Tag: sports

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Society

Traditional Burmese Boxing Knocked Out By Thai Cousin

Saw Ohn Myint, a Burmese boxer, will represent Burma at the upcoming South East Asian Games, SEA Games
Saw Ohn Myint, a Burmese boxer, will represent Burma at the upcoming South East Asian Games, SEA Games Zaw Htet DVB

For thousands of years, traditional boxing has been one of Burma“s primary national sports. But when the Southeast Asian Games are held in December, it will be conspicuously missing, as no other country fights in that style. The more internationally recognized Thai boxing, also known as Muay Thai, will be featured instead. “I was very keen on boxing, so I had sacrificed a lot. Finally, I earned a gold belt,” says Saw Ohn Myint, a former gold belt national champion in Burmese boxing. He says he would have loved to represent his country — officially known as Myanmar —before a […]

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Society

In Congo, Street Children Find Hope In Brazilian Martial Art Of Capoeira

Congolese kids practicing capoeira
Congolese kids practicing capoeira Yanni de Wouters screenshot

LIMETE — Three times a week here, in this municipality within the Kinshasa province of Congo, street children gather in the square to practice Brazilian capoeira, a martial art that incorporates dance, music and acrobatics. For the past seven years, these unlikely enthusiasts of the disclipline have occupied a portion of an abandoned basketball court. […]

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Society

Working Out Is Good For You … Until It’s Not

Sound body, unsound mind?
Sound body, unsound mind? Red Rose Exile

In Germany, eight university hospitals have opened outpatient sports psychiatry facilities to treat depression for the “over-worked-out.”

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Economy Society

Fit To Serve: The Disabled Frenchman Who Became A Soldier And Olympic Athlete

Djamel Mastouri during a 1,500-meter run
Djamel Mastouri during a 1,500-meter run Facebook page

Djamel Mastouri was told as a child that he’d never walk again. He went on to become an Olympic champion and an accomplished French soldier.

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blog Society

The Long, Strong, Slippery History Of Oil Wrestling In Turkey

Oil wrestling tournament in Istanbul
Oil wrestling tournament in Istanbul Math34

ISTANBUL – On the eve of the traditional Kirkpinar oil wrestling competition, to be held in its 652nd year in the Edirne province in western Turkey, attention was turning to the “pehlivans,” as the wrestlers are called. The pehlivans hailing from Istanbul have arrived in Edirne for the July 5-7 competition, but the contingent from […]

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Society

Most Global NBA Finals Ever

With 84 players from outside the U.S. competing in the NBA this season, the American league broke its record of foreign players. It’s not a big surprise then to see nine of them on the American Airlines Arena court tonight, as the San Antonio Spurs face the Miami Heat in the decisive Game 7 of […]

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Geopolitics

Iraq Jihadists Gain, World Cup Opens, Amazon Prime Music

Brazil is set for World Cup kickoff
Brazil is set for World Cup kickoff [E]Jhonpaz/Xinhua/ZUMA

Thursday, June 12, 2014 JIHADISTS PUSHING TOWARDS BAGHDAD Jihadist fighters with the Islamic group known as ISIS have continued their offensive in northern and central Iraq and are heading south towards the capital Baghdad, where they have said that the “battle will rage,” Sky News reports. Meanwhile, Kurdish forces claimed to have gained control of […]

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Ideas

How A Mix Of Qatari Cash And French Resentment Sparked A Paris Soccer Riot

Paris Saint-Germain's fans during a 2007 UEFA Cup match
Paris Saint-Germain's fans during a 2007 UEFA Cup match Cardana - GNU Free Documentation License

-Op-Ed- PARIS – Guerilla scenes, an intolerable gratuitous violence, hundreds of angry youths looting shops… this is not Aleppo in Syria, but central Paris. On May 13, violence broke out in one of the French capital’s ritziest neighborhood as supporters gathered to celebrate the soccer team Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) winning the French League 1 championship […]

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Society

Berlin Wall: How Germany Produced Prime Defensive Talent For The NFL

Werner has been selected by the Indianapolis Colts with the 24th pick in the first round of the 2013 NFL draft
Werner has been selected by the Indianapolis Colts with the 24th pick in the first round of the 2013 NFL draft NFL screenshot

Meet Bjoern Werner, who was drafted in the first round of the NFL draft this week. And yes, soccer came first.

