Olympic Times – Sports Daily

Stocks markets and oil prices may dip and dive, but Olympic organizers with preparations under way for three games in the next six years aren’t breaking a sweat.

The reasons? Time and television money. The global economic downturn has squeezed private financing for venues that will be a part of London’s 2012 Summer Games and Sochi’s 2014 winter edition, but with brisk ticket sales for the 2010 Vancouver Olympics and most of the sponsors locked in, the IOC can afford to hold off making new deals for television rights and sponsorships.

“All of us feel this,” said Gerhard Heiberg, head of the International Olympic Committee’s marketing commission. “Of course, this has an impact for everyone in the world. It never comes at a convenient time. But we don’t feel we are affected too much in general. Things are moving everywhere in the right direction. Some things may take longer than originally hoped.”

The financial pinch comes as IOC president Jacques Rogge seeks another term that will keep him in office until 2013. He says the committee is closely monitoring the financial situation.

“It would be naive and shortsighted to say that nothing will happen,” Rogge said last week, confirming his plans to seek re-election next October, when he is expected to be unopposed. “Yes, the situation is so volatile that it is too soon to draw conclusions.”

Rogge said the Olympic movement is in “excellent financial health.” Total Olympic TV and sponsorship revenues for the 2005-08 cycle – covering the 2006 Turin Winter Games and 2008 Beijing Olympics – totalled about US$3.5 billion.

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CHICAGO may be riding a wave of Obama-mania, but can the American city receive a “yes you can” from the International Olympic Committee to host the 2016 summer Olympic Games?
Bookmakers certainly believe so.
The lengthy process of awarding hosting rights to the Games is well and truly under way as the competing field has been narrowed to a shortlist of four: Chicago, Rio de Janeiro, Tokyo and Madrid.
A final decision is to be made on October 9 next year.
Japan’s capital has hosted the Games already — in 1964 — while a Chicago Games would take the Olympics back to the US for the first time since Atlanta in 1996. Chicago has previously bid for the Olympics three times (including losing out to Melbourne for the 1956 Games).
Rio, if successful, would be the first South American city to host the Games.
Previous Brazilian bids have failed due to concerns about lack of modern facilities and security fears. But the country will hope to springboard from the legacy left by hosting the soccer World Cup in 2014.
Madrid lost out to London for the 2012 Games but is bidding again, pushing its sporting culture and stadiums, status as one of the few major European capitals to have never hosted the Games and support from former IOC head Juan Antonio Samaranch.

source: theage.com.au

As sports fans across the nation ponder the implications of having a dedicated pick-up basketball player and known sports fanatic as our Commander-in-Chief, it’s worth noting today that Obama’s geographical and not athletic affiliation may prove to have the greatest impact on the future of sports in America.

Obama already has been active in Chicago’s bid for the 2016 Olympics, and given his newfound stature in the world right now, it’s not hard to imagine that his full-fledged support as President would bring the Summer Games to the Windy City for the first time in history.

Japanese officials behind Tokyo’s bid to host the 2016 Games are all but conceding today, admitting that one of Obama’s trademark speeches as part of a Chicago presentation to the IOC would be tough to beat.

The other two cities that are finalists for the 2016 Olympics are Rio de Janeiro and Madrid. When the four finalists were announced this summer, a widening rift between the IOC and the U.S. Olympic Committee over television revenues was reported to be a serious threat to Chicago’s chances, with the American city viewed as the longshot of the four finalists to secure the eventual bid.

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Officials aiming to bring the 2016 Summer Olympics to Tokyo fear that Barack Obama’s victory in the U.S. presidential election will have a positive effect on the bid of his hometown of Chicago, one of the three rival cities competing with Tokyo to host the Games. ‘‘I wonder how IOC members will react when Mr Obama appears in a presentation for Chicago,’’ Japanese Olympic Committee President Tsunekazu Takeda said Wednesday.
Tokyo, Chicago, Madrid and Rio de Janeiro have moved to the final phase of the selection process after their bid plans were given the nod by the International Olympic Committee in June. The IOC will name the host city of the 2016 Olympics at its general assembly meeting in Copenhagen on Oct 2, 2009. ‘‘Mr Obama is popular and good at speeches, so things could get tough for Japan,’’ said Tomiaki Fukuda, a senior JOC executive board member.
But Ichiro Kono, the 2016 Tokyo Olympics campaign chief, showed a subdued reaction to Obama’s victory, saying, ‘‘It was within expectations. We will just do what we have to do no matter who becomes U.S. president.’’

source: japantoday.com

ATHENS, Nov 5 (Reuters) – Barack Obama’s victory in the U.S. presidential election has given Chicago, bidding to host the 2016 Olympics, the chance to shine on the international stage, its bid leader said on Wednesday.

