Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Democratic Voice of Burma

Democratic Voice of Burma

Burma aims to whitewash rivals at Wushu

Posted: 26 Nov 2013 02:06 AM PST

With the SEA Games only two weeks away, Burma's sports teams are making their final preparations.

Those on the Wushu team are tipped for gold. They've won over 60 gold medals in this discipline in international competitions over the last 20 years.

Some of the team members spoke to DVB about their hopes for SEA Games success.

"I am very confident because we are very evenly matched," said Sanshou player Su Hlaing. "We have the advantage of playing at home and we have stepped up our training a great deal from previous years. As we are hosting the games, I am extremely determined to win."

Wushu is a high-paced, full-contact sport that derived from Chinese martial arts. The name “Wushu” actually translates as “martial art”.

The sport has two disciplines: Sanshou, a combative style which can be fought barehanded or with short and long knives; and Taolu, which is a performance of patterns and maneuvers.

There are 23 medals up for grabs in each discipline and the Myanmar Wushu Federation said they are aiming for six gold medals from the tournaments.

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"Our players are well prepared. We have incurred no injuries and are ready for the competition," said chief coach and member of the Myanmar Wushu Federation, Khin Soe.

Taolu player and six-time gold medal winner, Kyaw Zin Lin, said Burma's main competitors in the Taolu style events are Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia.

"These countries have dangerous teams," he said.

The Wushu players have trained as much as they can and now, they say, they need the support of the public.

"The crowd's support is essential, especially to combative players. If you climb into the ring and see only a few of your supporters it affects your confidence," said Sanshou player Tun Tun Win.

"So we ask the fans to support us their best and we'll fight our best."

The Wushu competition takes place in Naypyidaw between 6 and 10 December.

 

 

 

 

Escape from Namhlinpar

Posted: 26 Nov 2013 12:33 AM PST

Following clashes between Burmese government forces and the Kachin Independence Army around Mansi township just over a week ago, between 2,000 and 3,000 Kachin villagers were forced to flee their homes.

On November 18, South Korean photojournalist Lee Ku Kyung caught up with about 100 of those fleeing Namhlinpar where heavy exchanges had taken place a day earlier.

Having trekked through the jungle to escape the fighting, the IDPs were met with trucks organized by local NGOs, which had been working tirelessly to evacuate those fleeing danger. The vast majority of those who boarded the tricks were women, children and the elderly.

Lee spent seven hours with the Kachin IDPs bumping along a cliffside dirt road in the back of a rickety truck.

"I was overwhelmed by the endless stories about atrocities committed by government forces against them – regardless of a ceasefire, non-ceasefire or 'peace process'," she said.

Lee Yu Kyung is an independent photojournalist based in Bangkok, Thailand. This photo essay is a part of her ongoing Burma Project, funded in part by South Korea's Rhee Yeung Hui Foundation (http://rheeyeunghui.or.kr).

All rights reserved © Lee Yu Kyung 2013 / Penseur21.com

Burmese boy, 7, used as drugs mule in Thailand

Posted: 25 Nov 2013 09:23 PM PST

A seven-year-old Burmese boy with only a backpack was found crying at a roadside in Thong Pha Phum district in Thailand's Kanchanaburi province after being tricked into carrying almost 10,000 methamphetamine pills.

Pol Col Amnuay Pongsawat, superintendent of Thong Pha Phum police station, said police were notified of the lost boy who was unable to speak Thai.

Police took him to the local station so that they could communicate with him through a translator.

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Officers were looking for information on his identity and opened his backpack. Inside they found two plastic baby powder bottles which seemed unusually hard and discovered a total of 50 packs of ya-ba or 9,953 pills inside.

The boy said he lived in Burma’s Phaya Tongsu district, which connects to Thailand via the Three Pagodas Pass in Sangkhla Buri distirct. He said he lived with his mother but had travelled to Thailand with his uncle and another man and woman.

He said he was let out of a pickup truck at the spot where he was found.

Police suspect that the boy was being used to courier the drugs. Further investigations are underway.
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