Spanish driver and double formula one champion Fernando Alonso is set to start a new chapter in his racing career and that also in familiar working conditions. Come 2008 season the former Mclaren driver would once more wear the colours of French team Renault where he made his name as a racing champion. Although many doubt the prospects of Alonso’s success in the team given Renault’s below-par performance last season, the Spaniard is determined to make a mark in his old team. Many teams, including Toyota and Red Bull, were linked to Alonso ever since the former champion left Mclaren under acrimonius circumstances but some important factors made the Spaniard rejoin Renault. Firstly, Alonso would be given the number one driver status in the team which was a serious issue in his one year with Mclaren after Lewis Hamilton’s strong driving performance. Furthermore, he would be working under familiar working environment and both Fernando and the team know each other perfectly. Renault team boss Flavio Briatore has excellent relationship with with the Spanish driver and both enjoy each other’s work ethics. With the driving line-up decided for Renault where Alonso would partner Brazilian newcomer Nelsinho, the onus is now upon the French team to produce the desired car to help Fernando Alonso and the rest of the team to compete for the championship next season. Success in formula one is absolutely essential and with the high-profile Fernando Alonso back in their fold, Renault cannot afford to repeat their poor 2007 performance next season. No doubt Briatore and his team would need to work tremendously hard over the close season to make a mark in the coming season which is equally essential for Fernando Alonso’s successful career.
There is something that makes you sit up and take notice when great men choose to demonstrate the magic of their craft. It is probably all those PGA titles that make you take notice when he speaks, but irrespective of the reasons; when Tiger Woods speaks, the world pays close attention. But then I must confess that even a Tiger woods teeing off cannot keep me up when I start watching golf. I mean, I rarely even feel like watching it and even when I will myself to do so, it is not long before I doze off. I always wondered what all the fuss was about hitting a still ball in to a hole, but after trying a couple of times I realized the truth. It is just that men like Woods make it look so easy. So when a player of his caliber is out on a hiatus attending paternal duty, then it sure is a big break for all the others that constantly end up runner-up to the great man. But Tiger, being the generous bloke that he is, has decided to give them an opportunity to win £1.8m each year as he has refused to join the European Tour any time soon. The Dubai Open is going to be the season ending tournament each year with the top 60 players of the world fighting it out for the £1.8m prize money. But to qualify for the event each player must play at least 11 Tour-sanctioned events each year. According to Tiger, that is a few too many. It is hard to blame the man as he already earns a good £50 million each year and that amount is only going to go up. So to expect that he would join the European Tour and play more number of events for the prize money in Dubai is a bit ridiculous. This might not be a very bad thing as it gives many other players a chance to earn a sum, which would be surely huge for them. Tiger also spoke about his return and the fact that his longest break since he went professional was actually delightful. He said that he loved spending every minute with his baby girl, while his wife went away to ski. He said that he quite enjoyed all the precious moments with his daughter and told that even the sleepless nights were special. It seems that the great man has finally found some time for his personal life and that is sure going to revitalize him for seasons ahead. Tiger’s comeback will be over an invitational featuring strong British Isles presence in Luke Donald, Paul Casey, Colin Montgomerie, Lee Westwood and Open champion Padraig Harrington. It is expected to ease Tiger back in to his famous swing and hopefully we’ll see a clean sweep of the majors next time around.
Serbian Novak Djokovic had to call all his gifted talent and determination to see-off crowd favourite Jo-Wilfried Tsonga for his first ever Grand Slam title at a packed Rod Laver Arena on Sunday. The 2008 final was itself somewhat unexpected with hot favourite and top seeded Roger Federer being stopped in his tracks by a resurgent Djokovic and Muhammad Ali look alike Tsonga taking care of the likes of Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray, Richard Gasquet and Mikhail Youzhny on his way to the fairytale journey. By winning at Melbourne Park, Novak Djokovic becomes the first ever Serb to win a tennis Grand Slam, although Monica Seles won three Australian Open titles while competing under the erstwhile Yugoslav flag from 1991-93. As expected, world number three Djokovic received a barrage of immensely powerful Tsonga forehands, backhand and volleys throughout the match, especially in the first set before giving back his own in the next three to win the title 4-6,6-4,6-3,7-6(7-2). The win breaks the sequence of 11 straight majors won by either Roger Federer or Rafael Nadal since Marat Safin’s victory at the same tournament in 2005. Yesterday’s final was highly entertaining for the Melbourne crowd with Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga enjoying the bulk of the support and one banner inside the arena showed the image of the great American boxer Muhammad Ali with a tennis racket in hand. The first set was exactly like a boxing tussle with both Tsonga and Djokovic belting the tennis balls all round the park. The powerful nature of the game made STARSPORTS commentator Alan Wilkins predicting burst or cracked match balls at the end of the game. Well, that might not have happened but the world of tennis has been provided a clear signal of the emergence of two young talented fighters that would entertain people all round the world in years to come. The final may have been their first ever ATP meeting but hopefully it would not be the last. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga came to the Australian open ranked 38th in the world and would now move on to 18th by his runners-up performance. His main aim now would be to remain determined and keep up his consistency, for many a times before players have faded away from the competitive tennis arena after tremendous initial promise. Tsonga has the talent and the frame to succeed on any surface. Coming back to the match itself, 20-year old Djokovic rebounded from the first set setback to win the second and third sets before saving a crucial breakpoint to win the fourth set tiebreaker to become the youngest player since Sweden’s Stefan Edberg beat Mats Wilander in 1985 to win the Australian Open time
Common sense has prevailed within the Fia independent courtroom. It is a nice feeling for Formula One fans, not to mention Mclaren driver Lewis Hamilton himself, that the championship has been decided on-track rather than in the London courtroom where Mclaren had launched their appeal to change the outcome of the championships. Although the Woking-based Mclaren had legal points to support their appeal, there is no doubt that this was a covert attempt by the team to cover its technical mistaken during the last two races in China and Brazil. Furthermore, Mclaren has lost a lot of credibility since the ‘spygate’ scandal and the behaviour meted out to former driver Fernando Alonso which saw the Spanish driver and former champion leave the team immediately after the season. This was one last effort made by team boss Ron Denis to bring some smile in the faces of Mclaren supporters and team members. But one team member who would be highly relieved is the brilliant rookie driver Lewis Hamilton. The British driver, in his first season as a Formula One driver, has impressed the racing fraternity with his matured and skilled driving and was the favourite to win the crown until Mclaren’s mistakes and Kimi Raikonen’s ice-cool driving came in his way. Hamilton, like a true sportsman had always insisted that the Finn Raikonen was the deserved winner and the appeal was useless. But team Mclaren was desperate to win something that could have compensated the massive fine that it had to pay following the shameful spying scandal. No doubt, this FIA ruling would provide a lot of credibility to the sport of Formula One for the next season and there would be no more twists in this season’s competition.
Whoever is looking for a man of sheer determination and an incredible story of defying fate, shouldn’t have to look any further. Having both legs amputated between the knees and ankles, would put a virtual end on most peoples’ lives. However, when it happened to Oscar Pistorius (born on 22nd November, 1976 in Pretoria, Gauteng Province) at the age of 11months, his life just began. He was keen on sports like rugby, water polo and tennis while in school (Pretoria Boys’ High School). After a serious rugby knee injury, he was introduced to athletics in January 2004 while undergoing rehabilitation. And the rest was…Eternity. Pistorius seemingly went on a record-breaking and record-making spree after that. His career at an awed glance: 2004: He came third overall in the T44 100m event and won the finals with a world record time of 21.97 seconds the Summer Paralympics. 2005: Storius finished sixth in the South African Championships over 400m. Despite the honorable invitation from IAAF to take part in an able-bodied event, the 400m race at the IAAF Grand Prix in Helsinki, Finland, he missed the opportunity due to school work pressure. 2006: He bagged gold in the 100, 200 and 400m events, breaking the world record over 200 m. at the Paralympics Athletics World Championships In the same year, Pistorius was conferred the Order of Ikhamanga in Bronze (OIB) by the President of South Africa for outstanding achievement in sports. 17 March, 2007 Pistorius finished second in the South African Championships, with a time record of 46.56 seconds. 13th July 2007, Pistorius ran in the 400m race at Rome’s Golden Gala and finished second in run B with a time of 46.90s, closely followed by the 400m at the Norwich Union British Grand Prix at the Don Valley Stadium in Sheffield on July 15, 2007, which didn’t go too well, given that he finished seventh among eight contestants and was disqualified for running outside his lane. Pistorius looks forward to participating with aplomb in the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China, and other able-bodied events. And all that with his artificial limbs, j-shaped carbon-fibre prosthetics, called ‘Cheetahs’, manufactured by Icelandic company �ssur. He has been the subject of heated controversies and often accused of receiving unfavorable advantages. However, no obstacle has yet succeeded in blocking his path. He runs on and on and on and has aptly been labeled ‘Blade Runner’ and ‘the fastest man on no legs’. Pistorius’ story only opens our eyes to the realization that if he can come so far in life after being born without fibulae in both legs due to a congenital condition, there is no limit to what the rest of us, blessed with all faculties, can achieve in life.