“I think the eyes of the world have been on Barack Obama and therefore on Chicago and the eyes of the world will be on Chicago more than in the past,” Chicago 2016 bid chief Patrick Ryan told Reuters.

Democrat candidate Obama, who has spent most of his political life in Chicago, enjoyed a sweeping victory in the U.S. presidential election on Tuesday.

Chicago is one of four candidates vying for the 2016 Summer Olympics alongside Tokyo, Rio de Janeiro and Madrid.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) will choose the winner at its session in Copenhagen in October next year.

“Last night gave us a global opportunity to show the city’s beautiful skyline, its lake and parks,” Ryan said of Obama’s speech in front of more than 200,000 cheering supporters in Chicago’s Grant Park.

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IOC president Jacques Rogge foresees no immediate threat to the Olympics from the global financial crisis and says the fight against doping will be a key priority for a second term in office.

Rogge, a 66-year-old Belgian who has led the International Olympic Committee since 2001, notified members last Friday that he will seek re-election next October for a final four-year term that will take him to 2013.

He spoke in a telephone interview with The Associated Press ahead of a news conference in Brussels, Belgium, on Thursday where he publicly announced his candidacy for another term at the helm of the IOC.

No challengers are expected and Rogge’s re-election is considered a formality at the October 2009 assembly in Copenhagen, Denmark.

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Rupert Murdoch’s media group scored another Olympic coup Friday when it was awarded the Turkish broadcast rights to the 2014 and 2016 games.

The International Olympic Committee announced the deal with Fox Turkey, part of the Fox entertainment network owned by Murdoch.

It is the IOC’s third Olympic deal with a Murdoch channel in Europe this year, and second this month. On Oct. 21, SKY Italia was awarded the 2014 and 2016 rights in Italy, following the contract announced in February for the 2010 and 2012 games.

Fox Turkey will provide coverage on free-to-air television, pay channels, and through the Internet and mobile phones.

The value of the contract was not disclosed. It covers the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia, and the 2016 Summer Olympics. The 2016 host city will be chosen next October, with Chicago, Madrid, Tokyo and Rio de Janeiro the finalists.
“Fox Turkey presented a comprehensive package that will allow not only the broadest coverage of the Olympic Games but also the promotion of Olympic sports and Olympic values beyond the 16 days of competition,” IOC president Jacques Rogge said in a statement.

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Tokyo 2016 today called on the National Olympic Committees of Asia to share in its unique vision to inspire the world by hosting the Olympic and Paralympic Games at the heart of city life in one of the region’s most vibrant capital cities.
Bid Chairman and CEO, Dr Ichiro Kono said he was humbled by the support Tokyo 2016 had received from Japan’s partner nations within the Olympic Movement in Asia and expressed his pride at leading Asia’s Bid for the world’s greatest event in 2016.
Addressing the 27th Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) General Assembly in Bali, Dr Kono said:
“Japan needs an iconic event with new sports venues to help inspire millions more Japanese to play and stay with sport. This will be made possible, because the 2016 Games coincide with Tokyo Big Change – our Ten Year Plan for the comprehensive urban and environmental transformation of the Greater Metropolitan Tokyo area.
“The 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games will be a catalyst for the world’s greatest, metropolitan make-over. This will leave the Olympic Movement with an incredible legacy to inspire future bid cities.
“We aim to unite the Olympic Family with the heart and soul of our cosmopolitan capital city. That is why our vision and theme is called: ‘Uniting Our Worlds’. To ensure this vision becomes a reality we plan to create the most compact Games ever, based in the very centre of Tokyo, and promise athletes and the whole Olympic Family the friendliest, most exciting and most memorable Games in history.”
Dr Kono began Tokyo 2016’s presentation. He was joined by International Olympic Committee (IOC) Member and IOC Vice President, Chiharu Igaya; IOC Member, Shunichiro Okano; Japanese Olympic Committee President, Tsunekazu Takeda; Executive Director of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Bid Promotion Division, Nagatoshi Nakamura; and Chair of the Tokyo 2016 Athletes’ Commission and Seoul 1988 Olympic medallist, Mikako Kotani.

