[Sing Pao & Ta Kung Pao]

TVB welcomed in the Olympic Games yesterday by holding its own "Number 1 Track & Field Games" at Wanchai Sports Ground yesterday with 200 artistes taking part in the events. Among them, one of the Olympic Stars Ron Ng fainted with exhaustion and had to be treated by Dr Lee Ka Yan.

TVB's "Six Olympic Stars" were the centre of attention and as the weather yesterday was incredibly hot, five people felt unwell and had to be treated by the medical team. Ron Ng was among these patients after fainting from exhaustion. As he had been busy the previous evening filming for "Police Cadet Brave Hearts" throughout the night and had not had enough sleep, after taking part in several events such as the 100m sprint and the 4x100m relay, he felt very unwell and his body gave in. He was immediately taken into the medical room for treatment, where he was diagnosed as having lack of rest, leaving him with a very fast pulse. After resting for ten minutes, Ron immediately got changed for the flag raising ceremony and after finishing all his tasks, he asked to be released early so he could go home and rest before starting filming again early today. Dr Lee indicated that Ron's health is not very good and he should look after himself. Whilst Ron was resting, his fellow 'Olympic Stars' dropped by to visit him.

As Ron was unwell, MC Sammul Chan stepped into his place to run in the relay, taking on the final lap. Lai Lok Yi and Bosco Wong took the first two laps and then Kenneth Ma took the third lap, but dropped the baton, leaving the Olympic Stars team in last place for this race. Raymond Lam is currently filming in Beijing and so was unable to fulfil his role as 'Olympic Star' at this event. The organisers requested during rehearsals that they should take things more seriously and Sammul later explained that they were not playing, but without Raymond Lam present, they weren't sure how they would be able to hold up the long banner. When asked about whether the situation has improved with his filming alongside Fiona Sit, he says that she is getting better now and she is using less cheat sheets, but is still facing a lot of NG's.

Sister of Steven from Boyz, Jenny Cheung accidentally fell over and grazed her legs as she ran for the finish line in the ladies 4x50m relay, but she still managed to take first place. She says that she used to be in the athletics team when she was at school and spending a long time practising, she still has the form. Also, Miss Hong Kong number 16 Emily Wong entered the 800m, but later felt a pain in her chest and a numbness in her legs. The doctors indicated that she was overheating, but she was fine after some rest.

The event started at 10 am with the heats for all the events with those qualifying moving onto the finals in the afternoon. Many of the stars did not want to stay all day in the sun, so they lost intentionally in the heat. Among them Joey Yung indicated that she did not want to go through as she had another event in the afternoon. Shirley Yeung took part in three events, including high jump, long jump and the ladies 60m sprint. She says that this is the first time she has tried high jump and although she has injured her back before, this had little effect.

Natalis Chan led the flag raising ceremony and revealed that he had not had a chance to look closely at this year's Miss Hong Kong contestants yet, but he will be MC at this year's final. He has been to Italy especially to pick out a few suits for the event and has spent a six figure sum on some unique outfits.

http://www.singpao.com/20040613/gossip/564135.html
http://www.takungpao.com/news/2004-6-13/UL-271050.htm



[Additional from The Sun & Oriental Daily]

At yesterday's TVB games, it was obvious that the stars were not giving their best, as the only top singer taking part Joey Yung barely managed a metre in the long jump. Later she said openly: "Not even a metre, yes I could have just paced more than that, but I really didn't want to win because I have an autograph session later on this afternoon."

Of the eventual winners, the only names of note were EO2, Patrick Tang and Deep Ng as the rest were 3rd and 4th line artistes. The team award went to Nat's team and Griselda Yeung emerged as the top ladies athlete, taking first place in the 60m sprint and high jump and 2nd place in the long jump.

The Miss Hong Kong contestants were decked out in little vests and shorts and although they were a little more eyecatching than the other female artistes, all their bad points were shown up once again. 'Miss Gossip' 11 Devily Leung and 'Lee Ying's daughter' 8 Winnie Shum were obviously unhappy as they frowned through most of the event. Although they had representatives in all the events, they were nearly all losers, apart from the last event 'Mini Marathon' where 7 Tiffany Leong and 10 Flora Chow gained 2nd and 3rd place, regaining a little pride for them.

http://the-sun.com.hk/channels/ent/20040613/20040613001104_0003.html
http://orientaldaily.com.hk/ent/ent_a52cnt.html
http://orientaldaily.com.hk/ent/ent_a53cnt.html



[Ta Kung Pao]

TVB's four new stars Ron Ng, Sammul Chan, Bosco Wong and Lai Lok Yi appeared at a promotion for a razor product and the organisers had arranged for them to shave two members of the audience, leaving the four men rather embarrassed as they were all fingers and thumbs. As for the two men being shaved, they were extremely nervous as everyone wiped a bead of sweat watching them.

