MB Civic

1. Express your support of Birng Tibe to the 2008 Olympic games
———————————————-http://www.supportteamtibet.org/supporter

2. Nine Tibetans from Switzerland join Team Tibet for Beijing 2008
———————————————-Zurich, 6th Juli 2007 – Nine Tibetans living
in Switzerland announced their plan to join
the Tibetan Team for next year’s Summer
Olympic Games in Beijing today at a press
conference in Zurich. The Tibetan Olympic
team is formed by Tibetans living in exile.
Mrs. Melanie Winiger an actress and well
known public figure in Switzerland
expressed her support for this initiative.

Among the Tibetan athletes there is a
junior Swiss champion in table tennis, a
former participant of the Youth Olympics
and a beach volleyball team competing in
the Swiss championships.

Members of the team are:

Men:
Dominik Kelsang Erne (table tennis, 26
years)
Rigzin Gyaltag (cycling, 25 years)
Jigme Punkang (100 m, 25 years)
Gyentsen Zatul (marathon, 26 years)
Norbu Phuntsok (beach volleyball, 23 years)
Sonam Phuntsok (beach volleyball, 18
years)
Nyima Phuntsok (tennis, 20 years)

Women:
Tsultrim Gope (shot put, 25 Jahre),
Lhanzom Phunkang (10 000 m, 20 years)
Tsultrim-Dolma Gope (shot put) described
her motivation at the press conference: I
participated the Youth Olympic Games in
Denmark when I was a youngster. It was a
fantastic feeling to enter the stadium
together with all the other Swiss athletes. I
was proud. Nevertheless, secretly I was
dreaming about how wonderful it would
be to enter the stadium under the Tibetan
flag – with a Tibetan team. My dream
hopefully will become true.

Mrs. Daniela Lehmann, coordinator of the
Swiss part of the Team Tibet initiative, said:
You can’t ignore the political reality in
China  if you talk about Olympics in Beijing.
China uses the games to portray herself to
the outside world in a way that contradicts
reality. Occupied Tibet, especially,
continues to suffer under severe human
rights violations. The young Tibetans react
to this not by calling for boycott but by
demanding equal rights to participate in
the games. Their positive attitude and
courage needs our support!

She said that the team will get in contact
with various groups and organisations
such as the National Olympic Committee in
Switzerland to seek support.

The press conference was concluded by
Melanie Winiger calling on the Swiss public
to help the nine Tibetan athletes achieve
their dream by supporting the initiative
morally, through offering training facility
and sponsoring.