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Society

If You Hate The Tour De France, You’ll Love The Tour Du Maroc

Wind, rain, scorching heat... The Tour du Maroc is not for the weak
Wind, rain, scorching heat... The Tour du Maroc is not for the weak Tour du Maroc official website

FEZ – It is the fourth stage of the Tour du Maroc bicycle race, and we are somewhere between Guercif and Fez. Since this morning, the wind has not stopped sweeping this stretch of road, and the cyclists with it. Everyone is pedaling in slow motion, at about 15 kilometers per hour. Some of the […]

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Society

Lionel Messi vs. Robot Goalkeeper (Japanese Video)

EUROSPORT, YOUTUBE Worldcrunch A Japanese TV show created a soccer goalkeeper robot that reacts at the speed of light, apparently making it all but impossible to score. After several top Japanese players were stymied by the machine, Argentinian soccer legend Lionel Messi accepted the challenge. (No word on how much he was paid to show […]

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Society

Do Sports Make You Smarter? Study Finds Athletes’ Brains Have More Gray Matter

Not running out of gray matter
Not running out of gray matter kris krug

BOCHUM – Intensive sports make our muscles grow – nothing new there. But now clinical neurophysiologists from Germany’s Ruhr-University Bochum (RUB) have shown that sports can change our brain too. For their research, 26 high-performance athletes (half of them practitioners of judo and karate, the other half marathon runners and triathletes), and 12 non-athletes, had […]

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Society

Watch Beckham Bend It In Paris

Worldcrunch PARIS – David Beckham has finally made his much anticipated debut in Paris, almost one month after signing for Paris Saint-Germain. Here’s Becks warming up before Sunday’s kick-off. Although he only played for the last 14 minutes of Sunday night’s game, Becks was finally given a chance to get his much-advertized bottom off the […]

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Society

The Tragic Fall Of Oscar Pistorius, A Modern-Day Icarus

Oscar Pistorius at the 2012 London Paralympics
Oscar Pistorius at the 2012 London Paralympics Chris Eason

The Greek tragedy featured man-made wings melting under the sun. In South Africa, the bladerunner may have gotten too close to the gods as well.

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Society

Les Beckhams Come To Paris – A Week In The Life

WORLDCRUNCH Worldcrunch PARIS – When David Beckham announced that he had signed a five-month contract with France’s Paris Saint-Germain soccer club, millions of fans of both Monsieur and Madame Spice started fantasizing about the Beckhams moving from the city of angels to the city of lights. As it turns out, Becks and Posh’s kids are […]

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Society

Argentina’s Elite Schools Should Stop Turning Ambitious Girls Into Housewives

Changing attitudes
Changing attitudes marianapesp

BUENOS AIRES – They’re the daughters of Argentina’s upper class, and they go to the most prestigious and traditional high schools in the country. Today, the differences in school curriculum for boys and girls are shrinking, and the social role that girls “are expected” to meet is being tied increasingly to the values imparted to […]

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Society

How Japanese Exercise Brings Peace And Freedom To A Tough Corner Of France

Public housing at Villeneuve de Grenoble
Public housing at Villeneuve de Grenoble Milky

GRENOBLE – Since she joined as staff at the Dojo Grenoblois — the judo and ju-jitsu club located in the heart of the housing projects of Villeneuve, south of Grenoble — Laëtitia Cardaci has gotten used to locking the door of the room where she gives her class in Japanese taïso exercise. For this bubbly, […]

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Society

OK, So Lance Armstrong Is Ruined. And The Tour De France?

LE MONDE (France), L’ÉQUIPE (France), CYCLING WEEKLY (UK) Worldcrunch PARIS – Le Tour d’Après. Literally “The Tour, After.” This is the name Christian Prudhomme, the French race’s organizer, has decided to give to the 2013 edition of the Tour de France, which he will be presenting this week at Paris’ Palais des Congrès. “After,” as […]

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Economy

Sweet! Maria Sharapova Launches Her Own *Sugarpova* Candy Line

WTA (United States), SPORT.RBC.RU (Russia) Worldcrunch Top Russian tennis player Maria Sharapova has launched her own brand of candy called Sugarpova. Famed Fifth Avenue retailer Henri Bendel held the New York City launch on Monday, the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) reports. Sugarpova’s 12 kinds of sweets will be sold worldwide by IT’SUGAR candy stores, and […]

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blog

Doping Versus Blood, Sweat And Tears: What Makes A Champion?

Doping Versus Blood, Sweat And Tears: What Makes A Champion?
Charles McCain

LAUSANNE – Inevitably, any question on the importance of science in sports brings up the topic of doping. “We tend to focus on the cheaters and not enough on clean athletes,” says Swiss judo champion Sergei Aschwanden, bronze medalist in Beijing. “What message do we want to send to young athletes? That doping is required […]

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Society

Ten Things You Didn’t Know About Usain Bolt

LE NOUVEL OBSERVATEUR (France) Worldcrunch Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt won gold in the Men’s 100 meter final in the London 2012 Olympics on Sunday, becoming only the second sprinter to win two consecutive 100m Olympic races. LONDRES 2012 – Usain BOLT double champion… par VideosMediaStudio Bolt shot to fame during the 2008 Beijing Olympics, and […]

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Economy

Senores, Start Your Engines: Is Formula One Headed Back To Latin America?

Argentina's fast and furious F1 legend, Juan Manuel Fangio (Beatrice Murch)
Argentina's fast and furious F1 legend, Juan Manuel Fangio (Beatrice Murch)

Europe’s economic woes are prompting the Formula One auto racing circuit to seek new markets, including in Latin America, whose export-driven economies are running on all cylinders. Argentina hopes to host a race in 2013, in the seaside resort city o

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