The World Anti-Doping Agency, popularly known as Wada, was conceived in 1999 in an attempt to filter out the cheat from the sports arena. 8 years fast forward and the organization has been massively successful in chucking out the frauds from sports. Yet much remains to be accomplished still in this context and that is the precise reason why Wada is taking novel steps. Wada now wants to fight drugs use laboratory testing as well as with police forces constantly patrolling the smuggling of drugs to the sportspersons. What it aims to do is get the required government help to stop the easy access of illegal and banned substances to sports athletes. Taking this step would be immensely useful as it would not only bar the potential cheaters from taking drugs but also help clean sports from the outside. The Third World Conference on Doping in Sports in Madrid that runs from Thursday to Saturday will try and direct the fight against doping to a new level. The entry of police forces into the equation has already cut some ice when Operation Raw Deal was responsible for convicting famous US female athlete Marian Jones as a cheat two months ago. Law enforcement agencies can contribute to the fight against doping in sports by shutting manufacturing units of banned steroids, arresting those responsible for making such drugs and also stop the easy trade of raw materials necessary for illegal drugs manufacturing. Not only that, government initiative in fighting drugs in sports would also make a positive impact on the society as a whole. The Montreal-based World Anti-Doping Agency that is now funded by the International Olympic Committee and governments would also elect a new President during the Madrid conference. The most likely candidate to replace Dick Pound is John Fahey, who is a former Australian finance minister and premier of New South Wales. If indeed, he be elected as the new head of Wada, then the tie between government forces and laboratory drug-testers would be cemented for good. Image Source: Cache
Ringtones add glamour to mobile phones. The sound of a melodious ring tone is always better than that of an annoying pre-installed tune. Ringtones are available easily today. You can have access to your favorite ringtone on the World Wide Web. You can also download Java games and screen savers for your mobile phone from the Internet. However, the craze for ringtones is unmatched. Every minute, millions of cell phone users download ring tones of their favorite songs. Rock, pop, blues, reggae, rap, hip-hop, country, R&B, metal, and Gospel ringtones are freely available these days. There was a time when the concept of ‘free ringtones’ would sound ridiculous, and impossible. Today, however, the situation is little different. A number of websites provide ‘free download’ facility to users. Is there a catch to it? Some websites allow you to download the complete ringtone for free, while others would let you download only a part of the ringtone. Cell phones have become status symbols. Ringtones can help you express your taste and style. Ringtones are not limited to rock or pop music; you have the freedom to download your favorite ‘sports song ringtones’ too. Sports music ringtones can keep the sportsman inside you alive. Here are some of the top sport music ringtones- NFL Total Access, Golf on ESPN Theme Song, Hockey Organ, Talking Baseball 2007, Rest in Peace, New England On 4th Down, and the Lombardi Trophy. These ringtones might be available in various formats viz. monophonic, polyphonic, and true tone. You can search the Internet for free mp3 ringtones of baseball songs too. Cell phones are slowly taking over mp3 players; most phones have a built-in mp3 player. The only problem is that the battery in a mobile phone cannot hold a sufficiently long enough charge. Cutting edge technology allows us to download ringtones whenever we desire.
