Lots to say..

Well definately have much to say, considering the amount of time lapse after my last post. Last month, on 8th August 2008, was the proudest moment for Asians, especially the Chinese (mi!) as China held the 2008 Olymipics. The opening ceremony was a bang! Love it lots, dont you all agree...And of course the proudest moment came when Team Singapore table tennis trio, Li Jiawei, Feng Tianwei and Wang Yue Gu clinched the sliver award, narrowly beating the South Korean trio. Tao Li did us proud by entering the finals and gotten fifth.

This is the video of the opening ceremony with Li Jiawei being the flag bearer.



You can travel to this site for the opening ceremony:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsDY1Ha83M8

For the closing ceremony (u get the gist):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuU-AXa3tYo

Type beijing2008 in www.youtube.com, you will find many videos of the olympic sports...of which mostly feature China's sports men and women...(guess you have to rely on other users then...)

Followed after was the Paralympics. We've have surprisingly done very well, clinching two bronzes (BY Laurentia Tan, equestrian rider) and a gold and silver (BY Yip Pin Xiu, swimmer). Even with physical disabilities, they have managed to came out tops and I present my very admiration. Realised that many Singaporeans do not feel as much joy as they should have been and hope the government will do more to promote this event. (My little bro doesnt even realise its existence - sad)

Yesterday was the last day in a few of the Formula 1 race, the first Singapore ever held and will do so for the next four years. This street race was definately well done (poor roads) especially the night view. Fernando Alonso won.

(Boy, why was it so hard to find a decent picture without it being from http://www.flickr.com/!!!)

Formula One cars race down a straight stretch at the Padang on the Marina Bay street circuit of the Singapore F1 Grand Prix September 28, 2008.

All these photos are taken from yahoo.com.

These are some articles that will make any Singaporean proud...



Singapore praised
F1's Ecclestone says Republic should be proud of putting the event together so quickly
By Leonard Lim

SINGAPORE'S famed efficiency has come in for praise from Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone.
He said it would have taken any other country two years to achieve what the Republic did in just over a year in gearing up to host a Formula One race from scratch.

'I hope when people see this, they realise it wasn't just a stupid idea.'BERNIE ECCLESTONE, on Formula One holding a night race in Singapore

We've never seen anything built so good, so quickly,' said Ecclestone, the president and chief executive of Formula One Management, the sport's commercial right holder, in a press conference yesterday.
'I'd be surprised if it hadn't been really top quality standards. Singapore should be very, very proud of what's happened.'

Among the major preparations for the SingTel Singapore Grand Prix were building a $40 million Pit Building to house the F1 team garages, media centre, and Paddock Club, and a new road.

Roughly parallel to the Republic Boulevard, the road was required for the Start/Finish stretch.
These major projects were completed in June, three months ahead of race week and about a year after Singapore signed the deal to host F1 races for five years.

Ecclestone, who has been involved in F1 since the 1960s, in roles ranging from team owner to administrator, also praised the inter-agency effort for this weekend's highly anticipated event.
Various agencies, from the Land Transport Authority, Singapore Police Force, National Parks Board and Singapore Tourism Board, worked together to deliver the event in a short time.

'Everybody has done a fantastic job, the quality of the work's been super, those from the top all the way down have worked very hard to make it happen,' he said.

Turning to his brainchild of night races to suit European television audiences, Ecclestone said he was 'anxious' just hours before the first cars took to the Marina Bay street circuit for practice.

But he was hopeful that Singapore's organisers would reap the benefits for taking the bold step of hosting the first night race.

'They were courageous enough to want to do it,' he said. 'There was a lot of criticism but I hope they're well rewarded for what they've done.'

The success of the Singapore race is seen as a litmus test for other Asian nations to stage races under floodlights, something Ecclestone wants more of.

'We're going to get Japan to do it. It will be prime time in China and this part of the world, and in Europe it will be at a sociable hour to watch rather than the middle of the night,' he explained. 'I hope when people see this, they realise it wasn't just a stupid idea.'

As for whether a European country could host a night race, he said there was no push for now to introduce this.

'It's not cheap and I don't think there's much advantage.'

The state-of-the-art lighting system, which involves 1,500 projectors shining four times brighter than a typical soccer stadium, is believed to cost over 5 million yen (S$10.4 million).
limze@sph.com.sg



Motor racing-Singapore the big winner in first night grand prix

By Ossian Shine

SINGAPORE, Sept 29 - Fernando Alonso was crowned Formula One's prince of darkness on Sunday, after streaking to the chequered flag at the sport's first night-time grand prix in Singapore.

The Spaniard's triumph at Formula One's 800th race was heralded by customary champagne-fuelled celebrations, the podium jubilation adhering to time-honoured motor racing etiquette.

But while Renault's twice former world champion will be forever noted as the Singapore GP's first winner, the F1 honour roll will not so easily record the biggest winner of the weekend -- the South-East Asian city-state whose staging of a spectacular and innovative race has left the motor racing world agog with admiration.
A jewel in the Formula One crown is how the sport's supremo Bernie Ecclestone described the Singapore race, adding that floodlit events were the future for the sport.

It helped that Sunday night's race was an action-packed roller-coaster of thrills, drama and daredevil driving.
"In this part of the world, for sure, night races will take off," the billionaire who owns the sport's commercial rights said on Sunday. Ecclestone plans to turn the Japanese GP into a night race next.

SINGAPOREAN EXTRAVAGANZA

McLaren boss Ron Dennis raved about the Singaporean extravaganza.
"It is not just a new experience," he said, "It is a real big step in the history of grand prix racing because it has been done so well.

"Everything has been proven now and we can take this model and apply it to anywhere in the world - either to bring to Europe the race at a time when people watch it, or even within Europe to make it more spectacular."
Williams team boss, the eponymous Frank Williams, echoed Ecclestone's thoughts.

"It has a good chance of challenging Monaco for being the jewel in the crown of Formula One," he told Autosport magazine's website.

From the floodlit 5.067 kilometre track, strewn across Singapore's downtown like a luminous ribbon, to the state-of-the-art facilities and clockwork organisation, the entire staging of the grand prix has been an exercise in how to get it right.

Organisers had faced a headache of eye-watering proportions in their ambitions to step into the unknown and host the extravaganza under the stars.

For the lighting alone, 1,600 lantern-like projectors were rigged up, requiring more than 100,000 metres of cabling and 240 steel pylons to illuminate the track.

FESTIVAL ATMOSPHERE

The result was some of the most spectacular images of any sporting event. Pictures of gleaming Ferraris speeding through a hi-tech cityscape vied with images of cars streaking past the world's largest observation wheel, the Singapore Flyer -- pictures which filled the media and fuelled the appetite for motor sport.
More than 300,000 people poured through the gates over three days, a sell-out, and created a festival atmosphere.

Organisers set up "hawker stalls" offering visitors a taste of authentic Singaporean food while magicians, singers and jugglers entertained the masses.

"It costs a lot of money, the lights, the circuit and the organisation. But it is a great investment for the city. And, of course, it is fantastic for F1. It is, in the best sense of the word, a highlight," Mercedes motorsport vice-president Norbert Haug said.

Even the drivers, a breed of detail-obsessed, nit-picking perfectionists, gave it the thumbs up.
"The track and the facilities here have been phenomenal," championship leader Lewis Hamilton said after finishing third.

"The organisers should be very proud of the job they have done."
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/rtrs/20080929/tsp-motor-racing-prix-singapore-81ea673.html

Well, I guess i have to go. Bye.