Ten youngsters from a Laureus-supported project in South Africa are about to undertake the trip of a lifetime as they visit Hong Kong next week.

The ground-breaking exchange will be highlighted by a 2-day visit during which they will be guests at the famous Hong Kong Rugby Sevens tournament.

Laureus World Sports Academy Member Morné du Plessis, Chairman of the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation South Africa, will join the young people from the Soweto Schools Rugby Programme (SSRP) who will be sharing experiences and playing rugby with another Laureus-funded project, Operation Breakthrough, in Hong Kong from March 21-26.

The youngsters, who will be lead by Dalisizwe Ndebele, the leader of the Soweto Schools Rugby Programme, will participate in an ideas exchange and discuss how sport in general and rugby in particular can play a positive role in their lives. Other highlights will include:

· A training session with the South Africa team competing in the Hong Kong Sevens, at King’s Park on Wednesday, March 23 (11.00-12.30hrs)

· The chance to meet Laureus Academy Member and All Blacks rugby legend Sean Fitzpatrick, who is President of the Asia Pacific Barbarians team which will be playing in the Sevens.

· Meeting members of the Asia Pacific Barbarians team, who are coached by Australian legend David Campese, whose team includes All Blacks Christian Cullen, Rico Gear and Justin Marshall, Australian George Gregan and Samoa ’s Semi Sititi

· Taking part in the International Youth Rugby Tournament at King’s Park along with Operation Breakthrough, Sandy Bay Youth Team, a New Zealand school team, a team from Rwanda and Penguins International Coaches, at King’s Park on Thursday, March 24 (10.00-11.30hrs)

Morné du Plessis (pictured above), former manager of the South African 1995 Rugby World Cup winning team, said:

“This is a great opportunity for the Laureus South Africa Foundation to see how we can develop our projects and provide an even better future for disadvantaged children from our great nation.

The youngsters will have the opportunity to share their experiences and at the same time give Sean Fitzpatrick and myself, as Academy Members, the opportunity to motivate and inspire them.

“With the itinerary that has been fixed up for the youngsters, you can see that this is going to be an unforgettable few days. I am sure they will especially love meeting their fellow countrymen from the South African Sevens team,” added Morné.

A dream meeting with Sean Fitzpatrick & David Campese awaits the Soweto youngsters (Pic: Mike Jansen)

USA captain Steve Massiah has been reprimanded and warned of his future conduct for breaching the ICC Code of Conduct following his country’s match against Denmark in Pepsi ICC World Cricket League Division 3 (WCL Div. 3) on Saturday 29 January 2011.

Massiah pleaded guilty to the charge which was laid down by the on field umpires, Kevin Bishop and Vinay Kumar.

As such, after a disciplinary hearing which was held to establish the seriousness of the offence under the provisions of the code, ICC Match Referee Graeme La Brooy imposed the sanction.

Through his admission, Massiah was found to have breached Article 2 Section 2.1.3 of the ICC Code, which relates to “showing dissent at an umpire’s decision during an international match”.

Explaining his decision, Mr La Brooy said, “I hope Mr Massiah has learned that there is no place for this type of behaviour in the game and that the spirit of the game should be maintained at all times. I also trust that in future, he will be more courteous and pay others the respect they deserve.”

All Level 1 breaches carry a minimum penalty of a reprimand and a warning and, as with other breaches at this level, the ICC Match Referee’s decision is final and binding.

The offending USA captain Steve Messiah (Pic: Daniela Zaharia/ESPNCricinfo)

Meanwhile, in the match between hosts Hong Kong and Papua New Guinea (PNG) at the Kowloon Cricket Club (KCC), HowzitHongKong.com also noticed some in-your-face taunting by the visitors whenever they dismissed a Hong Kong batsman.

The very vocal team was at one stage also reprimanded by the match-official who obviously didn’t feel the need to officially sanction the team.

We felt it really unbecoming of a side who had, at that stage of the tournament, already qualified for promotion to Division 2 of the Pepsi World Cricket Cricket League.

Some more pictures from the recently completed WCL Division 3 in Hong Kong:

Hong Kong beat Papua New Guinea (PNG) by four wickets in the final of Pepsi ICC World Cricket League Division 3 (WCL Div.3) at the Kowloon Cricket Club in Hong Kong on Saturday.

