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TOKYO, Jun 22 (Reuters) - Japan will face furnace-like conditions and a hostile crowd when their under-22 side look to finish off Kuwait on Thursday and reach the final round of 2012 Olympic qualifiers.

A 3-1 victory in the home leg should be enough but with temperatures nudging 50 degrees Celsius in Kuwait during the day, Japan can take nothing for granted.

Players were already complaining of the heat, plus the sandy dust whipped up on the wind during training.

“I didn’t expect this,” midfielder Hiroshi Kiyotake told the Sankei Sports. “My throat and eyes hurt.”

Japan, bidding to reach their fifth successive Olympic Games at London next year, will, however, be boosted by the return from injury of striker Kensuke Nagai.

“I’m fit and want to play,” said Nagai, whose replacement Yuya Osako scored in the first leg. “The competition is pretty fierce but I want to prove worth to the team.”

Japan have flopped badly in the Middle East before, most painfully when their senior side conceded an equaliser to Iraq with qualification for the 1994 World Cup just minutes away.

Olympic coach Takashi Sekizuka insisted his side were prepared to avoid a repeat of what Japanese fans and media still refer to as the “Tragedy of Doha”.

Sekisuka said: “The mental side will be key. We’ve never been to the Middle East at this time of year but we will deal with the situation.

“We need to stay attack-minded, be aggressive and take the game to them.”

Kuwait coach Maher Al Shemmari promised Japan would be pushed to the limit.

“We gave away a couple of silly goals,” he said. “But we scored an away goal, we are at home and we still have a chance to win this tie.”

(Reporting by Alastair Himmer; Editing by John O’Brien; To comment on this story email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)

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Labels: Avoid, Japan, Kuwait, meltdown, Olympic, Reuters

Supporters from Tottenham, West Ham and Leyton Orient have all written to the OPLC expressing their opposition to the venue being used for football after the Games.

Backed by the Football Supporters' Federation, they have also sent letters to the Premier League, the Football Association, Government ministers and the mayors of Newham and London.

West Ham, in a joint bid with Newham Council, want to create a 60,000-capacity facility for football, athletics, concerts and community use.

Premier League rivals Tottenham plan to knock down the £537m stadium and replace it with a purpose-built football ground.

They have pledged to create an athletics legacy by contributing to the refurbishment of the National Sports Centre at Crystal Palace.

The FSF claim both bids endanger Division One Orient's future.

FSF chairman Malcolm Clarke said: "Football appears to have learnt nothing from the Wimbledon move to Milton Keynes.

"Why the Premier League has waved through these plans we have no idea. It would appear to contradict their own rules.

"There should be no further moves on these plans until both Spurs and West Ham have fully consulted their fans and held a vote of all supporters on them."

He added: "Orient fans should also be allowed their say too. Likewise supporters of Crystal Palace. We want the Olympic Legacy Company to hear supporters' voices before they take any decision."

A spokesperson for the OPLC said it was aware of the supporters' concerns and had replied to their letters.

The most important thing, she added, was for them to make sure their respective clubs knew how they felt.

The latest development comes as West Ham and Spurs provide the OPLC with additional information regarding their bids.

According to reports, the legacy company will decide between the two bids next week with a view to having a deal in place by the end of the financial year.

Labels: Fight, Olympic, Stadium

Five years and eight months after London was awarded the Olympic Games, organisers reached a milestone on Tuesday when the first venue on the site was opened and immediately acclaimed as the "best in the world".

But there is also widespread agreement that the Olympic velodrome, opened on time and on budget, is likely to be the organisers' smoothest ride, with trickier handovers ahead including the overbudget aquatics centre and the controversial main stadium.

Constructed over a period of 23 months, the £94m velodrome – dubbed the Pringle because its curving roof resembles a crisp – will provide an intense focal point for British hopes in 2012 and will seat 6,000 spectators per session for those lucky enough to get a ticket when applications open on 15 March.

It was praised by Team GB cyclists including Sir Chris Hoy and Victoria Pendleton, as well as Olympic organisers and politicians, for combining state-of-the-art facilities with a long-planned legacy that will see Lee Valley Park Authority taking ownership in 2013 and turning it into a community cycling hub.

By contrast, there are fears that a legacy operator for the £269m Zaha Hadid-designed aquatics centre, which will house 17,500 spectators during the Games but become a 2,500-seat facility afterwards, will be hard to find due to difficulties in making it pay.

And despite the recent decision to award the £486m Olympic stadium to West Ham and Newham council after the Games, there remain concerns over whether athletics, football, community events and other sports can co-exist.

John Armitt, the Olympic Delivery Authority chairman, said the opening of the velodrome was "the biggest milestone to date" for the body charged with spending £8.1bn of public money constructing the 2012 venues.

Lord Coe, the chairman of the London Organising Committee (Locog), said it was "a stunning venue built for champions", while the ODA has long believed it will be the "unsung hero" of the Olympic Park.

Coe said: "There's a massive amount of work still to do. This is a completed venue in construction terms, but the mountain of technology, technical equipment, broadcasting, back of house, merchandising, catering … it's a long, long way from being the theatre.

"But when you're charged with delivering 26 simultaneous world championships, it's nice to start ticking them off."

