| The Phnom Penh Post Written by BRUCE BASKIN | |
| Friday, 05 June 2009 | |
 Cambodia’s national baseball team walk out at the openeing ceremony of the 2007 SEA Games in Bangkok. Photo Supplied BANGKOK Cambodia's fledgling national baseball team picked up their first-ever win in international competition last week at the eighth annual Asian Cup tournament in Thailand. The Cambodians pounded Malaysia, 20-8, in their final game of the tourney on Thursday, May 28. Cambodia opened play May 25 with a 6-0 loss to Indonesia, who went on to beat Pakistan in the title game for the Asia Cup championship. When the two teams met in the 2007 Southeast Asia (SEA) Games in Thailand during Cambodia's initial foray into international competition, Indonesia won by a 37-1 margin in a game shortened to five innings by the 10-run mercy rule. The Khmer bats stayed silent in a 10-0 loss to Hong Kong May 26. Hong Kong was ahead 5-0 after seven innings, but put the game away for good with five runs in the eighth. Twenty-four-year-old pitcher Mich Phea took the loss for Cambodia. Things got better in Cambodia's May 27 game against Myanmar. Although this one ended with a 3-1 Myanmar victory, Moun Chanthon pitched very well for Cambodia with the 21-year-old letting in just one run in a complete game performance. The Cambodians also put their first run of the tournament on the board, but failed to hit in clutch situations and left many runners stranded on base. The loss ended Cambodia's pool play with a record of 0-3, finishing fourth in Pool B. The breakthrough win came in a crossover seventh place playoff against Malaysia May 28. The Malaysians had actually led up until the sixth inning, but the Cambodian bats came alive with a torrent of runs over the final four frames as Moun Chanthon helped seal the win. In all, Cambodia was outscored by a 27-21 margin over four games in the Asia Cup, a marked improvement from the 88-8 pounding they took two years ago over four contests in the Southeast Asia Games. After the tournament ended, Cambodia's Houey Si Pho was named to the All-Asia Games Team as shortstop. The 25-year-old, who stands just 1.5 metres tall and weighs 47 kilograms, has only played baseball for four years, but caught the eye of observers with his speed and throwing arm. Baseball is a relatively new sport in Cambodia. The game was introduced earlier this decade by Jouert Puk, a 38-year-old Cambodia native who fled the country on foot at the age of 8 during the Pol Pot regime and eventually landed in America after four years in refugee camps. He became a passionate baseball fan as a youngster, introducing the game to Cambodia after a 2002 reunion with a sister he'd thought had died under the Khmer Rouge. Jouert Puk, who goes by the name of Joe Cook in the United States because he is a cook at a restaurant in the state of Alabama, was also behind the construction of Cambodia's first baseball field in Baribo district, Kampong Chhnang province in 2005. He formed the Cambodian National Team two years later, in time for the SEA Games. Earlier this year, the team swept a three-game series with a club from Ho Chi Minh City at the Baribo ballpark, setting the stage for last week's Asia Cup performance. Jouert Puk has had to operate his Cambodia Baseball Foundation out of his own pocket at times, and was unable to afford the plane trip to Bangkok. As a result, he managed the team via cell phone in the USA with one of his coaches on the other end, all while working as a cook at his regular job. This is not the usual way of running a baseball team, but then again, there is nothing usual about Jouert Puk or Cambodian baseball. |
Friday, June 5, 2009
Cambodia swings first-ever win at Asian Cup
US$985m in projects approved
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| The Phnom Penh Post | |
| Friday, 05 June 2009 | |
| Agriculture sector helps keep investment proposals firm THE government approved 33 fixed-asset investment projects worth more than $985 million in the first four months of 2009, official figures obtained by the Post this week show. The projects approved by the Council for the Development of Cambodia (CDC) include six infrastructure projects worth a combined $445.7 million, 10 agriculture projects worth $319.4 million, $185.4 million earmarked for four tourism projects and $34.7 million in proposals for 13 industrial sector projects. The total value approved was $985.2 million. Youn Heng, director of CDC's project analysis department, said the agriculture and agri-business sector had been the biggest winner after just $106.7 million worth of agriculture projects were approved for the whole of 2008. "Investments increased in the agricultural sector, and this is partly because the Cambodian government is trusted," he said, adding it was impossible to say whether