Sportspad

In what can be termed as nothing but ‘A master class at the Master’s’, Argentine David Nalbandian destroyed the young Spaniard Nadal on his way to his second Maters Title in two weeks. David had been setting the hard courts across Europe ablaze for the past few weeks with performances that are nothing less than phenomenal. While we all knew that David was an exceptionally good player on clay, the past couple of Masters series tournaments have showed that he is in awesome form.

Two-time formula one world champion Fernando Alonso has agreed to leave the Mclaren team after just one year into the three-year contract. The Spaniard joined Mclaren from French team Renault at the start of the year. Mclaren boss Ron Denis announced that the contract was terminated by mutual consent.

Martina Hingis might be ranked among the best female players of all time in the glamorous sport of tennis but she won’t be able to shake off the doping issue that has lifted its ugly head to entrap the Swiss tennis star. Although the WTA has refused to confirm that Hingis tested positive for a banned substance during this year’s Wimbledon, the tennis player’s decision to come out and retire from the sport is a firm indication that nothing more can be done.

Hingis herself has revealed that her A sample tested positive for cocaine at this year’s Wimbledon but has denied that she ever took the drug. Hingis doesn’t go head-on to accuse the drug-testers of any mistake but at the same time, Hingis denies that she ever took any banned drugs to enhance her performance.

They call it the sport of truth and the cycling federation is all out to cleanse the sport of cycling from all the filth that it has come to gather over the past few years. The Tour de France is the most widely recognized and most popular cycling event in the world and the sport’s authorities have decided to revamp next year’s race.

The renovation of the Tour comes as a calculated measure to dig the sport of cycling out of the deep pit that it has pushed into by doping and cheating. No doubt then that one new element noticed in the new format would be the compulsory participation of the cyclists in a series of tests that would enable the building of a blood profile for each participants. The race organizers believe that this step would enhance the blood-testing procedure.

Marc Lievremont might have had a brilliant playing career for the French national rugby union team but that doesn’t guarantee that he would have a similar illustrious career as a coach. Lievremont’s appointment as the new rugby union coach of the French national team came on Tuesday in the wake of the departure of Bernard Laporte to the post of a junior minister in the French government.

But doubts have already started to crop up over the appointment. The former flanker is relatively inexperienced in the coaching arena at the highest and that could be damaging for a national rugby team that has potential which was illustrated when they reached the semi-finals of the recently concluded Rugby World Cup on home soil.

Spyker have been granted permission by the FIA to change their name to Force India. The team, bought by Vijay Mallya in partnership with Mol family for £61m will race under the new name complementing its logo in the colors of Indian Flag from next season. Spyker had paid £51m to Midland F1 outfit in 2006 but could not make an impact in this season’s championship winning just one constructor’s point in Japanese GP.

Spyker team made a loss of £9m in the first half of the year and perhaps this forced its owners to make a decision to sell the team.
Mallaya also known as King of good times is the chairman of UB Group, which has beer spirits and airlines operations in India.

Kimi Raikkonen: F1 World Champion 2007! Now if anyone would have told me this a couple of races back then I sure as hell would have laughed at their stupidity. But then sporting gods have a cruel way of laughing in your face. In the high voltage drama that surrounded a season plagued by controversy & allegations, we should have known that the ending would be no different.

It was not more than a couple of races back that young Brit, Lewis Hamilton, looked as if he had the season all wrapped up. But the hot driving sensation by now must have realized that one can never take anything for granted in international sport.

The British driving sensation came into this race 4 points ahead of teammate Alonso and good 7 points in front of the latest ‘Flying Finn’ (still think Mika was the true Flying Finn). But then in a season so full of stories & surprises the grand finale was no different. The race mirrored the turbulent season, with Massa taking the lead, followed by Kimi in the First turn itself. This left Lewis fourth, which he would and I say, should have settled for. But Lewis then ran wide, to drop to seventh. And, luck caught up with the rookie as he had a gear box problem dropping him to 18th by lap seven.

File this under the ’shock news’ segment. Sunday saw some surprises in the sports arena. First Kimi won the F1 title & now Roger Federer lost a tennis match! As much as you might tell me that sport is unpredictable, Federer losing at the Masters finals in Madrid is still a shocker. The super man of the tennis world seems to have been exposed to the rays of Krypton’s sun & transformed into human for one night.

David Nalbandian made a came back from behind, after losing the first set, to beat the master, Roger Federer at the masters. 1-6, 6-3, 6-3 - was what the score board said. David became the first player since Boris Becker in 1994 to beat top three seeds of the world at the masters. Nalbandian ranked 25th, had earlier defeated world number 2 & 3, Nadal & Djokovic.

What makes this amazing is the fact that by the end of the first set, Federer looked in cruise mode and as usual looked as if he was out to give a master class in Tennis. Then there was a minor break during the second set due to leakage is water sprinklers nearby. Maybe this threw off the great Swiss mater’s concentration off. He was then broken and soon the final set arrived with both players claiming a set a piece. Roger looked nervy as the final set started and soon his ground strokes went astray. The Swiss master’s incredible precision and phenomenal serve deserted him. Super man looked human and vulnerable. Nalbandian swooped in and knocked him off the perch as Federer’s serve was broken in the third game. This was only his seventh loss of the year.

Thirty six days ago when England lost by a 36-point margin to South Africa in their opening Pool game in the Rugby World Cup, most of the rugby pundits and commentators were writing off England’s chances of even reaching the final, let alone successfully defending the trophy they won in so scintillating a fashion four years ago in Australia. But since then, a whole host of changes have occurred and England have dramatically improved both in form and result.

When South Africa and England lock horns to contest the final of the 2007 Rugby World Cup at the legendary Stade de France in Paris, sparks would fly all around and there’s little doubt that spectators would observe a different game that the one on display last month. At the time, England didn’t have their talisman Jonny Wilkinson and were humbled by a ferociously strong South African team that has virtually demolished all the teams they have played so far in the competition.

Both Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton will fight for the one final time this year in the season ending Brazilian Grand Prix to decide the Formula 1 world champion this weekend. Lewis Hamilton is presently leading the driver championship but cannot afford to slip in Brazil because two-time world champion Fernando Alonso looks very determined to win the driver championship third time in a row.