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International golf officials have used Adelaide as their meeting ground to plot the sport’s Olympic bid.
Australia and other around 70 other nations contesting the world amateur teams championships in Adelaide have been implored to lobby International Olympic Committee (IOC) members for golf’s inclusion at the 2016 Games.
Golf is among seven sports vying to compete at the Olympics – the others being baseball, karate, roller sports, rugby sevens, softball and squash.
The IOC will announce the two inclusions in October next year.
International Golf Federation officials in Adelaide have asked national amateur body officials asking to keep the Olympic bid in mind.

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No to capital punishment
No death by Hanging
No Tokyo Olympics

Tokyo Olympic Logo ?

Link to this post if you are against Death Penalty

Tokyo is bidding for the 2016 Olympic Games but Japan should look at basic Human Rights Issues and only then after international events!

Amnesty International argues that the Japanese justice system tends to place great reliance on confessions and it has been claimed that these may be obtained under duress. According to a 2005 Amnesty International report:

“Most have been sentenced to death on the basis of confessions extracted under duress. The potential for miscarriages of justice is built into the system: confessions are typically extracted while suspects are held in daiyo kangoku, or “substitute prisons”, for interrogation before they are charged. In practice these are police cells, where detainees can be held for up to 23 days after arrest, with no state-funded legal representation. They are typically interrogated for 12 hours a day: no lawyers can be present, no recordings are made, and they are put under constant pressure to confess. Once convicted, it is very difficult to obtain a re-trial and prisoners can remain under sentence of death for many years.”

Amnesty International also reports of allegations of abuse of suspects during these interrogations. There are reports of physical abuse, sleep deprivation and denial of food, water and use of a toilet. It also criticises the fact that inmates usually remain for years, sometimes decades, on death row, knowing that executions come with little warning and each day may potentially be their last. According to Amnesty International, the intense and prolonged stress means many inmates on death row have poor mental health, suffering from the so called Death row phenomenon. The failure to give advanced notice of executions has been stated by the United Nations Human Rights Committee to be incompatible with articles 2, 7, 10 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

Link to this post if you are against Death Penalty

Tokyo made its mark in “enemy territory” with its presentation in the Mexican resort of Acapulco bidding to host the 2016 Olympic Games, delighting an audience of Olympic committees from the Americas.
The Japanese delegation generated applause and provoked laughter with its sense of humour, even though the participants of the Pan American Sports Organization (PASO) were geographically nearer to bidders Chicago and Rio de Janeiro, and historically closer to Madrid.
“It was our first opportunity to make the official presentation to the members of PASO, and also to many members of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). I enjoyed it very much,” Ichiro Kono, director of Tokyo 2016, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.
The Acapulco meeting brought together not only the presidents of 42 Olympic committees of the Americas and international federations, but also various members of the IOC, including its president Jacques Rogge.
For Kono, it was a unique opportunity that he did not consider a battle in hostile terrain. “This is a competition between friends,” he said. “Chicago, Madrid and Rio, they are all my friends.”

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NBA commissioner David Stern said Sunday the league likely would play regular-season games in London before the British capital hosts the 2012 Olympics.
Stern, however, also said the possibility of taking meaningful games to Europe was nowhere near a done deal.
“Although we have no plans on the drawing board, it has been suggested to us that we should schedule in the next three years or so some regular-season games here – more than just one – on some regular basis,” Stern said before the New Jersey Nets-Miami Heat pre-season game at the O2 Arena. “It’s fair to say that we’ll see a minimum of one and possibly more regular-season games by 2012.”
Stern sees the Olympics as a springboard to increasing the NBA’s marketability in Britain, which is one of the richest countries in the world.
Dwyane Wade, possibly the most recognized player on the court, said he enjoyed the energy in the building during Sunday’s pre-season game.
“We don’t really grow up thinking that people will one day know us worldwide,” said Wade, who scored 18 points for the Heat in the 94-92 loss to the Nets. “It’s a great feeling.”

