fifth and worked out of trouble, striking out two before catcher Park Kyung-oan threw out Aoki trying to steal second.
Bong, a 28-year-old left-hander who pitched in 48 big-league games with Atlanta and Cincinnati from 2002-04, beat Japan twice earlier in the WBC, giving up six hits and one run in 10 2-3 innings
An elaborate ceremony was held beforehand, with the teams entering the field in single file from their respective bullpens before lining up down the first and third baselines. Among those participating was Sadaharu Oh, the Japanese career home run leader who managed the Japanese to the WBC title three years ago.
Then after the Japanese, South Korean and United States national anthems were played, the players met in the middle of the diamond to shake hands before and Hall of Fame manager and WBC global ambassador Tom Lasorda and former Dodgers pitching star Fernando Valenzuela, a native of Mexico, threw ceremonial first pitches.
South Korea advanced to the championship game by beating Venezuela 10-2 Saturday night, and Japan earned its berth by topping the U.S. 9-4 Sunday night.

source: xxx-olympic-games.com

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Japan retained the World Baseball Classic title by beating bitter Asian rivals South Korea 5-3 in a pulsating 10-inning battle at Dodger Stadium on Monday.

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TOKYO (Reuters) – Baseball-mad Japanese celebrated outside electronic stores and at work on Monday morning after Japan crushed the United States to reach the final of the World Baseball Classic.

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LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Defending champions Japan routed the United States 9-4 behind a pair of big innings and the pitching of Daisuke Matsuzaka to move into the championship game of the World Baseball Classic on Sunday.

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SAN DIEGO (Reuters) – Defending World Baseball Classic champions Japan knocked off South Korea 6-2 on Thursday to claim a top seeding for this weekend’s semi-finals.

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SAN DIEGO (Reuters) – South Korea beat bitter Asian rivals Japan 4-1 to advance to the World Baseball Classic semi-finals on Tuesday, while the United States also moved on by downing Puerto Rico.

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Brawn GP will replace Honda Racing in the 2009 Formula One world championship after Japan’s No. 2 carmaker sold the team to its former manager Ross Brawn.
Brawn, Honda’s team principal last year after working with seven-time champion Michael Schumacher at Ferrari and Benetton, bought all the shares in the Brackley, England-based team, Honda Motor Co. said in a statement today. Honda spokeswoman Yasuko Matsuura declined to give financial terms.
“The past few months have been extremely challenging for the team, but today’s announcement is the very pleasing conclusion to the strenuous efforts that have been made to secure its future,” Brawn, a 54-year-old Briton, said in an e- mailed statement.
The sale means 10 teams will start the March 29 season- opening Australian Grand Prix at a time when Formula One costs are coming under closer scrutiny by automakers experiencing the worst global sales slump in decades. Honda quit the most-watched motor sport in December and put the team up for sale to save more than 20 billion yen ($203 million) a year.

Ross Brawn

Following Honda’s departure, teams agreed to slash costs by 30 percent by banning testing during the season and sharing data on tires and fuel — previously areas of fierce competition. Yesterday they announced further plans to halve overall budgets in 2010 compared with last year’s level.
Brawn GP will use engines supplied by Mercedes-Benz in this year’s championship. The new team retained Honda’s driving lineup of Britain’s Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello, who held off the challenge of fellow Brazilian Bruno Senna, the nephew of three-time world champion Ayrton Senna.

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but what is a Geisha nowadays?
There remains some confusion, even within Japan, about the nature of the geisha profession. Geisha are portrayed as prostitutes in much Western popular culture. However, geisha do not engage in paid sex with clients. Their purpose being to entertain their customer, be it by dancing, reciting verse, playing musical instruments, or engaging in light conversation. Geisha engagements may include flirting with men and playful innuendos; however, clients know that nothing more can be expected. In a social style that is common in Japan, men are amused by the illusion of that which is never to be.Geisha have been confused with the high-class courtesans of the Edo period known as oiran, from whom they evolved. Like geisha, oiran wore elaborate hairstyles and white makeup, but oiran tied their obi in the front not, as is commonly thought, for easy removal but, according to anthropologist Liza Dalby, because that was the practice of married women at the time.
During the Edo period, prostitution was legal. Prostitutes such as the oiran worked within walled-in districts licensed by the government. In the seventeenth century, the oiran sometimes employed men called “geisha” to perform at their parties. Therefore, the first geisha were men. In the late eighteenth century, dancing women called “odoriko” and newly popular female “geisha” began entertaining men at banquets in unlicensed districts. Some were apprehended for illegal prostitution and sent to the licensed quarters, where there was a strict distinction between geisha and prostitutes, and the former were forbidden to sell sex. In contrast, “machi geisha”, who worked outside the licensed districts, often engaged in illegal prostitution.

