McEnroe promises return to ‘BlackRock Masters Tennis Tournament’ next year

Posted on February 4, 2012 by admin

Paul Haarhuis beat John McEnroe in the quarter finals of BlackRock Masters Tennis tournament at London’s Royal Albert Hall. McEnroe was defeated by 6-2 6-3. In other quarterfinals Pioline beat Ferreira by 6-3 6-4, Bruguera beat Bates 6-3 6-4 while Forget beat Rusedski by 2-6 7-5 13-11. The tournament, available for only those players who are not active in ATP is one of the UK’s most popular indoor tournaments. Four times champion at Albert Hall, 48-year-old McEnroe, assured after the match that he will be back at least one more time. The final of the tournament is scheduled on 9th December. The tournament is highly charity supportive and providing aides to various organization. It has raised nearly £580,000 after its starting in 1997.

Doping hits cycling hard: Is it the end of road for T-Mobile team?

Posted on February 4, 2012 by admin

It is inspiring indeed to see some of the toughest men on the planet battle it out across the heights of Alps & then finish on the Champs- Elysees to be crowned as the champions. It is unbelievable when you watch Lance Armstrong attack on the slopes of the Alps, Michael Rasmussen dance away with ease over the mountain stages, Alexander Vinokourov launch an attack after attack from the ‘peloton’ & Boonen & Hunter fight it out at the sprint finishes. ‘Tour De France’, I must confess, is the only cycling event that I ever watch & I do so with great enthusiasm. While I do keep myself aware of the results of ‘Giro de Italia’, it never makes me television set. While the dampener in all this is surely the doping scandal that seems to constantly hit the sport of cycling. It really is taking a lot of gloss off the sport. The latest revelations Patrick Sinkewitz’s riding for team T-Mobile about the intake of EPO & blood transfusion seem to have virtually put his career on the sidelines & also might put the famous magenta-black jersey’s out forever. Patrick’s confessions that T-Mobile as a team have used EPO & blood transfusion since 1997 till 2006 come as an absolute shock to the officials of cycling’s governing body. While EPO is a drug that cyclists across the world acknowledge helps immensely with the pace of the race, its intake is banned by the sport. It is clearly branded as a performance enhancing drug & now T-Mobile is paying the price for its devious methods. German telecommunications giants Deutsche Telekom are meeting this week to discuss the possibility of ending their sponsorship of T-Mobile; this despite having another 3 years of contract. While many believe it is almost certain that T-Mobile will be all but gone after this week, the wait seems to be about the conditions to which the contract would be scrapped. It is now a matter of ‘when & how’, rather than ‘if’. The famous sight of a leading train of magenta-black jerseys that for nearly 6 years went head on with US Postal & offered Jan Ullrich the best possible chance to dethrone Lance Armstrong, is now a mere sight of the past. For many years it was team of Ullrich, as he commanded them like a general against war. Those great contests between Ullrich & Lance will now forever be dogged by the cloud of doping. It is a sad day indeed for all those who love the sport of cycling & enjoyed one of its greatest rivalries.

Roger Federer masters Shanghai again

Posted on February 4, 2012 by admin

Top seed Roger Federer has ended the tennis season by winning his fourth Masters Cup in the Chinese city of Shanghai. Spain’s David Ferrer was no match for the Swiss tennis maestro as Federer walked away with his 53rd career title after a devastating display of all-round tennis. Ferrer, who is yet to win against Federer after eight matches between the two, was the only unbeaten player in the competition. Convincing performances against fellow countryman and friend Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Roddick earlier in the tournament gave David Ferrer’s fans and neutrals hope of putting one aside past the world number one. But as many cases before, the great Federer stores his best tennis for the final. The 6-2, 6-3, 6-2 scoreline certainly proves the greatness of the man from Basel. Roger Federer did not come into the season-ending Masters Cup with invincible form. After suffering two consecutive defeats at the hands of Argentine David Nalbandian, some pundits began to wonder whether the Swiss magician is losing his sharpness in the game. That assumption was supported to some extent when Chilean Fernando Gonzalez handed Federer a shock defeat in his very first game. After Sunday’s final David Ferrer might have thought that Gonzalez should not have beaten the Swiss for Federer followed up his defeat with convincing victories and as a result stopped all the speculation about his struggling form. The Spaniard was blown away by Federer’s mixture of volleying, spin, power and anticipation skills. David Ferrer was certainly not helped by the fact that he made 38 unforced errors to Federer’s 29 and just 10 winners to the Swiss’s 30. But even the best falters against the legend that Roger is. The tennis fraternity would certainly hope that it catches the rolling Federer machine cold in the coming year but it is for sure that the great man would be ready to disappoint all his rivals. For now lets wish Roger Federer and the rest of the tennis world a very happy vacation and look forward to a swashbuckling 2008.

Alonso happy at McLaren

Posted on February 3, 2012 by admin

There have been rumours flying around the pitlane linking Mclaren Driver Fernando Alonso with a move to either Ferrari or former team Renault where he won both his world titles. Renault team boss Flavio Briatore has played a pivotal role in Alonso’s career and has been vocal in his desire to have Alonso back in the team. Ferrari , meanwhile have reportedly offered Alonso 40 million dollars a year to race with them. These rumours have come in the wake of relations tuning frosty between Alonso and Mclaren team boss Ron Dennis. Dennis has claimed he is not on speaking terms with the world Champion and has not spoken to him since the Hungarian Grand Prix in August. Alonso has denied reports of leaving Mclaren, saying For next year I have a contract with this team and I don’t see any problem. I have won four races and I’m fighting for the championship so everything is going quite well and I’m happy. There is also widespread speculation that Alonso does not get along with rookie teammate Lewis Hamilton. There are reports of ego- clashes between the two as the rookie has had a record breaking first season. Hamilton gets paid about half a million dollars a year for his services compared to over 25 million for the 26 year old world champion. Hamilton currently leads Alonso by two points with 3 races remaining in the season

Joe Calzaghe wins Sports Personality of the Year award

Posted on February 3, 2012 by admin

The undisputed super-middleweight champion of the world held off stiff competition to win the 2007 BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award on Sunday. And this is none other than Joe Calzaghe. Ten sporting celebrities competed for the public vote on the night during the live show. The public voted for their BBC Sports Personality of the Year by telephone during the show. The shortlist of ten contenders was put together by an expert panel of leading sporting experts from a selection of more than 30 newspaper sports editors (national and regional) and magazines and the BBC Sports Personality Of The Year panel of 12 sporting experts. Calzaghe lost out last year in the poll to equestrian Zara Phillips and joked then that he was not disappointed. He confessed after his win that though he said he didn’t care last year, he had lied. Calzaghe, 35, unified the super-middleweight division with a unanimous points victory over Denmark’s Mikkel Kessler at Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium last month. It was also a good night for Enzo Calzaghe, father of Joe, who won the coach’s award. Former England manager Sir Bobby Robson was awarded a lifetime achievement award presented by Sir Alex Ferguson. The England rugby team won the sports team of the year and South Africa’s blade-runner, Oscar Pistorius, won the Helen Rollason Award. Roger Federer was named the overseas sportsman of the year for a third time, and the Young Sports Personality of the Year Award went to diver Tom Daley.

From Hall of fame to Hall of shame: Michael Vicks prosecuted for dog fighting

Posted on February 3, 2012 by admin

Probably for the first time in US football history, an act of cruelty has been committed. Pro football star Michael Vick admitted to manhandling of dogs and his involvement in the illegal activity of dogfights. As a result, he is sentenced to 23 months behind the bars. This is clearly a case of injustice against the animals. Vick is a former Atlanta quarterback. The former football pro has been suspended from the NFL and it is not very clear whether he is going to play ever again. I guess this is what he gets for treating all those dogs like that. The ex football hero has been selected three times for the Super bowls. He recently signed up a 10 year, $130 million contract. However, he went from being a celebrity in the NFL Hall of fame to the Hall of shame. Vick received a tougher sentence than he expected. His attorney asked the judge for 12 to 18 months. All he could say in his defense was: I would like to apologize to the court, to my family, to my kids, for what I have done.I’m here to say I’m willing to deal with the consequences and accept responsibility for my actions. He ended up receiving 23 – a few months extra! According to court documents, Vick is in a lot of financial crisis and he is obviously in a deeper crisis with the law.

England eventually shows door to Tonga

Posted on February 2, 2012 by admin

Two weeks ago, countless Rugby fans downed Ashton’s team at the ongoing tournament, but proving them all wrong they have struck back again and are through to the knock-out stages. Teams resilience is at last paid off with a 36-20 run over Tonga, that has been cited the best performance so far. Still there’s a need of a marked improvement if they really want to see off Australia in Marseille next week. In soaring spirits, Tongan team performed its traditional war dance before kickoff, as England fans sang their team’s anthem, ‘Swing Low, Sweet Chariot’. The ‘Ikale Tahi’s’ gave the defending champions plenty to think about by opening the scoring as England rallied 10-3 down in the early first-half. Later, part of the game saw the Englishmen regaining their original form as Winger Paul Sackey scored two tries for the second straight match, as Mathew Tait and Andy Farrell added more to it while fly-half Jonny Wilkinson kicked 16 points and is five points short of Gavin Hastings’ World Cup scoring record. Until the final quarter at the Parc des Princes, England’s lead became insurmountable and Tonga that toppled Pacific rivals Samoa 19-15 and only lost by five points to South Africa last weekend, had their dreams shattered of reaching the quarters for the first time. Kudos to the England team for avoiding their first exit at the group stage, as defending champions. Image Courtesy

Is there another twist to the just concluded Formula One season saga?

