Japan's players are preparing for their opening game with Colombia on Tuesday. They have been predicted to lose by a parrott named Olivia. Diego Azubel / EPA
Japan's players are preparing for their opening game with Colombia on Tuesday. They have been predicted to lose by a parrott named Olivia. Diego Azubel / EPA

Football

Psychic parrot has Japan worried with prediction Colombia will win Group H clash

Olivia, a parrot based at Nasu Animal Kingdom, has pedigree for getting results right in the past and he is backing a losing start for the Japanese at the World Cup

Agence France Presse

June 18, 2018

Japan's hopes of winning their opening World Cup fixture on Tuesday have been written off before a ball has been kicked -- by a chirpy parrot believed to possess psychic powers.

The grey-feathered tipster called Olivia, who lives at Nasu Animal Kingdom in Tochigi prefecture, north of Tokyo, predicted that Colombia would beat Group H rivals Japan when they face off in Russia, local media reported on Monday.

Olivia, one of several animal psychics to have taken on the extra work in recent years, plucked a tiny Colombia flag with its beak and handed it to a zookeeper after briefly flirting with a third flag that represented a draw, according to Japan's Sankei News.

"Hopefully he's got it wrong this time," zookeeper Nozomi Oikawa told reporters.

"The parrot was hovering for a while so maybe it will be a close game."

______________

Read more

World Cup 2018: Day 5 live updates - Focus on England and Belgium

Lada car reward for Serbia's match-winner Aleksandar Kolarov

Maradona: Lionel Messi not to blame for Argentina's faltering start to the World Cup

______________

However, the odds are not good for Japan upsetting Colombia in Saransk as Olivia has an uncanny knack for being right.

The 13-year-old bird successfully predicted six out of seven results at the 2015 women's World Cup and five out of seven at the 2016 Rio Olympics.

Almost 9,000 miles (14,000 kilometres) away, a pair of lions at the Santa Fe zoo in Medellin agreed with Olivia and backed Colombia to win -- choosing a box made from the Colombian colours over Japan's, which they tore to pieces.

On the ground in Russia, a psychic cat named Achilles found fame after taking time out from chasing mice at St Petersburg's Hermitage Museum to successfully predict the host nation would beat Saudi Arabia in their opening game.

But the fluffy mystics have some way to go to match the don of animal psychics -- Paul the octopus.

The German-based cephalopod went a perfect seven for seven in predicting the results of Germany's games at the 2010 World Cup -- and then correctly tipped Spain to win the title.

Top financial tips for graduates

Araminta Robertson, of the Financially Mint blog, shares her financial advice for university leavers:

1. Build digital or technical skills: After graduation, people can find it extremely hard to find jobs. From programming to digital marketing, your early twenties are for building skills. Future employers will want people with tech skills.

2. Side hustle: At 16, I lived in a village and started teaching online, as well as doing work as a virtual assistant and marketer. There are six skills you can use online: translation; teaching; programming; digital marketing; design and writing. If you master two, you’ll always be able to make money.

3. Networking: Knowing how to make connections is extremely useful. Use LinkedIn to find people who have the job you want, connect and ask to meet for coffee. Ask how they did it and if they know anyone who can help you. I secured quite a few clients this way.

4. Pay yourself first: The minute you receive any income, put about 15 per cent aside into a savings account you won’t touch, to go towards your emergency fund or to start investing. I do 20 per cent. It helped me start saving immediately.

Key facilities
  • Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
  • Premier League-standard football pitch
  • 400m Olympic running track
  • NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
  • 600-seat auditorium
  • Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
  • An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
  • Specialist robotics and science laboratories
  • AR and VR-enabled learning centres
  • Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills