Tokyo — 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 predicted that Colombia would beat Group H rivals Japan when they face off in Russia. 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. "Hopefully he’s got it wrong this time," zookeeper Nozomi Oikawa said. "The parrot was hovering for a while so maybe it will be a close game." 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. And a pair of lions at the Santa Fe zoo in Medellin also backed Colombia to win, choosing a box made from the Colombian colours o...
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