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Peter Ueberroth took a swipe at international officials critical of the money the U.S. Olympic Committee receives, setting up some possibly uncomfortable moments for the Chicago group trying to land the 2016 Games.
“Who pays the bill for the world Olympic movement?” Ueberroth said Saturday in his final speech as USOC chairman. “Make no mistake about it. Starting in 1988, U.S. corporations have paid 60 percent of all the money, period. Be sure you all understand that. The rest of the world pays 40 percent. It’s pretty simple math.”
It was Ueberroth’s first extensive response to comments made by European IOC members Denis Oswald and Hein Verbruggen, who said earlier this year that the amount of money the USOC received was not morally acceptable and called for the revenue-sharing deal to be revisited.
As part of a long-standing deal with the International Olympic Committee, the USOC receives about 13 percent of U.S. TV rights fees and 20 percent of global marketing revenues. That added up to about $300 million in the four-year period ending in 2008.

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The AIG Japan Open Tennis Championships were held in Tokyo September 29 to October 5 at the Ariake Colosseum and Ariake Tennis Forest Park, one of the proposed venues of Tokyo’s 2016 Summer Olympic Games bid. But even living in Japan i didn’t hear anything about this event.
The venue is positioned next to the proposed 2016 Olympic Village site and forms part of Tokyo 2016′s Games plan to transform Tokyo into an Olympic Park.
According to a press release the event attracted more than 80 of the world’s top tennis players competing for men’s and women’s singles and doubles titles.
The event set a record with more than 75,000 attending despite inclement weather, and was watched by millions more on television. Of the 75,000 i strongly believe many of them got free Ticket from the government. Japan is doing this trick on several sport events because far too many seats will be free. Giving away free tickets help to give a false imagine of how japanese like to go to attend sport events.
Dr. Ichiro Kono, Chairman and CEO of Tokyo 2016 said, “we are very proud of our Japanese culture so I am delighted that top class athletes across the world appreciate the hospitality of the Japanese people, as well as the wide range of attractions and restaurants that Tokyo has to offer. In addition to allowing the world to again witness Japanese fans’ passion for sport, the AIG Japan Open has enabled Tokyo 2016 to deepen its knowledge of the needs and requirements of major sporting events in terms of the organizers, the athletes and the spectators. It was an invaluable experience for us as we continue to refine our bid to host the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games“.
Japan is still the wrong country to host any international sports event. Japan should focus on becoming more international and less nationalistic.

Michael Phelps who claimed a record eight gold medals at the Beijing Olympic Games said it was harder for him to learn Chinese than to win swimming races.
Before the American came to China for the 2008 Games he seriously took a few Chinese lessons. A popular online video shows how hard he tries to imitate the voice of a Chinese learning multimedia software in saying such basic words as “guo zhi” (juice), “nan hai’er” (boy) and “nu hai’er” (girl).
But still, the 23-year-old rated his Chinese language studies as the most difficult thing he had tried in his life. “Learning Mandarin is even harder than winning eight gold medals in the pool.”
In primary school Phelps took French and German courses, but the swimming ace said, “all the words, characters and pronunciations in Mandarin are so different. All of them are hard to manage.”
He was not the only star athlete trying to learn some Chinese language and culture. When gymnast Nastia Liukin arrived back home in Dallas, Texas, with five medals around her neck, the Russian-born blonde appeared in front of her reception wearing a black T-shirt with two big Chinese characters “Beijing” in the front. (blog)
“The Beijing Olympics have brought world attention to the Chinese civilization and further enhanced the utility of the Chinese language worldwide,” said Zhao Guocheng, the Office of Chinese Language Council International (OCLCI) deputy director general.

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The selected host city for the 31st Olympic Games in 2016 will be announced tomorrow (Thursday) at an IOC meeting in Copenhagen. There are currently four cities competing to host what is one of the most prestigious sporting events in the world.

Chicago (USA) is the favourite to win the rights to host the 2016 Games, followed by Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), Madrid (Spain) and Tokyo (Japan).

The other cities on the shortlist were Prague (Czech Republic), Baku (Azerbaijan), and Doha (Qatar), however they have now been eliminated.

