The Team Malta official Olympic send-off ceremony will be organised for the first time by the Maltese Olympic Committee. It will take place next Friday at the Bastion Terrace of the Grand Hotel Excelsior, Floriana.

The MOC felt that it was appropriate to bring together all the people who have contributed to helping the athletes make it this far by organising an appropriate send-off; such an event has national relevance as Team Malta are Malta’s ambassadors at the forthcoming Beijing Olympic Games.

Due to the Asian connections it was felt that an Asian Night with a lavish Chinese buffet prepared by the hotel would be appropriate. Live entertainment will be provided and will include the launch of the uniforms and kits which Team Malta will wear in Beijing; these will be shown off by the Olympic athletes themselves and this activity will be organised by Allevents Malta (specialist sport events company). This will then be followed by Pianist Frank and Zhao Xingxia who plays the Zheng 16 stringer.

This event is open to the general public and families, friends and fellow athletes. Everyone is encouraged to come along to support our athletes and contribute in making this a memorable evening.

Seating is very limited and is available on a first come first served basis. Price per person is e40 inclusive of welcome drinks, half a bottle of wine, water and green tea or coffee.

For more information and reservations one may contact the Grand Hotel Excelsior on tel. 2125-0520 or by email: sharon.delbene@exclesior.

com.mt alternatively the Maltese Olympic Committee on tel. 2133-2801 or by email: [email protected].

For bookings online visit www.alleventsmalta.com.

Beijing shutdown begins with traffic, factory curbs to help clear city air for Olympics

AUDRA ANG

AP writer

Beijing’s bold plan to restrict car use to clear its notoriously polluted skies in time for the Olympics kicked into high gear yesterday as the work week began.

Normally snarled traffic flowed smoothly in most areas, although skies were hazy, a sign that it could be several days before the impact of the measures – which also include constructions cutbacks and factory closures – is noticeable.

Under the two-month operation that started on Sunday, half of the capital’s 3.3 million cars will be removed from city streets on alternate days depending on whether their license plates end in an odd or even number.

Sun Weide, spokesman for Beijing’s Olympic organising committee, said the plan should reduce vehicle emissions – a major cause of the city’s stifling pollution – by about 63 per cent. He did not give further details.

Sun said changes in air quality will be monitored by experts from the city’s environment protection bureau, where telephones rang unanswered yesterday.

Already, “it can be easily felt that traffic is less heavy now and the number of vehicles on the road is clearly smaller,” Sun said. “We predict that we could achieve our goal.”

Foreign experts say the plan could still go wrong because unpredictable winds might blow pollution from other provinces into Beijing, or a lack of wind – common in August – could enable local pollution to build up.

Yesterday, traffic moved at a steady pace along main thoroughfares and highways.

“Before we would be at a dead standstill,” said a taxi driver who would give only his surname, Zhang. “Now it’s better.”

Drivers with even-numbered plates were forced to take public transportation, where crowds remained surprisingly manageable.

“It seems that the subway isn’t as busy as I expected. There are fans and air conditioning, so you don’t feel very hot,” said Chen Songde, who normally drives to work in Beijing.

In addition to the traffic plan, chemical plants, power stations and foundries had to cut emissions by 30 per cent beginning on Sunday. Dusty, noisy construction in the capital had to stop entirely.

Those caught driving on days they shouldn’t will be fined 100 yuan ($14), a pricey penalty even for the capital.

On many days, Beijing’s skyline can barely be seen because of a thick, gray-brown haze that hangs over the city.

Already, many competitors in the 8-24 August Olympics are choosing to train outside of Beijing, and International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge has said outdoor endurance events lasting more than an hour will be postponed if air quality is poor.

The world’s greatest distance runner, Haile Gebrselassie of Ethiopia, has bowed out of the marathon event because the city’s pollution irritates his asthma.

Some 300,000 heavily polluting vehicles – aging industrial trucks, many of which operate only at night – were banned starting on 1 July.

The government has also improved public transportation options for the estimated four million extra people who will be off the roads because of the traffic plan, the official Xinhua News Agency said.