Having been set a target by PNG of 203, Hong Kong claimed victory after a superb performance by teenager Mark Chapman which set the side up for victory. By virtue of reaching the final, both Hong Kong and PNG joined Namibia, Bermuda, Uganda and hosts United Arab Emirates in Pepsi ICC WCL Div. 2 to be hosted in Dubai from 8 to 15 April.

After the group stage of the event PNG had been top of the table despite one loss to Hong Kong on Friday in the round-robin section of the tournament. Today, Rarua Dikana’s men were ready to avenge the Hong Kong side that had inflicted the only defeat on the team during the course of the tournament’s group stages, but Hong Kong had other plans in mind.

Hong Kong captain Najeeb Amar had a fantastic day with the ball claiming 3-32 including in his haul the key PNG opener Tony Ura for 51 and top order batsman Chris Amini for 60.

Amini had few team-mates to build on the total with, not helped by the four batsmen below him totalling just 12 runs, but the arrival of Hitolo Areni helped the team to respectable 202-8 at the close of the Papua New Guineans’ innings.

After the break, the locals made steady work of knocking of the runs with the key player of the innings being middle-order batsman Chapman whose knock of 70 not out was key to the hosts victory.

The 16-year-old saw many of his team-mates come and go with Hussain Butt and Waqas Barqat the only two to pass 20 runs each. PNG captain Dikana was the pick of the side’s bowlers, taking match figures of 3-40.

HK Captain Najeeb Amar with ICC President Haroon Lorgat (Pic: ICC/CricketEurope)

A delighted Hong Kong captain Najeeb Amar said of the side’s win in front of its home crowd, “Today I feel like I’m flying, like I am sat on the moon I am so happy that we’ve won the tournament. I was delighted to score the winning the runs with Mark Chapman in front of our home crowd.

“Credit must not just go to the team but also our coach, Charlie Burke, he’s unbelievable, he made my job easier, he gave us a simple task, don’t panic and the results will come, which they did this week.

“Our team is full of surprises and talented guys, especially Mark Chapman among many others, they can prove themselves against any team and hopefully when we get to Dubai we can do the same. The teams in Division 2 will be a tough task, but the way we perform and play and we can make it any level and we’re confident.”

Man of the match Chapman said, “It’s an amazing feeling to win in front of my family and home crowd and then take home the man of the match medal too. I worked hard today to grind out the runs since I’ve not had a great run this tournament. I don’t know much about Dubai and the sides we’ll face, but I’m sure we’ll be ready.”

Man-of-the-Match 16-year old Mark Chapman at KCC today (Pic: Mike Jansen)

Elsewhere, Oman defeat Italy by eight wickets in the third-fourth play-off at Hong Kong Cricket Club while Denmark beat USA by 84 runs to take fifth place. Oman and Italy stay in Division 3 while USA and Denmark were relegated to Division 4.

Kowloon Cricket Club hosted Hong Kong vs. PNG today (Pic: Mike Jansen)

The world most-popular Sevens Rugby tournament may this year say goodbye to long-time sponsor Credit Suisse.

The banking group all but secured the continued existence of the Hong Kong Sevens when they came on board in 1998. The world’s economies were going through a hard time and sponsors willing to offer corporate financial support were few and far between. 

In fact, the Swiss-based banking group didn’t only help maintain the tournament but, together with co-title sponsor Cathay Pacific, assisted with making the Hong Kong Sevens the premier stop on the Sevens World Series circuit.

Credit Suisse’s sponsorship agreement with the Hong Kong RFU concludes after this year’s event and all indications are that it will not be renewed.

Howzit HSBC

The International Rugby Board (IRB) last year welcomed another banking group HSBC as title sponsor of the 8-city World Sevens Series. 

Since the beginning of the season, tournaments in Dubai (UAE) and George (SA) were heavily branded in the red and white of title-sponsors HSBC.  The series was also re-branded as the HSBC Sevens World Series.  However, because one of the co-sponsors of the Cathay Pacific/Credit Suisse Hong Kong Sevens is also a banking conglomorate, HSBC’s branding will not be seen around the city or as part of their promotional campaign.

 Should the HKRFU decide to say thank you and goodbye to Credit Suisse this year, the Swiss-based group will exit knowing that the 2011 Hong Kong stop  had the almost-ignominious title of the only tournament NOT to be branded in the colours of the Series title-sponsors.

Come 2012, perhaps we will see the city branded as the home of the Cathay Pacific/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens.

