That Bloke In The Big Smoke

Earlier today Mohamed Bin Hammam (of Qatar) confirmed he would be challenging incumbent FIFA president Sepp Blatter at the scheduled upcoming presidency election on 1 June. He made the announcement in Kuala Lumpur where he was attending the 4th Asian Football Confederation Conference on Science and Football Medicine. As it happens my dad is also attending the conference and just before Bin Hammam made official his bid for the presidency, he delivered a speech at the conference. Dad was quite impressed with the chap's polished performance. The previous conference was held in Oman in 2005 which my dad helped organise, while the first two editions were held in Japan and Malaysia. Dad enjoys these conferences because of the practical application of the issues considered. For instance in 2005 they discussed the effect of fasting during the month of Ramadan on players and the use of MRIs to determine the real age of players before tournaments. This year he took particular interest in the presentation by a large delegation of Swiss and Kiwi sports medicine specialists from a well-known orthopaedic hospital in Qatar on the effect of playing football in an extreme environment. Given that Qatar will be hosting the 2022 FIFA World Cup during the summer when temperatures will regularly exceed 45°C (113°F), it is worth noting that the specialists suggested matches could be called off once temperatures exceeded 33 or 34 degrees itself. Which means one of two things. Either the climate-controlled stadiums HAVE to be developed or the World Cup has to be moved to the winter. There is no alternative. Fills you up with hope, doesn't it? The other interesting presentation was on the contribution of medical science to the development of straight red card offences in football such as the tackle from behind in 1998 and the elbow in the face in 2007. Tomorrow he will be attending an interesting session on stem cell research in football medicine. Other events include hands-on clinical workshops on genetic applications, muscle/cartilage tissue repair, the continuing issue of "age doping" and the role of Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP) Injection Therapy*.

Surprisingly, this is my dad's first visit to Malaysia since our family trip in 1989! I say that because he has travelled extensively in the region, particularly to Thailand and Hong Kong. The only countries he hasn't visited in the region are Indonesia, Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. However he's loving being back in Malaysia, with its rich mix of the local Bahasa people and culture, ancient Sanskrit influences, Tamils, Chinese and moderate Islam. He liked the fact that he could easily buy booze in a local market, even though it's a Muslim-majority nation. The food? Exquisite. And unlike Sri Lanka, their Tamils speak the way we do in India. Malaysia, truly Asia indeed.

(* Platelet Rich Plasma also known as PRP is a new field in Orthopaedic & Sports Medicine, using your own blood (Autologous) for healing muscle, tendon and ligament injury.)

What's your method? I threw the kitchen sink at mine. Antiobiotics, B-complex, Tylenol, cloves, warm milk mixed with turmeric, ginger tea (with honey and lime), copious amounts of hot drinking water and Rasam (South Indian spicy lentil soup). Dunno which, but it did the trick!