Both North Korea and South Korea have qualified from the Asian groupings to play in the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa.
It will be the first time in history that both nations are participating in the same tournament.
North Korea will be making only their 2nd appearance; their first was a fairy tale journey in 1966 in which they defeated European giant Italy en route to the quarter finals, a result that stunned the footballing world.
South Korea on the other hand is the most successful Asian team in World Cup history and will be making their 8th appearance in 2010. Their best result was 4th place in 2002 when they were joint host (with Japan) for the event.
The Koreans met in the qualifying stage in which the southern counterpart has the upper hand with a win and a draw. The northern boys are unlikely to get their revenge in 2010 though, as chances are pretty slim for them to meet each other.
The Beijing Paralympic Games has started and ended rather quietly compared to the Beijing Olympic Games. Didn’t manage to catch anything live… as said earlier, the media coverage was really poor for this event, which was a pity because I am sure there were lots of wonderful moments throughout the Paralympics…
A referee helping a soccer player with his shoestrings (Image from
Xinhuanet)
I have been following the Chinese news on the event, and it seems like the Paralympic Games have been very well ran as well… kudos to the Chinese organisers for that. Hope that it will be another great event in London 2012, and hope that the international media will give more attention next time.
Some random news about Beijing 2008 Olympics…
The power of love
Matthias Steiner of Germany was the men’s +105kg weightlifting champion on Tuesday. When I first saw the picture, I thought of how romantic this guy was… I only knew a day later that the woman in the picture was his wife Susann, who died in a car accident last year, and it sparked plenty of emotions…
Matthias with his gold medal and a photo of his late wife (Image via
Beijing2008)
This will probably be the most memorable Beijing Olympics’ photo for me… it draws love, sadness, romance, pride, commitment and loyalty. If I am a woman I would probably fall in love with this guy.
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