The velodrome, its sweeping curves clad in cedarwood on the exterior and using 56km of Siberian pine on the heavily banked track inside, has been designed to be the fastest in the world.

Hoy, who helped choose the designers and was one of 10 sprinters to test it on Tuesday, said: "It feels fast. If it's warm and the air pressure is not too high, combined with the fact athletes are going to be in the best shape of their lives at the Olympic Games, you will see world records go."

The Scot, who led Team GB's haul of eight cycling gold medals in 2008, said his advice included making sure toilets for cyclists were close to the track, ensuring consistent atmospheric conditions, maximising natural light and having seating all the way around to create a "gladiatorial atmosphere".

Dave Brailsford, the British Cycling performance director, said the velodrome was the "best in the world" and praised the attention to detail.

"There can be problems with having a high temperature in the velodrome because people watching from the top row can faint in the heat," he said. "There's a clever solution here with split air conditioning that can make it warmer at track level than in the grandstands."

Pendleton, who could target up to three gold medals in London, said the focus on the velodrome was testament to the explosion in the sport's popularity and success in recent years.

The escalating cost of the aquatics centre, originally put at £73m, was justified on the basis that in a sea of otherwise mostly functional designs it would provide the architectural "wow" factor. But as the "water wings" – temporary stands which lift the capacity to 17,500 for the Games – have sprung up either side, some have begun to question whether they spoil the curves of the original design.

Armitt argued that the Hadid design would still look impressive – after the Games, at least. "When you look at that building in legacy it is going to look so good. And once you get inside during the Games, it will be a totally different feel from the one you get outside at the moment," he promised.The Olympic Park Legacy Company recently put the operation of the centre, which will house two 50-metre pools and a diving pool and fills a long-standing gap in the provision of Olympic sized facilities in the capital, out to tender. But an early decision not to provide for leisure facilities to be added at a later date means some believe it will be difficult to attract the 800,000 visitors a year the OPLC forecasts. Regardless, it is likely to require significant ongoing subsidy.

Olympic Stadium (Cost £486m)

Structurally complete with roof and 80,000 seats installed. Turf about to be laid. On target to be handed over before 15 July, the date by which all sporting venues are due to be finished.

Aquatics Centre, above (£269m)

Permanent structure and wave-shaped roof in place; diving pool and two 50m pools being tiled; temporary "wings" to take capacity to 17,500 under construction. Recent National Audit Office report said the planned completion date of June, which has already slipped from April, would be "tight".

Handball (£43m)

The 7,000-capacity arena will become a multi-sport venue after games. Structure, seating and flooring complete – due to be finished ahead of July deadline.

Basketball (£42m)

The temporary cube-shaped basketball venue is due to be finished early. Situated near the velodrome, the white structure will be dramatically lit at Games-time.

Olympic Village (£709m)

More than three-quarters of plots are structurally complete, with nearby school also nearly finished. Will house 17,000 athletes and officials during the games, before being converted into 2,818 apartments. On target for January 2012 handover.

Broadcast and press centres (£301m)

Structures of both cavernous buildings complete but finding a no legacy tenant could be challenging. On target for July 2011 completion.

Labels: aposbest, budget, Guardian, Olympic, opens, velodrome, worldapos

Tottenham Hotspur FC today released the first image of the proposed 60,000 capacity football stadium that would sit in the heart of the Olympic Island site if Spurs /AEG become the successful bidder with the Olympic Park Legacy Company.

Daniel Levy, Chairman, Tottenham Hotspur FC said:

“We are proposing one of the most advanced, state-of-the-art stadiums in Europe that will deliver an exceptional spectator experience. Fans will be closer to the pitch than at any other comparable size stadium in the UK, while its acoustic design will ensure that the noise from spectators remains within the stadium.

“Our partner AEG would attract and manage a wide range of events for the stadium and surrounding public realm including world class sport, music, festivals, and exhibitions. Tottenham Hotspur would also commit tens of millions of pounds for local sports and community projects and our Foundation would work with relevant partners to bring these to life. Ensuring the stadium and the surrounding space is sustainable, exciting and viable 365 days a year is crucial to our proposal and to the whole future of the Olympic Park.

“Accusations that we would ‘demolish’ £500m of stadium are hugely inaccurate and highly irresponsible and I want to be very clear on this issue. Our proposal will retain around £420m worth of the Olympic Stadium, and we will re-use or recycle the £80m that will be dismantled with zero landfill. It is also important to remember that two thirds of the Olympic Stadium, under the original legacy plan, was to be dismantled – it was not designed to be a permanent structure. Recent scaremongering conveniently forgets this fact.”

As part of its bid to the OPLC, Tottenham Hotspur FC is also proposing the significant redevelopment of Crystal Palace Athletics Stadium that would see its capacity increase to 25,000, with the ability for it to be increased up to 40,000 for major championships.

Daniel Levy added:

“We would increase the current capacity of Crystal Palace by 9,500 to 25,000 and a new 4 lane warm up track and all weather hockey pitch would also be built. With these proposals, Crystal Palace would become a re-invigorated dedicated facility, bringing more activity to the area and be available to the athletics community every single day of the year.”

To view pictures of how Crystal Palace Athletics Stadium would look, please click the arrows at the top of the page...

Labels: 60000, capacity, Football, image, Olympic, proposed, releases, stadium, Tottenham