the boost to the agriculture sector would be maintained until the end of the year. The single biggest proposed investment approved this year was Angkor Sugar Co's plan for a 6,523-hectare sugar cane plantation and factory that would create 2,333 jobs. Two other companies also won approval for sugar cane plantations, with Tonle Sugar Cane pledging to spend $14.6 million in a project that would create 1,233 jobs and Cane and Sugar Valley Co eyeing a $14.8 million plantation that would create 1,133 jobs. Seven rubber plantation and factory projects worth a combined $146.3 million were also approved. Chan Sophal, president of the Cambodian Economic Association, welcomed the increased investment when compared with the same period a year earlier, saying that it reflected the huge potential of the agri-business sector to attract foreign investors. How much of the money will be spent we do not know yet. But he warned that it remained to be seen how much of the proposed investment would be realised. "The money only shows the aims of the project," he said. "How much of the money will be spent we do not know yet." Other big projects approved include Sotelco Ltd's $234.7 million investment in its Beeline mobile phone network, which launched last month, a $91.1 million plan by JSM Holdings (Cambodia) to build the JSM Siem Reap Centre, and a $113 million investment by Cambodia Power Grid in power transmission lines. Though the approved investments for the first four months of the year compare favourably to the 43 projects worth $328.8 million approved for the same period in 2008, they make dismal reading when compared with the 101 investment projects worth $10.89 billion approved for full year 2008. However, Youn Heng warned against making comparisons because of the effect of particularly large investment projects on the overall figures. "The comparison between figures cannot be 100 percent clear because there were many big projects in 2008 while in 2009 there have not been any big ones yet," he said. Removing the four biggest projects approved by the CDC in 2008 leaves a full-year fixed-asset investment figure of around $3.25 billion. These include Evergreen Success and Asia Resort Development's proposed US$1.8 billion development in Ream National Park, Sokha Hotel's proposed $1 billion Bokor mountain development in Preah Monivong National Park, GS Cambodia Development Co's $967 million International Finance Complex, and a $3.8 billion proposal by China's Union Development Group Co to build a coastal development in Koh Kong. GS has since put its project on hold and is considering a less ambitious development, and Youn Heng said Union Development's so-called Seven Dragon City project was still awaiting a feasibility study before it could begin. Son Chhay, a Sam Rainsy Party MP, was surprised by the figures, saying they were inflated by the value of concession land offered and should thus not be classified as fixed-asset investment. "There is no basis for counting investing in rice-growing concessions for Arab countries because even though they have applied for approval of the project, real action never happens." He said the government was simply inflating the figures to show that it was not facing any investment problems. However, Youn Heng dismissed the criticism, pointing out that the figures released were clearly about approved investments and not money spent. Figures showing how much of the approved investments from 2008 had been spent to date were not available Thursday. However, figures from the Korean Embassy show Korean firms received $1.2 billion worth of approvals for 484 projects in 2008 but spent just $472.8 million. Opposition lawmakers urged the government early last month to erase inactive investment projects from government books, saying that potentially hundreds of companies registered in the country are no longer operating. |
Green tea Coca Cola to debut in Japan
Associated Press
Friday, June 5, 2009
TOKYO (AP) - Forget "Classic" or "New" Coke. In Japan, you can soon have your cola flavored with green tea or basil.
Green tea-flavored Coca-Cola will hit Japanese stores June 8, Coca Cola (Japan) Co. spokesman Katsuya Sato said Thursday. It contains tea antioxidants called catechins, leaves a slight green tea aftertaste and is mainly targeted at health-conscious women in their 20s and 30s, Sato said.
"We wanted to cater to people who are looking for something that tastes good but is also good for health and beauty," he said.
Coca Cola is the leader in Japan's cola market but faces stiff competition from non-carbonated bottled drinks such as tea, coffee and fruit juices.
Rival Pepsi Cola is countering with another exotic cola - Japanese basil-flavored "Pepsi Shiso," which hits stores in late June.
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