Baseball star LA Dodgers slugger Manny Ramirez was suspended for 50 games after a drug test showed positive results for a banned performance enhancing drug. Ramirez had earlier tested positive during the spring training and a “B” Sample also tested positive recently. The suspension will cost him $8 million out of his $25 million salary. Ramirez said that he was not sure that he was taking a banned drug and he had been prescribed the drug by a doctor for a personal medical problem. He did not challenge the suspension and said “Recently I saw a physician for a personal health issue. He gave me a medication, not a steroid, which he thought was okay to give me. Unfortunately, the medication was banned under our drug policy. Under the policy, that mistake is now my responsibility.” Sources said that the drug was HCG, human chorionic gonadotropin, a drug used by women with fertility problems. The drug increases production of testosterone and is used to treat erectile dysfunction caused by low testosterone levels. Low testosterone levels can be caused by steroid abuse. It should be noted that safe medication like levitra is available to treat erectile dysfunction. Another doctor said that gonadotropin is used to treat testicles that have basically stopped functioning especially in men with a history of steroid use. The drug itself is neither a steroid nor a growth agent. Ramirez is the highest profile casualty of the stricter drug policy that MLB is now enforcing. HCG was added to the banned list by the MLB recently.”It’s not infrequently part of the mix of the poly-drug approach to doping,” said Dr. Gary Wadler, chairman of the banned substances committee for the World Anti-Doping Agency. Another MLB official said that if Ramirez had a genuine need for the drug, he could have applied for a medical exemption but no such application was made.
Ah, Spring time. When the nasty snow finally melts out of the last parking lots, young women’s legs finally escape their cloth prisons, and flowers sit all pretty and sweet smelling on top of picturesque meadows. Or some nonsense like that. What really matters is that it’s baseball season, and what else could possibly be on your mind than watching the boys of Summer take their first few practice swings, and shake the dust off of their hitherto neglected bats and balls (of the baseball variety, of course). And as the temperature gets warmer, the action on the diamond and in the out field is going to get hotter than blazes! And since you just happen to be watching baseball anyway, have you ever considered that it might be even more fun if you were to “make it interesting” by betting on some portion of the game? Sportsbetting is actually a single word, now – and while it is pretty much self explanatory, a lot of people do not realize just how many different component parts of a baseball game you can actually bet on. Of course, everybody knows that you can bet on the final out come of the game (as in, who wins and who loses). But did you know that there are a whole lot of other parts of a baseball game that you can bet on, as well? For instance, you can bet on the final points spread – that means how many points are between the winning and losing team. And you can bet on how many bases are stolen, how many outs there are in a given inning, and how many runs are scored during the game. You can even bet on some downright crazy things, like how long it will take to sing the national anthem before the game starts.
In Carl Froch, Britain have a really huge and promising hope to stamp its authority on the sport of boxing. While football and cricket make up the bulk of the sporting culture in Britain, boxing is often relegated to the sidelines to be practiced by a chosen few. But that could change to a considerable degree should Froch beat Russia’s Denis Inkin and gain the right to battle it out for the prestigious WBC title. Although the fight is yet to be given a date and a venue, the anticipation and hype are already multiplying. Froch is 30 years of age and is unbeaten in 22 fights and the WBC has made the statement that should he beat the 29-year old Inkin, who is himself unbeaten in 31 professional encounters, then the boxer from Notthingham would qualify to fight 35-year old Joe Calzaghe for the WBC title. Froch is certainly the favourite to win the fight against Inkin. The duo confronted each other in an amateur tie in 1999. Although things have much changed in the last 8 or so years, Froch’s recent run of confidence and public support should see him through against Inkin this time around too. Carl Froch says: I’d like to think Joe Calzaghe will be there when I get past Inkin. I want to keep that dream alive. I’m one fight away from the ultimate aim and the biggest prize in boxing, the WBC title. Inkin is a decent fighter who is cool and skilful. I boxed him as an amateur in 1999 when he beat me on points but I put him down in the last round with an uppercut that really hurt him. This will be revenge. Image Source: Monokli