While we’ve been preoccupied with accusing the government of corruption, sumo wrestlers have kept busy by fixing matches, leading to the first cancellation of a sumo tournament since World War II. We’ve posted before about the traditions maintained of the sport – which found its roots in Edo Japan — but it seems that modern times are changing things: first came the popular use of iPads among wrestlers, and now, it seems that three wrestlers text messaged each other to fix match outcomes.

In response, the Japan Sumo Association announced it would be canceling the tournament until the extent of corruption among the athletes could be determined.

Such news was enough to send Japan Sumo Association Chairman Hanaregoma into emotional despair. From AFP:

In a tearful press conference, association chairman Hanaregoma apologised for the debacle, saying he could not find adequate words to express his regret.

“Honestly, what I am about to say marks the darkest ever chapter in the long history of sumo,” he said, his voice shaking and tears welling up in his eyes.

…”Sincerely… I sincerely apologise,” Hanaregoma said, as he stood up before cameras and bowed deeply at the start of a nationally televised press conference.

Lower level sumo wrestlers receive only a small allowance until they reach the division of juryo. Only then does their salary increase to $12,000 per month, with benefits. (The highest rank of makuuchi earns around $30,500 per month.) It’s understandable, then, as to why the wrestlers would want to conspire together — ensuring they become juryo as quickly as possible.

It’s a sad time for Japan’s national sport. At least they’ll have baseball.

[via TOKYOMANGO; image via Kirua]

China has made a breakthrough in the sport of tennis: Li Na is slated to be the first Chinese national playing in a Grand Slam singles final. The 28-year-old Wuhan native ousted the world’s current number one Caroline Wozniacki in three sets (3-6, 7-5, 6-3), meaning Li now advances to the championship match of the Australian Open.

Li will be facing Kim Clijsters of Belgium, who is “heavily favored going into the final, having reached that stage a total of seven times and won three major titles,” notes the Wall Street Journal.

The WSJ also reports:

A place in tennis history will surely rank high among Ms. Li’s motivations to do well on Saturday, but when asked what got her through critical moments of her semifinal, Ms. Li didn’t hesitate. “Prize money,” she said jokingly.

Or perhaps not so jokingly. Whoever comes out the victor this Saturday will receive $2.19 million U.S. dollars, the highest cash-out in Grand Slam history.

As of January 31, 2011, Li is ranked number seven in the world. Previously, she had reached the quarterfinals at Wimbledon (2006, 2010) and the US Open (2009).

[via The Globe and Mail]

Kuala Lumpur was buzzing with excitement on December 26, 2010 when Malaysia faced Indonesia for the first leg of the AFF Suzuki Cup final. The traditional political rivalry between the two nations — spanning centuries of international relations, not least of which was a near-war “Confrontation” in the 1960s — made this meeting an electric affair as the populations of both countries cheered their national teams on. It was something practically unheard of in Malaysia, too, as the embarrassing misfortunes of the Malaysian football since the 1980s had culminated in public apathy for the national team.

But what appeared to be just a third-rate championship among third-rate national teams (of the eight national teams that participated, Thailand had the highest FIFA ranking at 106th in the world… out of 203) set passions regionally when the first leg of the final saw Malaysia decisively win 3-0 against an Indonesian squad that had trumped them 5-1 in the group stage. The match became a national event on both sides, Bukit Jalil Stadium packed to the brim with 100,000 people spectating — of which 15% were Indonesian away fans — and millions of others watching on television.

The Indonesian team called an extraordinary time-out in the opening minutes of the second half to complain to match officials about laser pointers being used by the Malaysian fans towards the Indonsian players — their goalkeeper, Markus Harison, especially — and it seemed almost as if they might have walked out game unfinished, but after a broadcasted warning to the crowd the match resumed.

(Full disclosure: your correspondent was watching the match at Bukit Jalil Stadium when the alleged incidents occurred, and it’s true that laser beams were aimed at the Indonesian goalkeeper in the first half.)

But the war had only begun on Twitter, however. Within minutes Indonesian users on Twitter expressed their outrage and tweeted en masse using the hashtag #malaysiacheatlaser, quickly rising up the Twitter trending topics — which list the most discussed keywords at any given time — to reach number one.

It didn’t help that Malaysia scored a salvo of three goals after the time-out, winning the match, as the cyber conflict escalated after the match. Indonesians amassed more hashtags up the trending topics, with #HateMalaysia being one of them. Passions running high led to random tweeted attacks from both sides. Even your correspondent got a scathing, if badly-composed, reply. The angry, accusatory tone of the thousands of tweets didn’t throw Malaysians off; prominent Malaysian government politician Khairy Jamaluddin (@khairykj) snarkily tweeted back, “None of the 3 goals had anything to do with #malaysiacheatlaser. It had to do with #crapindonesiandefending.”

But while Malaysia won the first leg and came into the second with a three goal lead, all parties were well aware that anything was possible and Indonesia might just be able to surprise their visitors with an even bigger scoreline given their home advantage. Gelora Bung Karno Stadium was similarly packed — the 95,000-seater was sold out for the second leg — and Twitter users on both sides were prepared for a second skirmish. Skirmish might be the most appropriate word for it, too; rumors rose of a concerted attempt by Indonesian hackers against Malaysian websites, most notably the website for Radio Televisyen Malaysia (RTM), the national television station that broadcasted the football matches.