Papua New Guinea (PNG) has secured itself promotion to Pepsi ICC World Cricket League Division 2 (WCL Div. 2) to be held in April in Dubai after Rarua Dikana’s men beat Denmark in Hong Kong today to take its fourth victory in a row of Pepsi ICC WCL Div. 3.

Usman Shuja led USA to victory today, helping to secure the Americans a win over Oman in a tightly fought contest at Hong Kong Cricket Club, while hosts Hong Kong battled to beat Italy by one wicket.

By PNG securing promotion today, it means Friday’s games will be crucial for the five other teams in the tournament with regards to the second available promotion spot, the two relegation places and the two berths that will see two sides remain in WCL Div. 3

PNG continued its domination of this event today seeing off with ease a challenge from Denmark at Kowloon Cricket Club. The Danes batting line-up failed once again today with the top seven batsmen in the side all departing after being caught in the field by the in-form Papua New Guineans.

Aftab Ahmed was the top scorer for the Danish side with his 39 not out to help his side to 112, but his efforts were in vain as Loa Nou, Hitolo Areni, Chris Amini and Chris Kent claimed two wickets each leaving one each for their captain Rarua Dikana and team-mate Mahuru Dai.

Having given the Danish a master class in fielding, it was then up to PNG’s batsmen to showcase their abilities to the European side. Unfortunately for Asad Vala it wasn’t his day to give a batting exhibition, with the 23-year-old departing for a duck, but he made way for Chris Amini who alongside Tony Ura knocked off the required runs in just 22.3 overs.

Today’s victory has secured the side a place in Saturday’s final no matter what the results are on Friday when all the teams square up for the final round-robin section of the tournament.

PNG head coach Andy Bichel was pleased with the side’s strong performance and sees the promotion to WCL Div. 2 a culmination of hard work that has paid off. “I am immensely proud of the boys and feel that qualifying for Pepsi ICC World Cricket League Division 2 achieves a goal we set ourselves18 months ago.

“The final on Saturday is now a short term goal and taking home the title is an important part of finishing this tournament,” said Bichel.

Man of the match Chris Amini said, “It is nice to finally contribute at this level and have a really strong game. I’ve not won an ICC man of the match award since Pepsi ICC WCL Div. 3 in 2007 in Darwin and I feel proud to again achieve this honour.

“I feel at this stage as a team we are approaching our best and I know we still have more to achieve.”

Aftab Ahmed takes a tumble (Pic: ICC)

In the highest scoring fixture of the day, Hong Kong battled against Italy in a thrilling match that saw the hosts claim victory by one wicket with just two balls remaining.

Alessandro Bonora won the toss at Mission Road and elected to bat first and despite his opening batsmen failing to fire, he put on a hard-fought 77 while Peter Petricola provided his first century of the tournament to help the Italians to a total of 235 on a track that saw little action for the bowlers.

When Hong Kong took to the field the top order continued its poor run of form and none of the side made a solid partnership until the arrival of the middle order duo Nizakat Khan and Waqas Barkat and then later on captain Najeeb Amar.

The trio helped the side to rise up from being 68-5 to a point where victory was in the side’s grasp but with one wicket remaining and only one over to go, the match looked sure to be in the grasp of the Italians. However, tail-end batsman Aizaz Khan had other ideas, smashing his way to 24 in just eight balls, including three sixes, to help steer the side to victory with just two balls remaining.

Hong Kong captain Amar was naturally thrilled with the side’s comeback but is keen to remain focussed on Friday’s big fixture against table-toppers PNG.

“I’m obviously relieved we won today after a tightly fought game where the track wasn’t really giving anything to our bowlers but when it came to us making the runs the task fell to the bottom order. They deserve credit for how they played, all of them taking responsibility to help us to victory.

“Friday we face PNG who have been having a great tournament here but I’m not worried, we’ve a psychological advantage over them. We beat them in the warm-ups with a Hong Kong side that wasn’t full strength so I believe we’ve the upper hand going into Friday’s game, not them,” said Amar.

Tomorrow is a rest day with play resuming on Friday.

Points Table (Day Four)

Some of my greatest memories from Cape Town involve Table Mountain.

As a boy scout back in the days, our troop regularly took part in orienteering competitions at various locations around the mountain.

Later, as a member of my university’s Mountain Club, I had the privilege (several times over) of rock-climbing a couple of routes to the top.  A favourite “act of madness” by the fitness-fanatics in the Club was to run up AND down the Mountain via Platteklip Gorge as fast as possible.

