uk12points

You're welcome!! It's such a great song and deserves to do really well today!

Merci France!! And GB is on the board!

you've got company

Wow songs ranked number 1, 2, 3, 4 and 6 are all from the Americas!!

Well, if my participation is approved, then I'm entering the Lithuanian Eurovision selection this year Recorded the song earlier today, working with the man that wrote Tom Dice's "Me And My Guitar" for the second year in a row and hopefully this year will be more successful than the last

Ain Draham !
 
 

 
 
 
Aïn Draham  is a city in northwestern Tunisia in the Jendouba Governorate, 
Its name describes the sulfurous hot springs in the area used by the Romans in antiquity. Ruins of Roman baths are also found in the area.
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
And yes we have snow

Complaints can be directed to the Russian government/sports authorities for f*cking up their athletes and the chances of their athletes. 

Especially in sports like Athletics where there are many more competitions in Europe/North America than other parts of the world with a higher ranking status including the Diamond League, IAAF Label Road Races and combined event challenge. 

Don’t like the sound of this. The rankings will give more points to certain events, but if the Diamond League (where certain athletes are invited, with many from the host countries) are given a high points weighting then that will corrupt the whole qualification system and seriously disadvantage athletes from smaller nations. 

Don’t like the sound of this. The rankings will give more points to certain events, but if the Diamond League (where certain athletes are invited, with many from the host countries) are given a high points weighting then that will corrupt the whole qualification system and seriously disadvantage athletes from smaller nations. 

Rwanda
 
Traditional - Cyprien Rugamba (Imirindi)

 
Afrobeat - Kamichi (Zoubeda)

Apparently only 457 tickets have been sold for the 2018 Winter Paralympics! With only 191 tickets sold for the opening ceremony.
 
This is very worrying and will need a surge of enthusiasm during the 2018 Olympics to boost ticket sales for the Paralympics.

British votes have been sent!
I had a top 4 that I've really struggled to rank from 12-9, all of them have been added to my playlist.
This was probably the toughest vote I've ever had to make in the contest.

British votes have been sent!
I had a top 4 that I've really struggled to rank from 12-9, all of them have been added to my playlist.
This was probably the toughest vote I've ever had to make in the contest.

Looks like it was! You can see it on the YouTube playlist here: (Song 32)
 

Pairs competition finished and the qualifiers are:
 
 Australia
 Austria
 North Korea
 Israel
 Czech Republic

Great Britain
 
This years British entry celebrates that our island is in fact a Union of four equal members, each with their own culture, language and traditions that must be protected for future generations. This years entry is from the Valleys of Wales with an all male choir performing a classic Welsh hymn, Calon Lan, originally written in 1890 by Welsh poet Daniel James and put to music by Welsh composer John Hughes. The tradition of all male Welsh choirs is a proud Welsh symbol and it is protected by the Welsh Association of Male Choirs, whose patron is the Prince of Wales.
 
This years entry is sung by 'Only Boys Aloud' and is taken from their 2012 Christmas Album, with the performance below coming from a welsh language television programme in 2014. This version also features a guest Welsh female singer, Elin Fflur.
 
Calon Lan - Only Boys Aloud

Lyrics
Nid wy'n gofyn bywyd moethus,
Aur y byd na'i berlau mân:
Gofyn wyf am galon hapus,
Calon onest, calon lân.

Cytgan:
Calon lân yn llawn daioni,
Tecach yw na'r lili dlos:
Dim ond calon lân all ganu- 
Canu'r dydd a chanu'r nos.

Pe dymunwn olud bydol,
Hedyn buan ganddo sydd;
Golud calon lân, rinweddol,
Yn dwyn bythol elw fydd.

Hwyr a bore fy nymuniad
Gwyd i'r nef ar edyn cân
Ar i Dduw, er mwyn fy Ngheidwad,
Roddi i mi galon lân.
 
--------
 
I don't ask for a luxurious life,
the world's gold or its fine pearls:
I ask for a happy heart,
an honest heart, a pure heart.
 
Chorus:
A pure heart is full of goodness,
More lovely than the pretty lily:
Only a pure heart can sing -
Sing day and night.

If I wished worldly wealth,
He has a swift seed;
The riches of a virtuous, pure heart,
Will be a perpetual profit.

Late and early, my wish
Rise to heavan on the wing of song,
To God, for the sake of my Saviour,
Give me a pure heart.

Could u tell me more info about this athlete , or how to contact him on social media , I'm an administrator of Egypt sports network page and we can send his message to the minister of sport and the media here

An update on :
Helmy Elsaeed the cross country skier is trying to establish an Egyptian Ski federation. Apparently it never officially existed and the Egyptian who previously participated had dual US citizenship, so could go through them without national quotas (at the time none existed). The rules of Egypt's Ministry of Sport are that multiple clubs have to play a sport before a federation can be established. Helmy is the only skier, so is trying to get exceptions. He also said he might try to participate as an Independent Olympic Athlete (though I doubt the FIS will let him get points like that). Point is he has to get Egypt accepted by the Autumn meetings in October 3rd-7th as the preliminary entry deadline is on the 9th. If he can manage that he'll probably qualify. From what I've seen he's a capable enough skier.

I wonder what he's talking about? Reading out the Wikipedia page on the history and economic possibilities of Turkmenistan!

Weightlifting Commonwealth Championships Qualifiers:
 
Women's 48kg: India
Women's 53kg: India
Women's 58kg: Solomon Islands
Women's 63kg: Seychelles
Women's 69kg: Fiji
Women's 75kg: Wales
Women's 90kg: Fiji
Women's +90kg: New Zealand
 
Men's 56kg: Malaysia
Men's 62kg: Papua New Guinea
Men's 69kg: Malaysia
Men's 77kg: India
Men's 85kg: India
Men's 94kg: Papua New Guinea
Men's 105kg: India
Men's +105kg: Samoa
 
The remaining quota will be allocated via the Commonwealth Ranking List and Universality quota.

Just seen that so far Jordan and Macao have won their first ever Universiade medals here!!

First gold medal goes to... Mexico!
 
Diving - Women's 1m Springboard
Gold -  Dolores Hernandez
Silver -  Choe Un Gyong
Bronze -  Louisa Stawczynski

11) Stomach pumped!!

Little update on the South American schedule/the qualifying of the Brazilians:
 
http://i.imgur.com/pHykIUD.png
 
There won't be any Brazilian women in the races in Ushuaia. The expectation is there would be so few other participants that it would not be eligible for FIS points, so it'd basically be a waste of money. The guys will be there, fighting for important FIS points in their fight for the one Olympic ticket.
 
The Brazilian women will have two chances for FIS points in the Southern hemisphere season. First off is the event in Termas de Chillan, where there'll be a classic sprint and a freestyle sprint. They go straight through to Caviahue afterwards, for a 5k C and 5k F, the chance to go for distance points. Here the expectation is to have over 10 competitors in the women's races, which for South American events is quite a big number.
 
As for Brazil, Termas de Chillan and Caviahue will be unique events in one sense: it'll be the first time that all current Brazilian XC women will compete against each other. Since the federation requires every athlete to get certain results in the Southern hemisphere, Jaqueline Mourão will be there for the first time, where she'll go up against Bruna Moura, Gabi Neres (the duo that forms the new generation), Mirlene Picin and Leila Mostaço. 
 
Hard to say which of these athletes will get the Olympic ticket, obviously I'm hoping Bruna gets it with Gabi as second choice, I think Mourão is the biggest opponent.