Leander Paes

India's Davis Cup captain Leander Paes on Thursday poured his heart out, saying that he was hurt by his one-time buddy Mahesh Bhupathi's virtual refusal to play doubles with him at the Beijing Olympics.

In a no-holds-barred chat with the media on the sidelines of a promotional event, Paes appealed to Bhupathi that the two should set aside their differences, real or imaginary, and come together in the quest for an Olympic medal.

Paes, singles bronze medallist at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, said the two were the best bet at the Beijing Games, which will be held from August 8-24.

An emotionally charged Paes sounded more pained at the way Bhupathi has gone about the whole business of teaming up with him and also by the latter’s unwillingness to discuss the problems with him directly.

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Asked what prevented him from taking the initiative and talking to Bhupathi, Paes said he was after all human and he too naturally had an ego after playing for the country for 20 years. "After all the things said and written about me, how could I have called him? I am not a robot to go about doing things unmindful of what's happening around me."

Paes conceded that he was convinced about the way he handled certain things and so is Mahesh, perhaps. But if Bhupathi has a problem with him, the former should call him and not go about writing letters to the All-India Tennis Association (AITA).

Paes was referring to Bhupathi's letter to the AITA and the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) in which he had cited the lack of communication between the two and not enough time to prepare for the Olympics as the reasons for backing out. He instead suggested that Rohan Bopanna should partner him at Beijing.

Paes said Bhupathi should have communicated with him directly if he had any ideas as to how the two should prepare for the Olympics. "Till today, Mahesh has not communicated with me, I get to hear everything from the e-mails of his to the AITA," said Paes.

He also said he had earlier tried communicating with Bhupathi, but didn't get any response. "Communication is a two-way process, but here it is just one way," said Paes.

Asked if Bhupathi, currently world ranked 11th in doubles, was waiting to move into the top ten so that he could nominate a player of his choice and prevent him from participating in his fifth Olympics, Paes said: "I don't want to comment on this. We all have seen Rohan's performance in the last couple of weeks and his fitness. Even when he (Rohan) is in the best of his fitness, we all are intelligent to know who is better."

What Paes didn't say is that even if Bhupathi has to suggest any name it has to be routed through the Indian Olympic Association which has already sent the names of Paes and Bhupathi as India's entry.

Paes reiterated that despite the differences, Mahesh and he are still a potent force on the court as they have performed extremely well for the country in the Asian Games and the Davis Cup despite not playing together on the ATP Tour.

"We have always done well playing for the country. We also can't forget that we played together for eight years and were the world No.1," said Paes.

Paes went on to add that the lack of practice together shouldn't be a problem for either of them because by playing on the ATP Tour their game got sharpened.

"In the 2000 Olympics, we came together two months before the competition and were very close to winning a medal. It was the same at the 2006 Doha Asian Games, where we clinched the gold. Also, of course, the the Davis Cup matches," Paes said.

The AITA has planned to hold a two-week training camp for the Olympics and the Davis Cup World Group Play-off against Romania after Wimbledon. But Bhupathi feels that they need to play more ATP tournaments in the run-up to the Olympics.

Paes, however, feels that the camp would do a world of good for them not only for the Olympics but also for the Davis Cup.

"It was a well thought out plan by the AITA to couple Davis Cup preparation with Olympic training. It will be a nice training ground for the youngsters," he said.

The Davis Cup captain said that it was high time the players went with a clean mind and a definite purpose to both Beijing as well for the Davis Cup tie.

"At the end of the day, we will be hurting ourselves by deflecting our focus from the goal, thus putting additional pressure to get a medal. There is no team better than Leander and Bhupathi to get an Olympic medal," he signed off.

Chengdu

CHENGDU -- The eight pandas chosen to entertain tourists during the Beijing Olympic Games will arrive in the capital on May 24 as scheduled, despite the killer quake which has resulted in havoc in the Wolong Nature Reserve in Sichuan province.



Eight pandas chosen for the Beijing Olympic Games wait at Chengdu Research Base of Sichuan province May 23, 2008. The bears are scheduled to arrive in Beijing at about 5 pm Saturday. [By Huang Zhiling\Chinadaily.com.cn]

The bears will leave the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding in this capital of Sichuan at 11 am for the Shuangliu International Airport in the city where a charter flight will take them to Beijing at 3 pm.

After more than two hours' flight, they will land in the capital, said Wang Chengdong, deputy chief of the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding.

He disclosed the bears arrived in his base before 2 am on Monday morning from Wolong after traveling by road for more than 10 hours, compared with normally some three hours.

