Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/936285
58 maltatoday SUNDAY 4 FEBRUARY 2018 Sports TRAINING CAMP OLYMPICS Javier Zanetti Stage Malta training camp ZEBBUG Rangers FC Youth Nursery, in collaboration with the Malta Tourism Authority, PUPI Foundation Malta and In- ter Club PUPI Zanetti Malta, will be organising "JAVIER ZANET- TI STAGE MALTA" on Thurs- day, 22 February 2018 at Zebbug Training Grounds. The official launch was con- firmed during a press conference held today Saturday 3 February 2018 at JMV Building Solutions, Zebbug. Amongst the speakers were Mr Paul Fenech (Inter Club Pupi Zanetti Malta), Dr Gavin Gulia (Chairman MTA), Mr Andrew and Mr Franco Agius (Director of Youth Coach Zebbug Rangers FC). The Argentine and ex-Inter leg- end will be coming over to Zebbug Grounds to hold a training session for all boys and girls (aged 7 to 14 years) interested. A fee of €30 from each par- ticipant will be donated to PUPI Foundation and in return, apart from a ninety minute session, participants will be getting a com- memorative t-shirt, a certificate of participation signed by Zanetti himself together with photo and other promotional give-aways. Also, every participant will have the possibility to win two stadium tickets to watch Inter "live" at San Siro and meet Zanetti at the club's official premises in Milan. All those interested in partici- pating are to contact Mr Franco Agius (79438515) or Mr Mark Camilleri (99841496) at Zebbug Rangers FC Youth Nursery or send email to francoagius@ya- hoo.com or mcamill@gmail.com. Applications can be downloaded also from the Zebbug Rangers FC Youth Nursery Facebook Page. Main sponsors for this event in- clude Malta Tourism Authority, Isomat, Teamsport, The Conveni- ence Shop, GO & Fun, Coca-Cola Malta and Chrissie's Photography. Also, on Wednesday 21 Febru- ary 2018, Javier Zanetti will be having another training sessions for adults at Santa Lucia Grounds. Those interested in participating may contact Mr Paul Fenech on 99494762. Training was tougher in North Korea, say defectors HWANGBO Young, a North Kore- an ice hockey player who defected to South Korea in 1997, says the first time she played in the South "it felt like a joke". The player, now a 40-year-old teacher, was not referring to the calibre of players, but to the rela- tively comfortable conditions they trained in. Next week in Pyeongchang, for the first time in an Olympics, the North and South are to field a com- bined women's ice hockey team as part of a unity effort engineered by South Korean government of- ficials. It will force coaches and players to overcome wide differences, from training and tactics to diet and mo- tivation. "In North Korea, training itself is very tough," Hwangbo told Reu- ters, standing at an indoor ice rink in Seoul where she was teaching a group of junior high school girls. She was 12 years old when she first started playing the sport. "There wasn't an ice rink, so we could play only in winter. We set up a fence around a sports ground and made ice to play there." Twenty-two North Korean ath- letes are in South Korea to compete in the Feb. 9-25 Games in Pyeo- ngchang. Only a pair of figure skaters of- ficially qualified, while the rest were approved by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) under rules often used to provide oppor- tunities for underdog countries. The North Koreans are staying at the athletes' village, though sanc- tions are complicating the welcome they receive, making it uncertain if they can enjoy the same perks be- stowed upon other athletes. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, a basketball fan, has boosted spending on sports as part of his ambition to transform the North into a "sports power", but observers do not expect that to translate into gold at these Winter Games. North Koreans have won only two medals in the Winter Olym- pics, both for speed skating, and both in the early 1990s. "North Korea is a cold region with a lot of snow, and therefore many ordinary people enjoy diverse win- ter sports," said Kim Yong-hyun, professor of North Korean studies at Dongguk University. "But athletes do not get a chance to be trained at a world level and there are really few examples of ac- tual achievements." Six years after Hwangbo and her family defected, she was a mem- ber of South Korea's first national women's ice hockey team when it competed in the 2003 Asian Win- ter Games in Japan. At the time, she looked forward to seeing old friends on the North Korea team. "I tried to talk to them but they called me 'a traitor who betrayed your home country'," Hwangbo said. Now, she is sceptical as South Korea prepares to compete with 12 North Korean players, saying the standard of ice hockey in the North had slipped. "They couldn't catch up with new trends and are still playing in an old style. They're lacking a lot," Hwangbo said. The team's Canadian coach, Sa- rah Murray, voiced concerns over the politically driven combina- tion, but has since said she would work to make sure they develop a "shared mission". "I think the North Korean players that will be added to our team, they want to win too," she told reporters last week. Other North Korean athletes who defected tell a similar story. As a young boxer in North Korea, Choi Hyun-mi, 29, says she often faced brutal training regimes after she was drafted into a training pro- gramme at the age of 11. She was one of 20 young boxers hoping to represent North Korea at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. In the early mornings, people were so keen to run further than their team mates, she said, they would sneak out of the dormitories ahead of the pack. "If any rustling sound was heard, then all 20 of us would wake up and get out to run." "Everything was competition," Choi said. "We took showers after running, but the last one who left a shower room had to clean up. Eat- ing was a competition too. Food was limited. It was on a first-come, first-served basis. The one who came early ate more than the one who came late." North Korean athletes have done better in the Summer Olympics, with 54 medals, including seven at Rio in 2016, their best overall showing since 1992. Like Hwangbo, Choi defected to South Korea before she could get a chance to compete at the highest level for the North. Defectors said it was a myth that North Korean athletes had been threatened with death for losing, but they risked censure if they failed to perform well against polit- ically sensitive rivals such as South Korea, Japan and the United States.