SPORTS EDGE

Olympics
30 Days To Go
China confident of success
Afp, Beijing

Cheerleaders dance during a training session in suburban Beijing as part of China's preparation for the biggest show on earth, the Summer Olympics that commence on August 8. These cheerleaders will entertain the spectators during breaks in games like basketball, beach volleyball and some of the other sports during the 17-day extravaganza. Photo: AFPChina voiced confidence on Tuesday that the Olympics would be a success, although it warned exactly one month ahead of the Games that hostile forces were still intent on derailing the historic event.Chinese officials also dismissed pollution concerns that were highlighted by another smoggy day in Beijing, and rejected accusations that the government had not honoured its commitments to improve human rights and press freedoms."The development of China cannot be held back by any force. We have full confidence that we will hold a high level Olympic Games," foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang said as he spoke out against a broad range of China critics.Preparations for the Games appeared to be running smoothly, with all the stadiums already built and China opening the main press centre on Tuesday to cater for the roughly 6,000 journalists who will descend on Beijing.However some of the main organs of China's state-run press also marked the one-month Olympic countdown by focusing on the nation's critics that it said were trying to use the Games to hurt the country."The single obvious threat to the impending Games appears to be politicisation," the English-language China Daily said in an editorial."It is no secret that various anti-China forces have been colluding to hijack the Games for political ends... We should not tolerate any plot to derail the event."China has also repeatedly warned of a range of security threats to the Games, particularly from its western region of Xinjiang that has a large Muslim population, as well as from groups critical of Chinese rule in Tibet."As the Beijing Olympics get nearer, every kind of anti-China and hostile force will seek a thousand ways to intensify efforts to engage in sabotage activities," China's vice chief of police Yang Huanning said last week.Critics have accused Beijing of exaggerating or fabricating the security threats to provide an excuse to stifle any dissent that could embarrass the communist rulers during the Olympics.Amnesty International was among a range of critics to use the one-month countdown to again hit out at China for not honouring pledges to improve human rights and press freedoms that it made to win the Olympics in 2001.But foreign ministry spokesman Qin responded that China had committed to bettering human rights regardless of the sporting event."Since the founding of the Communist Party of China, it has been trying its utmost to improve human rights, and it will be our goal and purpose in the future," he said.One other major concern for China has been pollution, and the city's environmental woes showed no signs of abating on Tuesday despite having already implemented some measures designed to improve air quality for the Games.On July 1, 300,000 highly polluting vehicles were banned from the capital, while some work at construction sites and factories has been suspended.International Olympic Committee chief Jacques Rogge this year warned that some endurance events, such as the marathon, may be postponed if the pollution is too severe.But with more than one million cars -- or about a third of those in Beijing -- due to be taken off the road from July 20, environmental officials remained upbeat about the prospects of clear air for the Olympics.In Qingdao -- site of the sailing competition 550 kilometres (340 miles) southeast of Beijing -- a pollution-triggered algae bloom has left parts of the harbour covered in a foul smelling green sludge.
One of several CNG filling stations between Kanchpur Bridge and Jatrabari of the capital which BNP big shots built on the Kutubkhali canal, drastically reducing Dhaka's drainage capability. PHOTO: STAR
-->