Around The Rings

Chinese get good draws for the Olympics
Brazil, Italy and host China received favorable draws on Sunday for the Beijing Olympics Football tournament. In the draw conducted by FIFA, Brazil and China were drawn together in Group C of the men's tournament, along with New Zealand and Belgium, with the top two teams from each group to progress. Read The Full Story here.

Two Argentine athletes earn berths for Beijing 2008
Discus thrower Jorge Balliengo and swimmer Agustina De Giovanni will be another two Argentine representatives during this August's Olympic Games in Beijing, local media said on Friday. Balliengo threw 62.64 meters in Frosinone, Italy on Wednesday and ranked with B mark for the world greatest competition, being the ninth athlete of his country who get a ticket to China. Read the full story here.

133 Cuban athletes have qualified for Beijing Olympics
A total of 133 Cuban athletes in 16 different sports have qualified for the Beijing Olympic Games that will start 100 days from now, on August 8. Cuban fencing athletes Maylin Gonzalez and Misleidys Company earned this past weekend the most recent berths at the pre-Olympics in Queretaro, Mexico. Read the full story here.

Injury prevents Czech decathlete from preparing for Beijing Olympics
Czech decathlete Roman Sebrle, a world record holder, recently suffered a muscle injury, due to which he can neither attend the athletic event in Goetzis in late May nor continue preparing for the Beijing Olympics, his coach Dalibor Kupka said on Tuesday. Sebrle got his back thigh muscle damaged while training in South Africa on April 18, the Czech news agency CTK quoted Kupka as saying. Read the full story here.

Ticket demand overseas keeps rising
One World, One Dream is the theme of the Beijing Games - and if overseas ticket demand is any indicator, the whole world wants to be in Beijing for the Games to live their dream. Beijing Games organizers have said that they are "still trying to dig out resources for tickets so as to satisfy demand worldwide". "Olympic tickets are 'hot' and the enthusiasm is very high," said Zhu Yan, director of Beijing Olympic Ticketing Center. Read the full story here.

Theme song for 100-day Olympic countdown released
The theme song for the 100-day countdown to the Beijing Olympic Games was released on Thursday. With lyrics by Hong Kong's Lam Jik and music by Xiao Ke of the Chinese mainland, the song titled "Beijing Welcomes You" is expected to be a successful follow-up to the theme song for the one-year countdown celebration. Read the full story here.