"Because roads were blocked, they took a turnabout way and crossed the Jiajin Mountain to reach Chengdu from Ya'an, a city in western Sichuan. Four keepers from Wolong have accompanied the bears to the Chengdu base and the bears are all in good health," he told chinadaily.com.cn.

When journalists took pictures of the bears in a den in Wang's base yesterday afternoon, they were impressed with the bears devouring bamboo fed by a woman keeper.

According to Xiong Beirong, director the wildlife protection section of the Sichuan Provincial Forestry Bureau, the bears will be accompanied during the flight to Beijing by their keepers who are quite familiar to them. They will take care of the bears during their stay in Beijing and help them get over any after-quake mental problems.

Yoshie Takeshita

World bronze medallists Serbia and Japan clinched tickets for the Beijing Olympics women's volleyball when they coasted to fifth straight wins in the final qualifying round on Friday.

Serbia whipped Puerto Rico 25-12, 25-18, 25-18, while Japan outclassed archrivals South Korea 25-20, 25-19, 21-25, 25-13 to remain unbeaten in the eight-team round robin competition.

The winners of the tournament, along with the best-placed Asian nation and the two other best-placed teams from the remaining six, qualify for the Games in August.

Poland downed Thailand 18-25, 25-14, 25-19, 25-23 to move closer towards Beijing with a 4-1 win-loss record ahead of the Dominican Republic and South Korea with 2-3, Thailand and Puerto Rico with 1-4, and Kazakhstan with 0-5.

Earlier in the day, Kazakhstan's hopes of reaching Beijing fizzled out after they were beaten 25-20, 25-22, 25-17 by the Dominican Republic.

"I can't explain my feeling. I feel some pleasure that I never felt before in my life ... going to the Olympics," said Serbia's ace attacker Jelena Nikolic.

She said the team had played "with one heart," adding: "We had a lot of pressure, but we showed that we are a big team."

Since being appointed Serbia coach in 2002, Zoran Terzic pointed out that the team had qualified for every major tournament and had won silver in the European championships and bronze at the world championships.

"It was very special for us. Of course, it was a little tough at the start of the game because we were under pressure, but I really want to congratulate my players," Terzic said.

"This is the first time in the history of Serbia that the volleyball national team has qualified for the Olympic Games. We made something special and, of course, we are very, very happy because of that."

Meanwhile, Japanese captain Yoshie Takeshita steadied herself despite the jubilation in front of a partisan crowd.

"It was really tough to qualify, but we just came to the starting line for the Beijing Olympics. I'm determined to fight match by match, set by set and point by point every time," said Takeshita.

Japan coach Shoichi Yanagimoto said: "We didn't have enough time to prepare for the tournament, but each player knows her role very well and did their best together."

"We had so many difficulties in the history of the past four years. It is the result of our hard work that we are now in this position," added Yanagimoto.

Ryan Carneli

AUSTRALIAN equestrian legend Andrew Hoy has been caught up in a horse cruelty case that may affect his bid to go to Beijing to compete in his seventh Olympic Games.

Hoy, 49, and Dutch rider Madeleine Brugman, whom he trains, this week faced a disciplinary tribunal in Lausanne, Switzerland, to answer allegations of abusing a horse.

Brugman is accused of fitting her horse Sundancer 6 with spiked boots in the warm-up to the showjumping phase of a three-day event at Barroca d'Alva, Portugal, in March. Both deny the charges. The hearing will resume next week.

■Australian discus thrower Benn Harradine set the second national record of his training and competition tour of the west coast of the US when he threw 66.37 metres at Salinas, California, on Thursday.

His performance came a day after a competition in Salinas in which he threw an Olympic qualifying distance of 65.27.

Harradine has been based at the US Olympic Training centre in Chula Vista, California, with some of the world's top throwers.

He first broke the Australian record three weeks ago. If the latest result is validated, he has bettered the Olympic standard in four competitions.

■World marathon record-holder Paula Radcliffe is in danger of missing the Olympics because of a stress fracture in her left femur.

Radcliffe described learning about the injury, which has also affected her hip, as a bombshell.

"It's been a nightmare last three weeks but I'm trying to stay calm about it," Radcliffe said. "I'm thinking positive."

■The Australian women's water polo team continued its winning streak when it defeated Japan 17-4 in the first round of the FINA World League.

The win marks the third in the series for the Aussie Stingers, who beat China A and China B earlier in the week in the Asia-Oceania zone of the women's water polo competition.

"Our defence was quite good but our attack certainly needs lots of work if we are going to be a serious threat in Beijing (Olympics)," head coach Greg McFadden said.