In case you were thinking: Yes, we did that stone cold sober!

The best experience, however, was the many nights I spent at the SA Mountain Club’s hut… on the ‘Table Top” as I always like to say.  Staying behind while tourists and other visitors are advised that the Upper Cable Station will be closing, as well as seeing the sun rise over the Hottentots Holland mountains while watching from the top of Table Mountain are priceless experiences that few people are privvy to.

Nowadays, as an expat for a decade, my family’s best experience when flying home once a year, is undoubtedly seeing the Mountain as our plane approaches the Mother City.

That is when we feel like we are finally home.

Priceless experiences indeed.

Recently, Table Mountain was named on the shortlist of the 28 finalists in the New 7 Wonders of Nature competition.

The Cape icon successfully beat legendary sites such as Mount Everest, K2 and Mount Olympus.

I have cast my vote and you can too:

Read more about the campaign to get Table Mountain nominated by clicking on VoteForTableMountain.com or joining the FaceBook Group here

In the meantime, have a look and listen to this clip I made yesterday while listening to Soli Philander & Fiona Furey talking about this campaign on The Taxi:

(We used the picture above in our video clip. Tasaline Pamela Martin informed us via The Taxi that the view in the sketch above was her family’s while growing up and that the picture is by her 16-year old brother, Philipus van Rensburg from Heideveld. Thanks for allowing us to use it, young man.)

I couldn’t help but see the irony in Roger Federer‘s fleeting visit to Hong Kong today.

The news of the Credit Suisse brand-ambassador’s news conference in the city came as rival banking group HSBC was unveiled as the very first official sponsor of the International Rugby Board’s Sevens World Series.  Of course, Credit Suisse is also a co-sponsor of the Cathay Pacific Credit Suisse Hong Kong Sevens, popularly regarded as the best tournament on the 8-city world circuit.

Federer also took time to visit the Nesbitt Centre, where students were attending a coaching session sponsored by Credit Suisse.  The Nesbitt Centre is a non-profit organisation that provides English-speaking programs for adults with intellectual disabilities in Hong Kong.

As part of their partnership agreement with Roger Federer, Credit Suisse has committed a significant annual contribution to the player’s Roger Federer Foundation which is dedicated to helping disadvantaged children and to promoting education, sports and play, especially in Africa.  Federer, whose mother is of South African birth, has often visited the country and contributed to such programs via his Foundation.

Roger Federer faced a Hong Kong media frenzy in Central today:

With a potential Hong Kong bid for the 2023 Asian Games looming, it is not hard to understand why the issue of white elephants will be in the back of locals’ minds.

The following story about South Africa’s World Cup stadia and the fact that they are not suitable for cricket appeared in today’s Sunday Morning Post.

The story highlights comments by SARU President, Oregan Hoskins:

“What we are discussing today should have been discussed before we built the stadiums.  It is tragic we have to act in reverse.”

South Africa’s Minister of Tourism, Marthinus Van Schalkwyk will be in Hong Kong this weekend as part of an initiative to improve the country’s tourism offering to the Hong Kong market.

This weekend’s Tourism Workshop which Howzit-HongKong.com will be attending, comes at a very opportune time after South Africa’s recent triumphant hosting of the world’s biggest sports event: the 2010 World Cup.  Now is the time to make the best of all the positive exposure and Van Schalkwyk and his team are seizing the moment.

Meanwhile, SouthAfrica.info reports that the Minister has been appointed to chair the World Economic Forum’s tourism council.

Van Schalkwyk, who has been part of the South African delegation to Davos for the past two years, was invited by World Economic Forum (WEF) executive chairman Klaus Schwab to chair the WEF’s Aviation, Travel and Tourism Industry Agenda Council through to 2011.

Hopefully we’ll be able to congratulate Minister Van Schalkwyk in person this weekend.

Read the full story on Van Schalkwyk’s appointment here

As our compatriots back home come to terms with the end of the 2010 FIFA World Cup (no more football games, fan-parks, dressing up, drinking!) here in Hong Kong I will also be packing away my Vuvuzela.  I will add it to my collection of collectables that I take home every time we make the trek to Cape Town, to be displayed in my home bar.

In fact, after a month of posting almost exclusively about the World Cup, it’s time to also end this feature here on Howzit-HongKong.com and concentrate on the local goings-on.

So, here’s to the Vuvuzela.

Thanks for the “noise” !