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| Friday, 13 August 2004 |
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Lion Flag hoisted at the Athletes Village Dinesh Weerawansa reporting from Greece ATHENS, Thursday - Sri Lanka contingent hoisted the Lion flag at their apartment of the Athletes Village as they settled down for the new life here with over ten thousand athletes from 202 countries. Several officials of the Sri Lanka contingent took part at the flag hoisting ceremony. Secretary of the Sri Lanka NOC, Commodore H.U. Silva arrived here with the Sri Lanka contingent on Monday while President, Hemasiri Fernando is due here later this week. Meanwhile, Singaporean table tennis player Jun Hong Jing aims to win his country's second medal ever in the Olympic Games history. Jing, who finished fourth at the last Sydney 2000 Games, said his initial target is a semifinal berth from where he would play for a medal. Singaporean Government is reported to have offered lucrative financial incentives for those who win medals, running up to USD one million for a gold medal. But Jing said he cares for his country more than money. Australia beat South Korea by two goals to nil in their friendly men's encounter played at Olympic Hockey centre. Michael Brennan scored eight minutes into the match with a beautiful goal struck from the right side of the shooting circle to give them a 1-0 lead at lemons. In the fifth minute of the second half, the winners scored their second goal as Michaqel McCann sounded the boards from the left side. Australia will play New Zealand in their opening game of the Olympic men's hockey tournament scheduled for Sunday. Brazil is aiming to put both its men and women's volleyball teams on the victory podium of the Olympic Games, head coach Jose Guimaraes said. She said the two teams are here for medals. "China, USA, Russia and Cuba too look impressive but we are on our targets. Brazil is ready and capable of having both its men and women on the podium," a determined coach said. Roger Federer and Justine Henin-Hardenne are the top seeds for men's and women's singles respectively of the Olympic Games tennis competition. Among the big names clashing for honours for men's single gold medal are bottom seed American Andy Roddick, Spaniard Carlos Moya and Britain's Tim Henman. Amelie Mauresmo of France is the bottom seed for women's singles line-up which would also see Russians Anastasia Myskina and Elena Dementieva clashing for honours with American star Venus Williams, who incidentally competed at the Sydney 200 along with her sister Serena. However, an injury has forced Serena Williams to skip the Athens Games. China edged out the hosts Greece by two sets to one in their friendly women's volleyball game played at Peace and Friendship Stadium here. Having won the first set 25-19, the winners went down 21-25 in the second. The decisive third set was a thriller after which the Chinese women emerged victorious 27-25. Greek coach Ioanna Vlachou said they have a good team though they lost the warm-up game. A total of 17 weightlifting world record holders - 10 men and seven women, will be seen in action during the Athens Olympic Games. Among them are Hossein Reza Zadeh (105kg and over men) and Gonghong Tang (75kg and over women). |
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