The International Olympic Comm-ittee (IOC) has rejected an attempt by Tibet to field its own team at next year's Beijing Olympics.
More than 100 Tibet supporters -- including some Buddhist monks -- waved banners and Tibetan flags outside the IOC headquarters yesterday, as delegates from the unofficial Tibetan National Olympic Committee met with the organization's officials to discuss the request.
"The IOC is not in a position to accept our application," said Wangpo Tethong, a president of the Tibetan group.
A senior IOC official who took part in the meeting said a rule change in 1996 meant only national committees from countries recognized by the international community can take part in the Olympics.
However, the IOC has granted a special exemption to the Palestinian territories.
Taiwan competes as "Chinese Taipei" because its national committee was recognized before 1996, said Michel Filliau, who directs the IOC's relations with national committees.
Beijing dismissed outright the request from Tibet, which has been controlled by China since 1951.
"Tibet is part of China's territory," the Beijing organizing committee said yesterday in a statement. "The possibility of participating in the Beijing Olympics as a separate group does not exist."
Tibet is one of several delicate issues that Olympic officials are having to deal with in the run-up to next year's games.
Worries over Beijing's high air pollution, reporting restrictions for foreign journalists and criticism of China's human rights record have also forced the IOC to engage in diplomacy ahead of the Olympics.
Also See: Beijing 2008: Beijing launches revised Olympic ticketing system
North Korea’s FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup-winning team on Saturday received a heroes’ welcome back in the capital, Pyongyang, with hundreds of people on the streets to celebrate their success. They had defeated Spain on penalties after a 1-1 draw in the U17 World Cup final in the Dominican Republic on Nov. 3. It was the second global title in two months for secretive North Korea — largely closed off to the outside world; they also lifted the FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup in September. Officials and players’ families gathered at Pyongyang International Airport to wave flowers and North Korea flags as the
Taiwan’s top table tennis player Lin Yun-ju made his debut in the US professional table tennis scene by taking on a new role as a team’s co-owner. On Wednesday, Major League Table Tennis (MLTT), founded in September last year, announced on its official Web site that Lin had become part of the ownership group of the Princeton Revolution, one of the league’s eight teams. MLTT chief executive officer Flint Lane described Lin’s investment as “another great milestone for table tennis in America,” saying that the league’s “commitment to growth and innovation is drawing attention from the best in the sport, and we’re
Coco Gauff of the US on Friday defeated top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka 7-6 (7/4), 6-3 to set up a showdown with Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen in the final of the WTA Finals, while in the doubles, Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching was eliminated. Gauff generated six break points to Belarusian Sabalenka’s four and built on early momentum in the opening set’s tiebreak that she carried through to the second set. She is the youngest player at 20 to make the final at the WTA Finals since Denmark’s Caroline Wozniacki in 2010. Zheng earlier defeated Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic 6-3, 7-5 to book
For King Faisal, a 20-year-old winger from Ghana, the invitation to move to Brazil to play soccer “was a dream.” “I believed when I came here, it would help me change the life of my family and many other people,” he said in Sao Paulo. For the past year and a half, he has been playing on the under-20s squad for Sao Paulo FC, one of South America’s most prominent clubs. He and a small number of other Africans are tearing across pitches in a country known as the biggest producer and exporter of soccer stars in the world, from Pele to Neymar. For
RSS