Sports Notes - World # 1 Canada Undefeated In Volleyball Championship - July 2005

James Loving - National Radio Text Service

San Antonio Spurs & MVP Tim Duncan 3-time winners - Thailand Take On Everton, Bolton, Man City & Real Madrid - Thailand's Chiang Beer Gives Everton New Deal - Cambodian Football League Standings - Thierry Henry & FIFA On Racism - NR MAIL

Friday July 1, 2005

CANADA TOPS IN VOLLEYBALL TOURNAMENT FOR THE DISABLED

World #1 Canada walked away with the AOCVD Standing Volleyball Championship today. The Canadians were undefeated in their nine tournament games. On the final day they defeated Cambodia's # 2 team 3-0. The four-day event was culminated with an afternoon match between Australia and Cambodia's # 1 team. Cambodia swept the men from down under 3-0. The win gave the Khmers the title of being the Asia/Oceania champion. Canada was ineligible due geography and not being in the region. To add icing to the cake the Canadians also walked off with five of the tournament's best player awards.

Neil Johnson won the tournament MVP trophy and Best Attacker. Greg Stewart also won two awards being selected Best Server and Best Blocker. The event was scaled down due to several invited teams suffering adversity. Myanmar couldn't raise the funds to participate. Sri Lanka and India were no shows due to the Tsunami tragedy.

According to Jenni Barron the chairman of Asia Oceans Zone of the World Organization of Volleyball for the Disabled (WVOD) that attempts were made to contact representatives of the two countries since the Tsunami tragedy that resulted in no response.

The event was the first International volleyball tournament to be held in Cambodia in decades. Due to numerous landmine victims in the country Cambodia had enough players to enter two teams.

So what was this tournament all about?

Barry Couzner the WOVD Technical delegate said at the opening ceremonies Monday of the tournament, "It is a tournament of HOPE that greater understanding between the people of the world will be generated through sport. It is a tournament of hope that the disabled will be offered real opportunity. It is a tournament of hope that peace will overcome conflict.

"It is a tournament of DEMONSTRATION that widely diverse countries can be united with a common cause. It is a tournament of demonstration that sport offers real opportunity for the disabled in the world. It is a tournament of demonstration that, despite the odds, peace will be achieved."

OTHER AWARD WINNERS

Best Receiver - Senghay Lee - Cambodia

Best Setter - Larry Matthews - Canada

Best Retriever - Vanna Yim - Cambodia 2

NOTES:

Due to the lack of funding the Australian squad paid their way to participate in the tournament.

Tournament MVP Neil Johnson, 24 was offered a contract to play for an able-bodied professional volleyball team in Germany...

Eighteen-year-old Greg Stewart is 7'2" and is the center on his college basketball team in Canada. When doing so wears a prosthetic lower arm that he didn't wear while playing in the tournament. He attained his seven-foot height at the age of 15. He hopes to become the first disabled person to make it to the NBA...

The disabled World Volleyball Championships will be held in Regina, Canada at the end of September. Teams most likely to participate are Germany, Slovakia, Cambodia, Canada, USA, Czech Republic, Rwanda, Poland and Israel...

There are currently 20 standing disabled teams worldwide. All can participate in the World (standing/disabled) Championships if they have funding to pay their way to the event...

There are two categories of disabled volleyball standing and sitting &.

Khmer dancers were featured in the closing ceremonies...

DUNCAN AIN'T FUNKIN AROUND

Last week when the San Antonio Spurs won their third NBA championship in the last seven years they did it with only one player remaining from the team that won it in 1999.., Tim Duncan. In helping his team win this title Duncan picked up his third NBA championship MVP award.

When Duncan was signed as a rookie in 1997 the plan was to build the team around him. David Robertson was the longtime nucleus is of the squad but with Duncan's arrival he took a back seat to the future star. Together they won two titles 1999 and 2003.

REAL MADRID, EVERTON, BOLTON & MAN CITY TO PLAY THAILAND

Everton, Bolton and Manchester City will play the Thailand national team July 20 & 23rd at Rajamangala Stadium in Bangkok. Game times are 5:45 for the first match and 8:45 for the second.

Real Madrid will play a Thai All-Star squad July 29 at the same location. Zinedine Zidane, David Beckham, Michael Owen and Roberto Carlos are expected to participate.

EVERTON CHIANG BEER RE-UP DEAL

Go figure & English Premiere League squad Everton lose Wayne Rooney to Man U and then go on to have a spectacular season without him. Perhaps the sponsorship deal with Thailand beer maker Chiang Beer was the difference. Sine the success the two parties have agreed to a new 3-year deal.

CAMBODIAN PROFESSIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE

Naga took the top spot in the Cambodian professional football league with a victory over former national team star Hok Suchetra's Hello United. The two teams have the most national team players on their squads. The top of the standing include: (1) Naga 4W-0L, (2) Hello United 3W - 1L and (3) RCAF (Royal Cambodian Air Force) 3W-1L.

The league also includes KHEMARA 2W-1L-1D MILITARY POLICE 2W-1L-1D, KOH KONG Province, 2W-2L, LOGISTICS 1W-2D-1L, KANDAL Province 0W-4L, NAVY 0W-3L & SIEM REAP Province 0w-3l.

NR MAIL

Dear Sir: I'm Dave Ijemuan, a Football Player, Trainer/Coach of a Football Club in my country, Nigeria. I happened to open your informative Web site about Football here in Cambodia.

If you don't mind, I would like to ask your kind assistance to refer me to any Football Clubs here in Cambodia where I could contribute to develop and improve the players and use my skills and experiences as a Player and a Trainer/Coach at the same time.

Presently, I'm living here in Phnom Penh and plan to stay longer if given a chance to join to any Football Club who are in need of my services.

NR

Your email has been forwarded to Tola May of the Cambodian Football Federation.

JULY 4th FIFA Anti-Discrimination Day

Thierry Henry & Top national teams show solidarity in fight against discrimination

FIFA will hold this year's worldwide Anti-Discrimination Day July 4th in connection with the concluding phases of the FIFA World Youth Championship and the FIFA Confederations Cup.

During the FIFA World Youth Championship and the FIFA Confederations Cup the top teams of both tournaments helped FIFA by delivering a message against racism and discrimination. At matches before kick-off team captains read a declaration condemning and rejecting discrimination in football and society and firmly saying no to racism.

Both teams and the match officials posed jointly with a banner displaying the unequivocal Say No to Racism message as part of the official pre-match protocol.

FIFA President Joseph S. Blatter said: Football has a unique power that can and must be used to promote human development and peace and to expel discrimination from society. We are delighted to present our competitions not only as a sporting spectacle but also as a channel to raise awareness on the pressing social issues of our days. This is part of our social responsibility.

The captain of the newly created group of FIFA Ambassadors against Racism, Thierry Henry also expressed his support for the initiative: If all parties involved in football join in condemning and acting against discrimination, there is hope for eradicating it from our sport. I commend the active participation of the teams in the Netherlands and Germany which shows the players rejection of racism and their willingness to fight it .

Senes Erzik, Chairman of the FIFA Committee for Ethics and Fair Play, stressed: We deplore racism and discrimination and reject it in our Statutes and Code of Ethics, as this blight should have no place in our game. The voice of the players and the platform of the FIFA competitions help us amplify this condemnation.