"Today was very frustrating as we never settled into the game we wanted to play and were continually chasing our tail.

"Full credit to the Japanese, who are continually improving, and I think lady luck was on our side today and not theirs."

Australia will again play China teams A and B and Japan in the second round to cement a berth for the finals in Spain next month.

■Australia's taekwondo Olympics team is in a good position to win gold at the Beijing Games in August, according to coach Daniel Trenton.

The team of four was named yesterday at the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra.

Queenslander Tina Morgan, an Athens Olympian, has been joined by Carmon Marton, Ryan Carneli and Burak Hasan, all from Victoria.

Trenton, two-time Olympian and Sydney silver medallist, is confident about the chances of his charges.

"Tina Morgan won the World Cup in 2006, Ryan Carneli had a silver from that competition and Burak Hasan has been placed in the top three to qualify for the Games," he said.

"Carmen has defeated one of two world champions in her preparation towards Beijing."

Nymex

China's plans for the Olympics and its relief efforts in the wake of the earthquake have helped push oil to its recent record highs and could contribute to further spikes this year, analysts say.
[Chart]

The country's lately soaring demand for diesel fuel, in particular, is putting pressure on crude-oil prices, which this week rose as high as $133.17 before settling Thursday at $130.81 per barrel at the New York Mercantile Exchange. Year to date, crude is up 36%. The so-called light, sweet crude traded on Nymex is a high-quality grade that is sought after to make diesel.

Prices of ultralow-sulfur diesel at New York harbor have risen 48.3% so far this year, and just this month they are up 22.5%, according to Platts.

"The fundamental [issue] now is tight supply of middle-distillates, mainly coming from China," said Ken Hasegawa, manager of commodity derivatives sales at broker Newedge Japan Inc., referring to a mix of petroleum products that includes diesel, jet fuel and heating oil. "Every refiner in Japan is trying to sell diesel to China."

China's diesel demand is by no means the only culprit behind oil's rise. Among other factors are energy demands from other emerging markets, geopolitical tensions, a tight supply by an underinvested oil industry and an influx of speculative funds.

Still, analysts say the Olympics and the earthquake are playing their part. China has been stockpiling diesel and other oil products to smooth out supply hiccups during the August games in Beijing. Also, using diesel instead of coal could help lower pollution levels during the Games.

Meanwhile, the devastating earthquake that hit southwest China on May 12 hurt refining capacity and left a dire need for back-up generators in the affected area. The country's large oil companies have pledged to send hundreds of thousands of tons of diesel, gasoline and kerosene into the area, to fuel power generators, rescue vehicles and helicopters, according to government media. Meanwhile, thousands of diesel-fueled generators have been donated by machinery makers to help restore power there.

Diesel is mainly used in transportation and power generation. Middle distillates accounted for 36% of the world's total petroleum consumption in 2006, the year of the most recent data available from the BP Statistical Yearbook of World Energy.

Last month, diesel imports in China surged by more than eightfold from a year earlier, as domestic refiners have been unable to keep up with demand. To increase the flow of diesel fuels into the country, the government in November cut tariffs on diesel imports from 6% to 2%, and further halved them to 1% in January. In addition, state-run oil companies that import oil products were granted a rebate on another tax, the 17% value-added tax, which is slated to last through June.

Meanwhile, gas stations in several provinces have limited sales of diesel to drivers, as wholesale prices have come to exceed the retail prices they are permitted to charge.

Beijing Olympic medals

AUSTRALIA'S major companies -- including BHP Billiton, Qantas, ANZ, National Australia Bank, Bluescope Steel, Macquarie Group, Telstra, the Seven Network and minerals company Astron -- are combining to leverage the business opportunities from this year's Beijing Olympics.

The companies are sponsoring a hospitality suite, organised by Austrade, in Beijing during the Games. The suite will be used to promote business contacts between Australia and China.

Macquarie Group chairman David Clarke, who is chairing the roundtable advisory group for Business Club Australia Beijing 2008, said yesterday that 13 major Australian companies had combined to sponsor the Business Club.

But he said many more would be using the facilities with almost 40 different corporate events already scheduled to be held at the venue during the Games.

More than 50 small-to-medium enterprises are also expected to be involved in a series of seminars linked to the Games that will cover specialist areas such as mining, financial services, sports business and companies in the clean energy and environmental businesses.

Mr Clarke said the model of using sporting events such as the Sydney Olympics or the Rugby World Cup to promote business links between countries had been successful in the past.

"A lot of businesses use it to get together on a one-on-one basis," he said.

