South-East Asia

Sporting group Royal Clicks Ltd said on Thursday its new joint venture with Sports Equipment (Far East) Pte Ltd had secured exclusive distribution and licensing rights for soccer brand Umbro for nine countries.

A new downtown stadium renovation scheme is underway in an unlikely location - Cambodia?s capital city, Phnom Penh.

Indonesia have been awarded the right to hold the 2002 Tiger Cup by the Asian Football Federation four years after civil unrest forced the nation to relinquish hosting the event.

The English Football Association and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) have put the finishing touches to a landmark Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) which will lead to long-term technical co-operation between the two governing bodies.

International Olympic Committee (IOC) representatives completed a seven-day visit to East Timor on Wednesday aimed at helping the tiny country establish its own National Olympic Committee.

International Paralympic Committee (IPC) president Robert Steadward has declared the Paralympic Games, the best Games ever, as International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Juan Antonio Samaranch had done on October 1. Steadward said the Paralympics had had been "an absolutely outstanding event".

The people of East Timor will get to see the Olympics after all thanks to the help of an Australian broadcaster.

Almost every person on the planet with access to a television will watch the Sydney Olympics at some time in the next month.

Sporting goods manufacturer, Reebok, has published a report strongly criticising working conditions in factories in Indonesia manufacturing its own products.

Sportshows International have been recommissioned to film the Asian Windsurfacing Tour from this month through to February 2000.

US LAWYER Alan Caplan says he and his colleagues have launched court action in California against Nike, alleging that it is deceiving consumers over the working conditions in its Asian factories, The Australian reports.

Phil Knight, CEO of the Beaverton Oregon based sporting goods manufacturer, bowed to pressure and announced that the company would raise the minimum wages for workers in it's Asian plants.

The medical adviser to the Commonwealth Games has said he favoured setting a smog threshold to protect athletes from being endangered by heavy pollution during September's competition.

The Malaysian Open badminton championships starting on Wednesday have fallen victim to the Asian economic crisis which has cut prize money by $60,000 and deprived the event of some big names.

The National Sports Council has invited the country's business elite to discuss a program to raise funds for the team competing in the 13th Asian Games in Bangkok in December.

Asia's economic crisis has begun to bite into Singapore's professional soccer league, with players being forced to take a pay cut, a source close to the island state's national team has said.