Hosting the Olympic Games is likely to have a positive impact on the winning nation’s property market. Average property prices in the run-up the Olympic Games in the last five host cities – Beijing (China), Athens (Greece), Barcelona (Spain), Atlanta (USA) and Sydney (Australia) – appreciated at a significant pace, outstripping average national property price growth.

source: homesoverseas.co.uk

Two reigning Olympic champions, Tomasz Majewski of Poland (Shot Put) and Slovenia’s Primoz Kozmus (Hammer Throw), and two reigning World champions, Tatyana Lebedeva (women’s Long Jump) and Donald Thomas (men’s High Jump), competed in today’s edition of the annual ‘Super-Meet’ which was held in front of a capacity crowd of 25,000 spectators in Kawasaki, Japan (23).

Kawasaki is situated just south-west of Tokyo, and competitions were played out in Todoroki stadium, the site of this year’s national championships, under a sunny sky with a top temperature of 26.9C.

The meeting also featured the final race for Noboharu Asahara, 36, who has been the premier sprinter in Japan for many years.

Low key Shot won by Olympic champion; Murofushi prevails in Hammer

Poland’s Beijing champion Tomasz Majewski took the lead in the men’s Shot Put with a 19.37m release in the second round and never relinquished his lead. He improved to 19.63 in his fourth throw, while Ukraine’s Yuriy Bilonog, his predecessor as Olympic champion, could not put past 18m. He failed to improve his first throw of 17.66m and finished a distant second.

The men’s Hammer Throw featured a better quality competition. The Olympic champion Primoz Kozmus failed to throw past the 80m mark, while his fellow Beijing finalists Japan’s Koji Murofushi and Hungary’s Krisztian Pars battled for supremacy.

Murofushi took the lead with a 77.49m first round throw, while Pars’ first throw was 77.18m. Both throwers steadily improved with each round, with Pars going ahead with 80.67m in the fourth series of efforts. But Murofushi was not finished yet. He regained the lead with his sixth and final throw of 81.02m to win the competition, while Pars failed to improve.

Lebedeva dominates

Tatyana Lebedeva, the 2004 Olympic and 2007 World champion at the Long Jump, won this event today with a 6.81m performance. The Beijing silver medallist completely dominated the competitions, as any of her jumps, except for the first one, would have won the competition. The Japanese record holder Kumiko Ikeda was distant second with 6.45m.

Donald Thomas, who came from nowhere to win the High Jump in Osaka last year, won his specialty with a leap of 2.24m in Kawasaki, while Japanese national record holder Naoyuki Daigo finished second with 2.21m.

Although Kenji Narisako started the men’s 400m Hurdles fast and led most of the race, USA’s 2005 World Champion Bershawn Jackson, the bronze medallist in Beijing, came from behind to take the lead for good at tenth hurdle and won with 49.33. Narisako finished second with 49.68.

Two athletes who finished just out of medals in Beijing, Derek Miles and Damu Cherry, won in Kawasaki. Miles won the men’s Pole Vault with 5.60m. Daichi Sawano, the Japanese national record holder, also cleared 5.60m, he took two attempts to do so, while Miles cleared on his first attempt.

Although Candice Davis led the women’s 100m Hurdles until the 9th barrier, Damu Cherry came from behind to snatch the victory with 13.07, six one-hundredth ahead of Davis. An hour and half later, Davis finished second at flat 100m, while Cherry was fourth in the same race, which was won by Chisato Fukushima, the Japanese national record holder at 100m.

Other notable athletes in the meet were Briton Marlon Devonish, who won the men’s 200m and Hyleas Fountain, Beijing Heptathlon silver medallist, who finished third in both 100m Hurdles and Long Jump.

Asahara says his goodbyes and is greeted by Bolt

In Beijing, his fourth Olympics, Nobuharu Asahara anchored home the Japanese bronze medal winning 4x100m relay team, and in an emotional last race of his career Asahara competed along with his Olympic team-mates, Naoki Tsukahara, Shingo Suetsugu and Shinji Takahira, in the 100m in Kawasaki.

At the pre-meet press conference, Asahara said he would like to give what ever he has left in him, and asked his team-mates to give their 100% in the race also. He did not want any of his team mates to hold back so Asahara could win the final race of his career.

Tsukahara, the Beijing Olympic relay-lead off man started well and led for the first half of the 100m. However, he was passed by Asahara, Harry Aikines-Aryeetey of GBR and Michael Rodgers of USA in the last 50 metres to finish only fourth.

Aikines-Aryeetey won with 10.19, followed by Rodgers and Asahara.