But he said the Beijing event would be the most ambitious attempt of its kind outside of Australia to leverage business links to a sporting event.

Mr Clarke said major Australian corporates such as BHP Billiton and Macquarie had already planned their own individual events during the Games but would also be working together with the Business Club Australia centre in Beijing to create an Australian business centre.

"What we are trying to do here is to co-ordinate the interests of quite a lot of major companies so that one and one make three," he said.

"We want to present, as much as we can, a united front (for Australian business) which is probably more important in China than it is in many other countries."

Austrade estimates that its Business Club programs, which have been tied to the Sydney Olympics, the 2003 Rugby World Cup, the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne and the 2007 Rugby World Cup in Paris last year, "helped facilitate" some $1.7 billion in trade and investment opportunities for Australian companies.

Australia's business leaders are waiting on an announcement about whether the Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, will attend the Olympics.

Mr Clarke said he did not think that controversy over China's policy in Tibet, which sparked protests against China's Olympic torch relay around the world, would cloud enthusiasm for the Beijing Olympics.

"Sometimes the politics in the Olympics is important," he said.

"Probably, in China, it will be a bit more political but I think it will be a pretty good experience generally.

"I don't think it will be disrupted in the way that, say, the Moscow Games was."

Mr Clarke said Macquarie which has a substantial presence in Hong Kong and China, in a range of areas from property to financial services, would use using the Beijing Olympics to entertain Chinese clients.

But he said other companies would be using the Business Club Australia centre to entertain clients brought from Australia for the Games.

Austrade chief executive Peter O'Byrne said yesterday that corporate sponsorship for the Beijing Business Club had been very strong.

"Australians are very interested," he said.

"The Business Club has some very senior businesspeople involved in its organisation and we are planning it to meet the overall needs of the community," he said. "There is a real dynamic between the companies involved."

BHP -- the only Australian company to sponsor the Beijing Olympics -- has an extensive corporate hospitality program planned for the Games.

The company is providing the metal for all the Beijing Olympic medals.

Several Australian companies, such as architectural firm PTW, which has designed the Olympic swimming centre, will also use the Games to promote their China business credentials.

Corporate executives who attended yesterday's meeting in Sydney to discuss the Beijing Business Club Roundtable included Qantas executive general manager, John Borghetti; Bluescope Steel general manager George Glover; Telstra executive Randy Lynch; Tourism Australia chief Geoff Buckley; ANZ's president for China Andrew McGregor and National Australia Bank's Asian business development manager Michael Shagrin.

Sichuan earthquake

Famous film actor Jackie Chan has said the people of China were resilient and would soon recover from the tragedy of Sichuan earthquake and his next movie will focus on the human side of the natural disaster.

Addressing a press conference at the Foreign Press Association on Friday, the 54-year-old Hong Kong-based actor spoke about the upcoming Olympics in Beijing and said this would be a successful event.

Chan is one of the best known names in kung fu and action films world wide, known for his acrobatic fighting style, comic timing, use of improvised weapons and innovative stunts. He has acted since the 1970’s appearing in over 100 films.

He slammed those who caused trouble during the relay of the Olympic torch in Europe and said the Olympics belong to the whole world and not just only to China.

“The Olympics is just about bringing the people of the world together in the spirit of friendship and comrade and politics be kept away from it.”

He ran the Olympic torch relay in Sanya, South China. After his run, he led a lion dance and performed a moving rendition of Olympic theme song “We are ready.”

Described variously as an actor, action choreographer, film director, producer, martial artist, comedian, screenwriter, singer and stunt performer, Chan spoke about his anguish at the Sichuan earthquake.

He spoke of his visit to China following the quake and renewed his help to rebuild the many schools that have been destroyed. Chan, who has a large following in Pakistan as well because of the popularity of his movies, said his charity has donated US $ 1.4 million to the earthquake victim.

Jackie who was in Beijing filming a public service announcement for anti-piracy when the quake occurred, immediately began co-ordinating the donation. He appreciated the response of the international community in providing the humanitarian aid.

His latest movie Forbidden Kingdom topped the American office on its opening weekend with US $ 21 million in ticket sales. The movie is set for release in UK on July 9.

He also attended the 61st annual Cannes film festival to promote ‘Wushu’ a film which he produced. Chan said he is holding meeting with some leading producers for his next project which will centre around the tragedy of Sichuan earthquake.

“There are lots of human interest stories emanating from this quake and I am interested in producing a movie for charity purpose,” he told the reporters.

Chan said his charity has also donated funds for the cyclone hit victims of Burma. On the question of piracy, he said it was hurting the film industry and there was a need to further tighten measures