As he had never shaved another man before, Ron Ng hid from the media by standing with his back to the cameras and not letting them photograph the proceedings. Recently, Ron's rumours have been rising along with his popularity with the latest reports saying he had banned his girlfriend talking to the neighbours to prevent details of his private life being leaked. To this, Ron says it is already old news and that wasn't his girlfriend, just a friend he had known for a long time and whom he has never dated. At the moment he does not have a girlfriend and feels like has no burden as he draws a clean sheet on his love life. If in the future he really does have a girlfriend, he says she will not stop her from revealing anything she wants. He also hopes that she will be from outside the industry and says that the company has not stopped him from dating anyone.

As for Lok Yi who will be celebrating his 24th birthday on the 15th, he indicated that his birthday wish is to keep up this level of work. A group of good friends including Raymond Lam will be celebrating with him and as for rumoured girlfriend Theresa from Cookies, he insists that they are just friends.

http://www.takungpao.com/news/2004-6-13/UL-271048.htm



[Ta Kung Pao Special Report]

An Evaluation of TVB's Top Young Male Stars

With the great competition in the television industry, the new generation winning through is an inevitability. The production of TV shows is no longer just down to the taste of the viewers, but also the nurturing of new stars. TV hosts are also constantly being selected and sharpened as this is the only way that the stations can keep their standards high.

In its creation of talent, TVB has the perfect situation and its results can clearly be seen. From the 'Five Tigers' of twenty years ago, to the 'Four Little Flowers' and the most recent 'Six Olympic Stars', they have pushed these artistes to the forefront of attention. Talking of the Olympic Stars, the main focus rests on Raymond Lam, Sammul Chan and Ron Ng, with their good looks and potential, they have the opportunity to step into the footprints of Andy Lau and Tony Leung and create results for themselves.

Suited to both ancient and modern, Raymond Lam was the earliest to be promoted and he has had no shortage of opportunities. In the last two years, he has appeared in the nominations at the anniversary awards and despite losing out to his seniors, he understands he still has a lot of work to do. However, Raymond has had his fair share of gossip and rumours, some of which has been negative and this is a disadvantage for artistes being promoted. He needs to watch out for this as a tarnished image will be bad for his prospects.

Hailing from the world of dance, Ron Ng has the ability to handle both studious and active roles and has broken onto the scene strongly with his style and looks, gaining the respect of his supporters with the aim of launching a singing career and becoming the next Aaron Kwok. However, Ron's voice and acting ability needs polishing and he needs to put in the work to become more well rounded. To keep his fans, he needs more than just his good looks.

Sammul Chan's acting is stable and he has excellent hosting ability, winning with his modesty and effort in all he does. His management company have also done all they can to groom him and prove that Alan Tam has not chosen the wrong person to promote as Sammul truly has potential. Compared with his peers, he has a greater ability to handle his social relationships and can even turn gossip and rumours around as this puts him in a winning position for a career in showbiz.

In the days of restructuring of his management company, Sammul who had not yet signed for TVB at the time had already been faced with some difficult decisions, but he has proven that confidence coupled with the courage to try a new direction has pulled him through and if he keeps up this determination, Sammul Chan will emerge as one of the winners of the six stars.

The path of performance is ever changing, but by striving to keep moving forward and never giving up, then each step makes the grounding that little bit stronger.

Reporter: Chow Yan

http://www.takungpao.com/news/2004-6-13/UL-271044.htm



[Ta Kung Pao]

Steven Ma recorded the themesong to Guangdong Radio's environmental event entitled "Blanket" in April and since then, the song has not only reached the top of the charts in Guangdong province two weeks running, but has also entered the 'World Chinese Songs Chart' at number 10 this week. The lyrics to the song are very encouraging, saying that all one has to do is work hard and enthusiasticaly and any problems and hardships can be won through. "Even the heavens will help" as these words have been engrained into the hearts of listeners in the Guangdong and Guangxi provinces.

Achieving these results, Steven admits he is rather surprised as this was an unintentional success as his main goal was simply to help promote the benefits of the environmental project and he never imagined that the song would do so well. He is very excited and finds this a great encouragement to him. This success has given a new inspiration to Steven in his musical career: "It turns out that apart from commercial songs, educational songs are also popular, so in the future, I will add an educational factor into my songs."

Having just extended his contract with TVB for a further two years, Steven will be returning to TVB shortly to film some series as well as taking some Mainland series. He laughs: "Some friends see me working low profile lately and are worried that I will retire from showbiz. Don't worry, I will not let go of my performance work until I am at least 40 years old as I have never thought about pulling out." He also pledges that he will continue to work hard!

http://www.takungpao.com/news/2004-6-13/UL-271053.htm