“It wasn’t my best race, but it was exciting to run in front of so many fans. It was quite appropriate for my final race,” said Asahara who was greeted on the podium after the race by Jamaica’s mutliple Olympic champion Usain Bolt who was attending the meeting as a VIP guest of the meeting organsiers.

Ken Nakamura for the IAAF
Assisted by Akihiro Onishi

RESULTS

Men

100m -0.4m/s
1. Harry Aikines-Aryeetey (GBR) 10.19
2. Michael Rodgers (USA) 10.26
3. Nobuharu Asahara (JPN) 10.37

200m -0.7m/s
1. Marlon Devonish (GBR) 20.78
2. Hitoshi Saito (JPN) 20.83
3. Brendan Christian (ANT) 20.94

110mH -0.7m/s
1. Lee Jung-Joon (KOR) 13.71
2. Aubrey Herring (USA) 13.77
3. Yuji Ohashi (JPN) 13.83

400mH
1. Bershawn Jackson (USA) 49.33
2. Kenji Narisako (JPN) 49.68
3. Takayuki Koike 50.02

HJ
1. Donald Thomas (BAH) 2.24m
2. Naoyuki Daigo (JPN) 2.21m
3. Hiromi Takahari (JPN) 2.18m

PV
1. Derek Miles (USA) 5.60m
2. Daichi Sawano (JPN) 5.60m
3. Leonid Andreev (UZB) 5.40m

SP
1. Tomasz Majewski (POL) 19.63m
2. Yuriy Bilonog (UKR) 17.66m
3. Tadashi Ohashi (JPN) 17.31m

HT
1. Koji Murofushi (JPN) 81.02m
2. Krisztian Pars (HUN) 80.67m
3. Primoz Kozmus (SLO) 78.59m

Women

100m -0.6m/s
1. Chisato Fukushima (JPN) 11.70
2. Candice Davis (USA) 11.89
3. Momoko Takahashi (JPN) 11.90

400m
1. Miriam Barnes (USA) 53.18
2. Satomi Kubokura (JPN) 53.91
3. Maris Magi (EST) 53.99

1500m
1. Yuko Shimizu (JPN) 4:15.51
2. Minori Hayakari (JPN) 4:16.10
3. Mika Yoshikawa (JPN) 4:17.48

100mH 0.1m/s
1. Damu Cherry (USA) 13.07
2. Candice Davis (USA) 13.13
3. Hyleas Fountain (USA) 13.22

LJ
1. Tatyana Lebedeva (RUS) 6.81m (1.2m/s)
2. Kumiko Ikeda (JPN) 6.45m (1.2m/s)
3. Hyleas Fountain (USA) 6.23m (2.1m/s)

source: iaaf.org

The Pakistani Paralympics athletes will now focus on the next year’s sports competitions in Japan, said the Chef De Mission of Pakistani contingent that took part in Beijing 2008 Paralympics Games in an interview.

“Our next target is Tokyo Games in September 2009 that would follow by 2010 Asian Games to be held in Guangzhou, China”, Imran Jamil Shami told APP in an interview here on Tuesday.

“In both these games, our athletes would get opportunities to qualify for the 2010 London Paralympics Games”, he noted.

Besides these games, he pointed out that we will also send our athletes to participate in various international competitions including New Zealand.

To a question regarding small number of participation of Pakistani athletes in Beijing Paralympics Games, Shami, who is also the Secretary General of National Paralympics Committee of Pakistan, said that in the last Asian Games we carried 34 players for the qualifications round for the Paralympics Games.

He said that on the performance of these players, the International Paralympics Committee awarded two slots to Pakistan to take part in the Beijing 6-17 Games.

He continued that under the formula, top four athletes were accommodated in one slot, as our eight athletes qualified for the top-4, therefore Pakistan was given two slots.

In the same way, Shami said that in Power Lifting competition Pakistan got two slots, on the basis of IPC qualifying formula.

“If we send maximum number of players to take part in international competitions, we would certainly get more athletes to qualify for Paralympics Games”, he maintained.

“Honestly speaking, we have to do a lot to uplift the game”, he observed.

He said that there is need to improve sporting facilities, we need man power, no doubt require finance to spread the Paralympics movement and to encourage the disabled athletes in whole of Pakistan.

Pakistan has wrapped up its campaign in Beijing Paralympics Games by winning a silver medal in the Long Jump competition.

The Paralympics contingent is scheduled to leave for Pakistan on September 19.

from: app.com.pk