Sustained excellence celebrated at annual SAF Best Unit Competition
Sustained excellence is being celebrated at the annual Singapore Armed Forces Best Unit Competition. There were repeat winners from last year across the Army, Air Force and Navy, as 30 military units were recognised for combat readiness and operational proficiency.
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China's humanoid robots generate more football excitement than their human counterparts
BEIJING: While China's men's football team hasn't generated much excitement in recent years, humanoid robot teams have won over fans in Beijing based more on the AI technology involved than any athletic prowess shown. Four teams of humanoid robots faced off in fully autonomous 3-on-3 football matches powered entirely by artificial intelligence on Saturday (Jun 28) night in China's capital in what was touted as a first in China and a preview for the upcoming World Humanoid Robot Games, set to take place in Beijing. According to the organisers, a key aspect of the match was that all the participating robots operated fully autonomously using AI-driven strategies without any human intervention or supervision. Equipped with advanced visual sensors, the robots were able to identify the ball and navigate the field with agility They were also designed to stand up on their own after falling. However, during the match several still had to be carried off the field on stretchers by staff, adding to the realism of the experience. China is stepping up efforts to develop AI-powered humanoid robots, using sports competitions like marathons, boxing, and football as a real-world proving ground. Cheng Hao, founder and CEO of Booster Robotics, the company that supplied the robot players, said sports competitions offer the ideal testing ground for humanoid robots, helping to accelerate the development of both algorithms and integrated hardware-software systems. He also emphasised safety as a core concern in the application of humanoid robots. 'In the future, we may arrange for robots to play football with humans. That means we must ensure the robots are completely safe,' Cheng said. 'For example, a robot and a human could play a match where winning doesn't matter, but real offensive and defensive interactions take place. That would help audiences build trust and understand that robots are safe.' Booster Robotics provided the hardware for all four university teams, while each school's research team developed and embedded their own algorithms for perception, decision-making, player formations, and passing strategies—including variables such as speed, force, and direction, according to Cheng. In the final match, Tsinghua University's THU Robotics defeated the China Agricultural University's Mountain Sea team with a score of 5–3 to win the championship. Mr Wu, a supporter of Tsinghua, celebrated their victory while also praising the competition. 'They (THU) did really well,' he said. 'But the Mountain Sea team (of Agricultural University) was also impressive. They brought a lot of surprises.'
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Sustained excellence celebrated at annual SAF Best Unit Competition
Sustained excellence is being celebrated at the annual Singapore Armed Forces Best Unit Competition. There were repeat winners from last year across the Army, Air Force and Navy, as 30 military units were recognised for combat readiness and operational proficiency.
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2 days ago
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Tiara is a great fit for Tashi
The guesswork in spotting the last Australian Group 1 winner of 2024-2025 has been made just a little harder by one missing piece. None of the 17 runners to the A$700,000 (S$583,000) Tattersall's Tiara (1,400m) at Eagle Farm on June 28 (1.58pm Singapore time) is coming out of the Stradbroke Handicap. Queensland's premier Group 1 1,400m event, which was won by War Machine on June 14, has delivered the Tiara winners of the last four editions - Tofane (2021), Startantes (2022), Palaisipan (2023) and Bella Nipotina (2024). Since the fillies and mares contest earned Group 1 status in 2007, eight winners have borne the Stradbroke formline in their lead-up, with Srikandi (2015) and Tofane doing the Stradbroke-Tiara double, a feat achieved by only Dane Ripper in the pre-Group 1 Tiara era in 1997. Interestingly, the eventual 1997 Cox Plate winner is, in name, providing the perfect fall-back option to a Tiara renewal bereft of Stradbroke form this year. The Group 2 Dane Ripper Stakes (1,300m), which is held on Stradbroke day, is without a doubt the next best traditional prelude. No fewer than 10 of the 14 Dane Ripper runners in 2025 will contest the Tiara, including the first three home, Floozie, Tashi and Firestorm - who, unsurprisingly, head the market. If anything, the statistics around the Dane Ripper Stakes as a Tiara crystal ball are almost as compelling as the Stradbroke. For the nine Group 1 Tiara winners who did not come through the Stradbroke, seven rounded out their preparations in the Dane Ripper, with Red Tracer (2013), Cosmic Endeavour (2014) and Invincibella (2019) the three to have completed the double that Floozie is chasing. Undefeated in four runs this campaign, Tony Gollan's mare by Zoustar is a deserved favourite at 3-1, almost sharing that tag with Firestorm, on whom James McDonald is bidding to equal Malcolm Johnston's 45-year-old record of 16 Group 1 wins in one season. But, perhaps, the one anomaly to that market is Tashi's odds of 6-1. In the Dane Ripper Stakes, the Peter Snowden-trained mare did not see clean air as early as the winner Floozie, but still took a huge chunk of ground off her to miss out by only half-a-length. The one-pound swing in Floozie's favour is too marginal to account for the quote discrepancy. For that reason, Tashi represents much better value, especially if he finds daylight earlier. Knockers may argue that the Sebring five-year-old does not scream Group 1 material, but then again, neither do most of her 16 rivals. As a benchmark, the only Group 1 winner, 2024 South Australian Derby (2,500m) winner Coco Sun is first-up after a disappointing Spring campaign, and over a trip not made to suit. Firestorm and Semana are the only two Group-placed contenders, and also hail from the powerhouse yards of Chris Waller and Ciaron Maher respectively. Firestorm ran second to stablemate and glamour filly Lady Shenandoah in the 2025 Coolmore Classic (1,500m), while Semana's three Group 1 placings notably include her second to Bella Nipotina for a Maher 1-2 in last year's Tiara. Bella Nipotina, who was recently retired, was the last of seven favourites since 2007 to win the Tiara. It has, however, also hatched nine double-figure winners in 20-1 shots Russeting (2009), Miss Cover Girl (2016) and Tycoon Tara (2017), incidentally Snowden's only Tiara winner. A win by Tashi would not be as jaw-dropping, but would vault Darley's (Godolphin's old name in Australia) former head trainer back into the limelight and give his Irish jockey Tom Sherry a much-deserved first Group 1 silverware. manyan@
