Ryuki Omura, a 16-year-old Japanese high school student, has become the first nationwide pen spinning champion in Japan. [Reuters]
Omura was among the 16 finalists chosen from 276 video entries to showcase his moves in Tokyo on Sunday (Mar 30) in a contest organized by the Pen Spinning Association Japan.
You can watch Omura’s video entries here.
China continues their domination at the World Team Table Tennis Championships by winning both the men and women’s event in Guangzhou, China.
The Chinese men was crowned on Sunday (March 2), their fourth successive title, after defeating South Koreans. The women claimed their eighth successive title a day earlier after beating the Singapore team.
Soccer star David Beckham is in Korea with the Los Angeles Galaxy team in their Asia tour. LA Galaxy will play a friendly match against FC Seoul on March 1 at Seoul World Cup Stadium.
The former England captain will also attend some private functions to meet his fans as well as endorsing some products for his sponsors.
LA Galaxy will also play against Shanghai-Hong Kong United in Shanghai, China on March 5. There are news that they will be playing in Hong Kong on March 9 as well, but the schedule has not been confirmed yet.
Tomiyasu Ishikawa, a 71-year-old Japanese climber, is believed to have become the oldest person in the world to scale the Seven Summits – the highest mountains of each of the seven continents. [Mainichi]
Ishikawa on Jan 21, has conquered Antarctica’s 4,897-metre Vinson Massif, the last of the seven peaks he was climbing.
Seems like Japanese old folks are enjoying mountaineering very much. In May 2007, another 71-year-old Japanese Katsusuke Yanagisawa became the oldest person to scale Mt Everest, a record once hold by Ishikawa when he conquered the world’s highest mountain in 2002.
The Seven Summits are Everest (Asia), Kilimanjaro (Africa), Elbrus (Europe), Denali (N. America), Aconcagua (S. America), Carstensz Pyramid (Oceania) and Vinson Massif (Antarctica).
16-year-old Japanese golf prodigy Ryo Ishikawa has become a professional golfer; he made the announcement last Thursday (Jan 10).
Ishikawa shocked the golfing world in 2007 when he becomes the youngest golfer to win a Japanese male tournament by winning the Munsingwear Open in May. He can now add another record to his bag… as the youngest pro in Japanese golf history.
The 16-year-old has become a sensation in Japan after winning the Musingwear trophy, with large crowds following him around at every tournament he plays. He got a nickname from his fans, hanikami oji (bashful prince) for his soft-spoken manner and cute looks.
Thousands of people had took part in a tug-of-war in Changsha of central China’s Hunan province on Sunday (Jan 7), which was staged in conjunction with the arrival of 2008 Beijing Olympic torchbearers.
2008 of the participants were drafted from Hunan University to symbolise the Beijing Olympic in summer 2008; a few thousands of other participants also took part in the competition. Chinese Olympic champions and local celebrities had attended to event to show their support as well.
A cable-like-rope more than a kilometre in length and 3 tonnes in weight was specially made by a steamship maker for this event.
Tug-of-war was one of the programs in Summer Olympic; it was almost a century ago since it was last held though (1900-1920).
South Korean boxer Choi Yo-sam, who fell into coma after winning the World Boxing Organization (WBO) intercontinental flyweight title on Christmas Day, was declared dead early Thursday (Jan 3) from head injury (brain hemorrhage).
Choi, 33, won the WBO title on a unanimous decision over Indonesian boxer Heri Amol, but was knocked down by his opponent just before the end of the final round. Choi managed to get back to his feet and became the winner on points before collapsing again.
Choi was declared brain dead on Wednesday (Jan 2), and was pronounced legally dead at 00:01 on Thusday morning after being taken off his life support machine. Choi’s family decided to donate his organs in accordance with his wishes, which benefited six people in need.
Rest in peace Mr Choi Yo-sam.
South Korean figure skater Kim Yu-na has won the International Skating Union (ISU) Grand Prix of Figure Skating for a second straight year.
The 17-year-old student successfully defended the title on Saturday (Dec 15) in Turin, Italy… holding off same age Japanese rival Mao Asada who has to content with a silver medal for two years in a roll behind Kim.
The Grand Prix final pits the six skaters with the best performance in the previous six rounds of the series. Kim is only the third skater to win the title twice in a row, after Irina Slutskaya of Russia and Tara Lipinski of the U.S. [Chosun]
