Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/924080
maltatoday WEDNESDAY 10 JANUARY 2018 Sport 22 OLYMPICS FORMULA 1 North Korea to send team to PyeongChang Games NORTH Korea said during rare talks with the South yesterday it will send a delegation to the PyeongChang Winter Olym- pics in South Korea next month and Seoul said it was prepared to lift some sanctions tempo- rarily to facilitate the visit if needed. North Korea said during rare talks with the South on Tuesday it will send a delegation to the PyeongChang Winter Olym- pics in South Korea next month and Seoul said it was prepared to lift some sanctions tempo- rarily to facilitate the visit if needed. North Korean officials at the first formal talks with South Ko- rea in more than two years said their delegation for the Games would consist of athletes, high- ranking officials and a cheering squad. The talks are being closely watched by world leaders ea- ger for any sign of a reduc- tion in tensions on the Korean peninsula amid rising fears over North Korea's missile launches and development of nuclear weapons in defiance of United Nations Security Council reso- lutions. South Korea has unilaterally banned several North Korean officials from entering the coun- try in response to Pyongyang's ramped-up missile and nuclear tests, conducted despite interna- tional pressure. However, some South Korean officials have said they see the Olympics as a pos- sible opportunity for easing ten- sions. Foreign ministry spokes- man Roh Kyu-deok said Seoul would consider whether it need- ed to take "prior steps", together with the UN Security Council and other relevant countries, to help the North Koreans visit for the Olympics. During yesterday's talks, the first since December 2015, Seoul proposed inter-Korean military discussions to reduce tensions on the Korean pen- insula and a reunion of fam- ily members in time for Febru- ary's Lunar New Year holiday, South Korea's vice unification minister Chun Hae-sung said. South Korea also proposed that athletes from the two Koreas march together at the Games' opening ceremony and other joint activities between during the Winter Olympics, Chun told reporters outside the talks. Athletes from the two Ko- reas have paraded together at the opening and closing cer- emonies of major international games before, although it has not been seen since the 2007 Asian Winter Games in China after relations chilled under nearly a decade of conserva- tive rule in the South. It would also be the first time since 2005 for the North to send its fe- male cheerleaders, dubbed the "cheering squad of beauty" by South Korean media. McLaren chief hints at big image change for F1 team ZAK Brown says McLaren's look will undergo the "big- gest change" of all the teams on the 2018 Formula 1 grid. McLaren unveiled an all- new black, orange and white livery for last season as part of a freshening up of its image following the departure of long-time chief Ron Dennis. Since joining the team as executive director, Brown has been keen to do things differently and with McLar- en swapping Honda pow- er for Renault this year, fans can expect another change for the racing brand. Brown told Autosport, "The car's not going to look the same as last year. Our whole brand, the visibility of McLaren, is going to go to the next level and it's going to be exciting. We know what a lot of the other teams are going to look like, but hope- fully people will see the big- gest change on and off the track at McLaren going into Australia. One of the things that McLaren hasn't done in recent years is be a leader. With our garage and every- thing, we look like everyone else. So we need to step up and be the guys in Australia where everyone says, did you see what McLaren did? That is what McLaren always was. With our lack of competitive- ness, we have kind of blended in. We need to get back to be- ing a team that people are en- vious of. I feel we are on our way." When asked if the papaya orange, synonymous with McLaren's early years, will stay, Brown said: "There will be some nod to our history but we're not done with the livery yet because a lot of that is sponsor dependent." When Brown joined the team, he said it was critically important McLaren picked up a title sponsor after the Vodafone arrangement con- cluded at the end of 2013. McLaren has yet to secure one but Brown clarified that the team is looking at se- curing a "principal partner" rather than a "title partner" to give the sponsor more exposure and protect the McLaren brand. "We do need a title-level partner, all I've done is drop- ping the vernacular of title in- to principal and have looked at all of our commercial as- sets, which is not just the race car it's our other forms of racing and things like our building and war rooms and things of that nature, and have looked at what's the best way to commercialise the world of McLaren," he said. "Going through that exer- cise developed a plan that doesn't require a 'title part- ner'. "It still requires a 'principal partner', just not a 'title part- ner'. I know that's semantics there but it's really about pro- tecting the McLaren name. That's all I'm trying to do : ringfence that and keep us as McLaren. "I don't really feel there's that much value in the spon- sor's name being part of the team but I do think it slightly diminishes the value of the name of the team when it's being co-branded." Brown added thta McLaren has also signed three more sponsors for 2018. North Korean leader, Kim Jong Un