geisha dancing on the floor

In 1872, shortly after the Meiji Restoration, the new government passed a law liberating “prostitutes and geisha.” The wording of this statute was the subject of controversy. Some officials thought that prostitutes and geisha worked at different ends of the same profession – selling sex – and that all prostitutes should henceforth be called “geisha”. In the end, the government decided to maintain a line between the two groups, arguing that “geisha” were more refined and should not be soiled by association with prostitutes.
Also, geisha working in onsen towns such as Atami are dubbed onsen geisha. Onsen geisha have been given a bad reputation due to the prevalence of prostitutes in such towns who market themselves as ‘geisha’, as well as sordid rumors of dance routines like ‘Shallow River’ (which involves the ‘dancers’ lifting the skirts of their kimono higher and higher). In contrast to these ‘one-night geisha’, the true onsen geisha are in fact competent dancers and musicians. However, the autobiography of Sayo Masuda, an onsen geisha who worked in Nagano Prefecture in the 1930s, reveals that in the past such women were often under intense pressure to sell sex.

Japan’s men were the shock winners of the Nordic combined team title at the world championships here on Thursday.
The Japanese claimed gold after finishing fifth in the ski jump and winning the cross-country skiing 4×5km relay by the smallest of margins.
Germany finished second with the much-fancied Norwegians third.
In a tight race to the line in the relay, Japan’s team of Yusuke Minato, Taihei Kato, Akito Watabe and Norihoto Kobayashi pipped the Germans by just 0.1 seconds, while Norway finished 3.6 seconds off the pace to take bronze.
Pre-competition favourites Finland suffered the late withdrawal of World Cup leader Anssi Koivuranta and finished eighth, while the United States finished outside the top ten after Bill Demong lost his bib number and was unable to take part in the ski jump.
It was Japan’s first team world championship success since 1995, when the inspirational Kenji Ogiwara was behind his country’s ascent to the pinnacle of the sport.
The Nagano native won Olympic team titles in 1992 and 1994 and world team titles in 1993 and 1995.
An individual world champion in 1993 and 1997, Ogiwara dominated the World Cup between 1993 and 1995 before succumbing to the rise of the Finns and the Norwegians and retiring in 2002.
Since then Japan’s Nordic skiers have acquired a reputation for being accomplished ski jumpers but unreliable cross-country skiers.
“The Japanese team has been revived by young skiers who, like me when I was 12 years old, followed the exploits of Ogiwara, Masashi Abe and Takanori Kono. I dreamed about emulating them,” said Kobayashi, the highest ranked Japanese competitor in the world rankings at 22nd.
“We’ve rediscovered how to win. It’s a surprise for us as well, but we made the right choices in terms of tactics and the waxing of our equipment.”

from: AFP via google.com

Softball will seek to rejoin the Olympics alone after its governing body on Friday rejected baseball’s proposal to make a joint pitch for inclusion.
Softball and baseball were dropped from the Olympics after last year’s Beijing Games but are among seven sports targeting the 2016 event when two sports will be added to the lineup.
In lobbying efforts, the International Softball Federation (ISF) has attempted to distance itself from baseball, which has been criticised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for Major League Baseball’s failure to tackle doping issues and for not freeing top players to participate in the Games.
Golf, squash, rugby, karate and rollersports are the others sports hoping to join the Olympics.
“The ISF recently received a proposal from the International Baseball Federation for a combined approach for Olympic Games programme status,” ISF president Don Porter said in a statement.
“However, having looked at all the factors involved, the ISF has decided that softball will not combine with any other sport and stands by the current proposals to the International Olympic Committee submitted in our recent response to their questionnaire.
“We have offered the IOC a doping-free, universal team sport that reflects Olympic values all over the world.
“Softball is also a stand-alone sport with its own rules, values, and philosophy.”
Since softball was voted out of the Olympics in 2005, the ISF has launched a vigorous campaign for reinstatement.
Softball has attempted to address the IOC’s two biggest concerns that the sport is not played at the highest level in enough countries and is dominated by the U.S..
The ISF has introduced several new competitions around the world and pointed to Japan’s upset win over the U.S. in the gold medal final in Beijing as a sign the sport is growing.

The IOC will vote on the inclusion of up to two new sports during its congress in Copenhagen in October.

source: reuters.com

Asian countries will unfortunately support Tokyo’s bid to host the 2016 Summer Olympic Games, Chinese State Sports General Administration Director Liu Peng told Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone on Monday, according to Japan’s Foreign Ministry. In response to Nakasone’s request to support the bid, China’s state sports director said Japan is capable of hosting a successful Olympic Games.
Since Japan has several Human rights issues still open it should put efforts on that before having international events. Japan is still not a foreign-friendly country and foreigners are viewed with suspicion.
Liu was also quoted as saying that he felt that the Japanese government and people are determined to host the Olympics, after seeing the sites that would be used for the event. The Chinese official expressed the hope of promoting sports exchanges with Japan.

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