Posted on February 2, 2012 by admin

This year’s Formula One season would be remembered more for the off-track drama rather than the brilliant title-winning performance by Kimi Raikonen in Brazil and the rookie driver Lewis Hamilton’s rise to the racing folklore in his very first season. Starting from the spying scandal to the current court speculation over the decision regarding the driver’s championship, the 2007 season has been far from ideal for the FIA’s efforts to make Formula One driving a spectacle to watch compared to other sporting events. Apart from Mclaren, I don’t think there is any doubt over who is the deserved champion on the track. Even Lewis Hamilton and outgoing Mclaren driver Fernando Alonso have made it clear that the Flying Finn, Kimi Raikonen is the legitimate winner. But the Woking-based Mclaren team is adamant to to settle championship appeal via the court. After the massive fine imposed on Mclaren along with the team’s disqualification from the constructor’s championship as a result of the spying scandal, team boss Ron Denis wants to score some points over bitter rivals Ferrari, not on the track but through the courtroom. There is a widespread belief that Lewis Hamilton has missed out on the title due to Mclaren’s own technical mistakes, notably the tyre incident in China and the gearbox problem in Brazil, over the last few races rather than the ‘cool fuel’ issue at Interlagos involving the Williams and BMW Sauber team cars. Although the Mclaren lawyers are stating previous precedents to support their appeal, as far as the sport of Formula One is concerned any upholding of the appeal would be injustice to the driving skills of Kimi Raikonen who had been very unlucky over the last few years not to win the championship even though being the best on track on many occasions. With a growing dominance of Ferrari and Mclaren in the sport, viewers are demanding more competition among all the twenty racing cars and at this moment if there is any off the track awarding of the driver’s championship, the FIA is sure to feel the heat in justifying the court’s decision to scrap the Iceman’s much deseved world title.

Marion Jones sentenced six-months of jail!

Posted on February 2, 2012 by admin

Here is another story of an Olympian athlete’s fall from grace. American athlete Marion Jones had been sentenced by an US District Judge to six months of imprisonment for lying about steroid use and involvement in a fraud case. Jones, the 2000 Sydney Olympics winner of 100m, 200m and 4x400m relay gold medals, 4x100m relay, and long jump bronze medals had earlier surrendered her medals on being found guilty of steroid use. Since then, her names had been expunged from the record books. Her problems multiplied last October, when she admitted that she has lied to a federal investigator in November 2003 that she had never used performance-enhancing drugs. The second charge against the athlete was of conniving with her former boyfriend sprinter Tim Montgomery in lying before a federal investigator in a cheque fraud case. Jones’ six months prison term will begin from 11 March. Scandals involving performance-enhancing drugs have been troubling the international athletic meets for a long time. Stringent drug testing measures have been able to nab a number of international athletes of using banned steroids. Is it correct to say that these athletes are solely responsible for consuming these drugs? Have they been lured by others? In many cases, it has been found that the coaches of these athletes have instigated the naive runners, many of whom come from an impoverished background to take these drugs to enhance their skills through increased physical power. To be successful in the international gaming arena means handsome prize money and endorsements that are even more lucrative for the athletes, who serve as the role model of the society. Greed becomes nemesis for them. Stringent punishment to athletes like Marion Jones will be a revelation to all future athletes that there is no substitution to hard work.

Cancellara defends world time-trial title

Posted on February 1, 2012 by admin

The man just got into some awesome speed to successfully defend his time-trial crown at the Road World Championships in Stuttgart. Last year, he also ended the three-year reign of Australia’s Michael Rogers. The Swiss rider, Cancellara who wore the leader’s yellow jersey after winning the prologue for the first week of this year’s Tour de France, covered the bumpy 44.9-kilometre trek clocking 55 minutes and 44 seconds. The Hungarian Laszlo Bodrogi was 52 seconds behind on the second spot and Stef Clement of Netherland spotted the third place, 58 seconds back. Amid overcast and chilly conditions, Cancellara overtook Vladimir Gusev even though the Russian started one minute before him. His superiority was such that he overtook last year’s silver medalist David Zabriskie of the United States, who also started two minutes earlier and faded to 12th spot. Last year’s bronze medalist, Vinokourov was not part of the race following drug violation at the Tour de France. Meanwhile, Britain’s representatives, Bradley Wiggins and David Millar finished 10th and 18th respectively and none looked happy, but they need not be so as Wiggins’ top 10 result guarantees Great Britain two starters in the Beijing Olympics for the men’s time trial event. At the end Cancellara said, It was a hard thing, there was bigger pressure on me than last year. I am not in the same condition as last year. I’m pretty satisfied … We will drink a glass of champagne or more. However, the ongoing championships continue on Saturday with women’s and under-23 men’s road race. The elite men’s road race ends the event on Sunday.