Traditional Chinese Medicine: A Ban Or Boon For The Athletes

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The traditional Chinese medicine has its origin in the thousands years old history. It is highly recommended by some for the Olympic sports stars, but on the other had it’s also forbidden for having some banned substances. These remedies have been in controversy since a long time. The traditional remedies are made from natural products, like extracts from plants and animals. But Olympic officials argue that they contain herbal ephedrine and stimulants, which are banned for the players. A test showing positive results of these drugs creates problems for them. So these products should be avoided by the sports persons. It often leads to scandal. It has been a continuous advice for not to take these at the time of Olympic Games. Ms Wang Cheng, a graduate in Chinese traditional medicines is of the opinion that it’s the best way of treatment for the athletes. It has quick relief quality that heals the injuries within short time. It’s far stronger than any other scientifically developed drugs. So it can help the athletes at the time of struggling for Olympic medals. Yao Ming, the basketball star, strongly believes on traditional medicine and has announced that he would use these to help his recovery from surgery on his ankle. He finds no reason for avoiding it, because it’s used by all since many centuries. Instances are many, when traditional medicine caused in scandals during the Olympics. Ouyang Kunpeng, Chinese top men’s backstroke swimmer, was punished with a life ban for testing positive for clenbuterol, a muscle-building agent. In 1990s, Ma Junren, a coach with six of his runner athletes were banished from the 2000 Olympic squad for suspected doping. If we consider all these past consequences, it seems better not to have those controversial drugs, whether it is traditional or not. It may be capable of fast recovery, but what to do with that recovery, if there is no chance to play?

Us baseball team charged for using drugs repeatedly

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According to the report of George Mitchell, Director of the Boston Red Sox Baseball team, there are many players who are using steroids and human growth hormones and he has asked Major League Baseball to form an investigation team to find out the names. MLB head Bud Selig said in a news conference that baseball fans deserve a fair game. Baseball is one of the most popular sports in America and if such a widespread use of drugs is true, then it will be very disappointing to the fans. Among the names are Barry Bonds who denied that he had used an untraceable steroid and this was investigated by Mr Selig. In the report of Mr Mitchell it was stated that there were evidence of all the 30 major League Clubs being affected by the use of banned substances. Some of the sport’s biggest stars, Roger Clemens, Barry Bonds, Jason Giambi, Gary Sheffield, Eric Gagne, Miguel Tejada, David Justice, Chuck Knoblauch and Andy Pettitte were included in the suspected list of the report. All the players have to respond to the allegation. But it is not clear about the disciplinary action being taken because many of them are not playing in Major League teams. Mr Mitchell is of the opinion that public or the media should not focus on the names disclosed in the report but help baseball give ‘a fresh start’. But media reports that doping in baseball started in 1980s but the tests and punishments started only after a decade. The tests for steroids started in 2002 but penalties were not introduced until 2004. In 2005 a ban on human growth hormones was agreed but there was no reliable test to detect the substance. All this shows the lacking from the MLB side and the report has also criticized the officials for this.

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

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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?

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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?

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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.