Two new subway lines and an airport rail link were opened over the weekend, with the number of passengers on the three routes expected to reach 1.1 million daily during the Olympics.

In all, eight lines will transport up to five million people daily during the games, the company that runs the Beijing subway said yesterday.

The subway may not have been as crowded as originally expected because employers have been asked to stagger work schedules, and public institutions will open an hour later than normal.

The city also plans to add up to 3,000 more buses by the time the games start, raising the daily capacity for passengers from 12.5 million to 15 million, Xinhua said.

Putin to join Bush, Sarkozy at Beijing Olympics opening ceremony

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is to attend the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics, his spokesman said yesterday.

Putin, formerly Russia’s president, joins a host of world leaders including US President George W. Bush and French President Nicolas Sarkozy who have confirmed their participation in the 8 August ceremony.

Leaders are expected to hold talks during the 8-24 August Games, though Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said yesterday that plans were still being worked on.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper are among those who have said they plan to stay away.

A spokesman for Russian President Dmitry Medvedev could not immediately confirm his plans.

Officials in many EU states have called for a boycott over China’s human rights record, which was recently highlighted by a brutal crackdown in Tibet.

In March, Russia said mixing politics with the Olympics was “unacceptable.”

Russia’s Black Sea resort of Sochi is to host the 2014 Winter Olympics. Many saw Putin’s participation in the bidding process as key to securing those Games and Putin has made it his personal project.

Beijing opens two new subway lines, airport rail link

Beijing has opened two new subway lines and an airport rail link, three weeks ahead of the Beijing Olympics.

Built at a cost of 22.3 billion yuan ($3.3 billion), the three lines were completed about a month behind schedule.

The two subway lines will directly serve Olympic visitors.

One subway line is 25km long and runs southeast to northwest. The second is five kilometres long and serves the Olympic Green area and main venues such as the National Stadium and National Aquatics Centre.

The Airport Line runs 28km from the airport to Beijing’s central business district.

Divers Wilkinson, Livingston lose appeal to compete in 10-metre Olympic synchro

BETH HARRIS

AP sports writer

American Laura Wilkinson and her diving partner Jessica Livingston have lost their appeal to compete in 10-metre synchronised platform diving at the Beijing Olympics.

An arbitrator ruled to keep 15-year-olds Haley Ishimatsu and Mary Beth Dunnichay as the synchro platform team for next month’s games.

Wilkinson and Livingston had filed a complaint against USA Diving and the US Olympic Committee asking to be placed on the team or have another competition to see if they or Ishimatsu and Dunnichay should compete in Beijing.

Details of Friday’s confidential American Arbitration Association hearing were not disclosed, although USA Diving called the decision “a strong ruling.”

“USA Diving is extremely pleased by the arbitrator’s decision supporting our selection procedures, the process and the selectors’ decision,” USA Diving chief executive officer Debbie Hesse said in a statement on Saturday. “We hope our athletes and coaches can move past this and form a strongly bonded team at the Olympic Games.”

In their complaint, attorneys for Wilkinson and Livingston said USA Diving’s selection criteria was too broadly drawn to meet the standard required by the USOC for team selection proceedings.

MIA Olympic Special – What’s On

MIA Olympic Special for the month of July will be aired on Fridays on E22 at 9pm, Saturdays between 18.05-18.35pm on TVM, Sundays on E22 at 9am and on Mondays on E22 at 12.00pm. Next programme will feature the following:

Special Feature – Judo

In the fourth programme of this special series MIA Olympic Magazine will take a look at the Judo sector. In this discipline Malta will be represented at the Beijing Olympics by Marcon Bezzina. Mr Envic Galea, president of the Judo Federation, will also feature in this programme.

Special Feature – MOC Feature

This week Dr Lucienne Attard will be interviewed in this programme in the fourth part of a total of five interviews which will feature various MOC directors.

Olympic Archive

A trip down memory lane will make us recall past editions of the Olympic Games.

Schedule available every week on www.nocmalta.org and on The Malta Independent newspaper every Tuesday. Produced in collaboration with E22.