And on December 29, the day of the second leg, Indonesians dominated the trending topics again, with at least three of the ten global most discussed topics being Indonesia-related. The number one topic, #garudafightsback, is a reference to the Indonesian team’s nickname “Garuda”, after a legendary bird. #LoveIndonesia and #TimNas — short of “Tim Nasional Sepakbola Indonesia” or “Indonesian national football team” — were the others. Malaysian Twitter users remarked with amusement that their accumulated tweeting could not make the trending topics.

The reason? Indonesia, with a population of 229 million — the world’s fourth most populous — has an incredibly huge online presence, especially on Twitter. A Sysomos report found that Indonesian tweets make up 2.34% of all tweets worldwide, beaten only by the US, UK, Brazil, Canada and Australia. In contrast, Malaysia makes up only 0.47% of global tweets.

It’s clear that Indonesia is evidently a new juggernaut on the cyberscene.

As for the match: a determined Indonesia scratched together a 2-1 victory that wasn’t enough to let them win the trophy (as the aggregate sat at 4-2 for Malaysia) but earned the respect of both nations’ supporters. The hatemongering of Sunday was eclipsed by mutually admiring fans and a cross-border trending topic was “Khairul Fahmi”, the Malaysian goalkeeper who played excellently, making a magnificent penalty save in the process.

Malaysia brought home the AFF Suzuki Cup for the first time, making them Southeast Asian football champions, a proud achievement for a team bogged down by years of failure. It was such a celebratory moment for the country that Prime Minister Najib Razak quickly declared a public holiday to commemorate the victory.

As if women haven’t been blamed for enough failures of man: the cheerleaders on the sand at the beach volleyball courts in Guangzhou, China are now the site of transference for male inadequacy. At the 16th Asian Games, Yemeni beach volleyballer Adeeb Mahfoudh claimed “they had something to do with our losing the match.”

In the pool, a similarly sized outfit has landed the Singaporean men’s water polo team in an uncomfortable position. Their swimsuits showcase the colors and — ahem — symbols of the Singaporean flag. [Ed. Note: "It's a crescent moon, I swear!"]

Via Straits Times

The Ministry of Information, Culture and the Arts blames the team for not checking in to show what they were really wearing underneath their clothes before going out. Of course, if MICA were a good parent, they would know you have to check the closets ahead of time because you can never trust teenagers (or in this case, adults proudly trying to win medals for their country). Even though the team manager said there was “no need” to check with MICA ahead of time (true rebel), the Ministry maintains that if they had asked “we would have told them that their design is inappropriate.”

However, as the house rules clearly state in the Singapore Arms and Flag and National Anthem Act, “no person shall use the flag or any image thereof as or as part of any costume or attire unless approval is given by the Minister.” The Minister should remember, just because that’s the only piece of clothing they’re wearing, it’s not the only place people are looking.

The 16th Asian Games are nearing their commencement in Guangzhou, China, where they will be held from November 12 to 27th. There will be 42 sports ranging from the typical Olympic favorites of swimming and gymnastics to the less common golf, dragon boat racing, and chess. How Asian!

The Asian Games are a multinational, multi-sport event held every four years that begs the question, “What is Asia?”

45 countries participate in the games today, with Israel being ejected in the 1970s (If Israel could at one time be considered “Asian,” what about Doha, Qatar — where the 2006 games were held?).

In any case, China has begun to dominate the international sports scene after hosting the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the upcoming 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou, and the 2014 Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing. The PRC has become so confident of its ability to host such events that it is reportedly considering a second bid for the Olympics — in Guangzhou — assuming the Asian Games go as well as planned. While there’s no reason to expect the massive scale problems of the recent 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi, Chinese propagandists always have their work cut out for themselves when international attention is focused on them (even if it’s just Asian).

Two of China’s most perennial problems — the environment and Tibet — will be equally conspicuous as in the lead up to Beijing 2008. That is, until you enter the Great Firewall. With its typical modus operandi, the CCP will be playing the role of God whereby it will alter the weather and physical environment to a level suitable for non-residents with the proven bureaucratic solution of throwing money at the problem.

Meanwhile, the Tibetan Youth Congress has launched a petition to protest China’s hosting of the Asian Games on moral grounds. In addition to this call for action, there is a Freedom Torch bike relay organized from Dharamsala to New Delhi. This focus on Tibet is concurrent with recent student protests over attempts to erase Tibetan identity and culture by banning the teaching of the Tibetan language. These protests have occurred both in Beijing and in the western Qinghai Province.

A similar linguistic crisis specific to Guangzhou is placing the people of the host city in a similarly compromising position. The birthplace of Guangdonghua, or Cantonese, is being reeducated recommended to release their local and native tongue in favor of the official Mandarin Chinese by the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference. In an online survey on the proposal’s website, 79.5 per cent of respondents opposed switching the local television news broadcasts from Cantonese to Mandarin.

In a country that prides itself on thousands of years of linguistic and literary excellence, you would think that the comrades would realize the important link between peoples’ language and identity. [Ed: But then again, they replaced traditional characters with simplified ones, but that's a difficult debate I'm biased towards as a Hong Kong resident.] Maybe that’s the problem — that they do realize the connection — and a People’s Republic can only have one identity, and thus only one language.

Good thing they’re not in charge of defining what it means to be Asian too.

[image via]