POLE DANCERS VIE FOR OLYMPIC SPOT
BEIJING: Erotic display or serious sport? At the World Pole Dancing Championships finals in Beijing on Sunday, competitors in skin-tight suits insisted that their challenging discipline deserves Olympic recognition. The limber and lithe contestants from more than ten countries on four continents hope they can shed the sport’s association with seedy strip clubs and win respect as skilled athletes. “Pole dancing requires technical content as much as gymnastics and acrobatics, and the level of difficulty is higher,” said Ke Hong, a member of the Chinese team ahead of the competition. Pole dancers have launched several petitions calling for Olympic authorities to add their sport to the next Games — so far without success. AFP researchers have so far excavated seven tombs that contain at least 171 mummies from the site now called Tenahaha. The mummies were found to be curled up, ie their knees were put up to the level of their shoulders and their arms were folded along their chest. PTI the doomed liner Titanic could fetch up to a whopping £80,000 at an auction in UK. The deckchair was found floating on the surface by the crew of the Mackay-Bennett, which was sent to recover victims’ bodies after Titanic sank in the Atlantic waters on April 14, 1912. The Nantucket wooden chair was used on the first class promenade deck of the ship and was believed to have been given to former crewmate Captain Julien Lemarteleur. The deckchair is due to be auctioned on April 18. PTI