The once in 4 years extravaganza comes to an end and Spain get the bragging rights for the next 4 years.  The 2008 Euro Champions and now the World Champs, Spain deserve all the praise and respect.

Didnt bother to wake up at 2:30 in the morning to watch the match.  I do love the sport, but not as crazy to wake up at unearthly hours to watch the sport.  Though i had woken up at more or less the same timings last World cup to watch Italy – France battle it out.

In these times of Financial crisis (with Spain being one of the worst affected countries in Europe), this win will come as a soothing balm for the Spanish people.

Viva Espana.

PS: Thank God, this was not the IPL finals and thank God there was no Lalit Modi.  Imagine him droning on and on being the best thing since sliced bread and all the hard work he did to ensure the tournament’s success.  Class is surely not something to be associated with either Modi or IPL.

Above pictures courtesy: FIFA

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India’s Leander Paes and Cara Black of Zimbabwe beat South African Wesley Moodie and Lisa Raymond of the US 6-4, 7-6 (5) to win the Wimbledon mixed doubles title here Sunday.

With this victory, Paes surpassed his one-time doubles partner Mahesh Bhupathi in winning the most Grand Slam titles for India. Paes now has six doubles and six mixed-doubles titles. Bhupathi has 11 Grand Slam titles — four doubles and seven mixed doubles titles.

Full article here

Above pictures courtesy: Wimbledon

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So, this is how the semi final line up stacks up.

Uruguay  vs  Netherlands on 6th July 2010

Germany  vs  Spain on 7th July 2010

My money is on a Germany-Uruguay final.  But then, have the Germans peaked a bit too early? Spain might be looking at making it a grand double after winning the Euro-2008.  The Dutch with all their egos and infighting are capable of making it to the final too.

Pictures courtesy: FIFA

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Germany 4-1 England

It would be sad to see Germany and Argentina meeting in the next round as only one can go through.  Sad, i love both the teams.

Above picture courtesy: FIFA

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Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal continued her rampaging form as she completed a spectacular hat-trick of titles by clinching the Indonesia Open Super Series with a three-game triumph over Japan’s Sayaka Sato on Sunday.

Unbeaten for the past three weeks, the top seeded defending champion defeated her unseeded but resolute rival 21-19, 13-21, 21-11 in a rollercoaster encounter that lasted 45 minutes.

This was Saina’s third successive title, having won the Indian Open Grand Prix at home and the Singapore Open Super Series Tournament last week. This is also the 20-year-old world number three’s third Super Series title overall.

Read the rest of the news here

Above picture courtesy: Dhirendra

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Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal clinched her second Super Series title, winning the Singapore Open with a straight-game triumph over qualifier Tzu Ying Tai in the final on Sunday.

The top seed Indian ace needed just 33 minutes to beat Chinese Taipei’s Tai 21-18, 21-15 at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.

The world No 6, who was the lone Indian left in the fray after others crashed out by the semi-final stage, had bagged her maiden Super Series title last June at the Indonesian Open.

The in-form Saina came into the Singapore Open after winning the India Open Grand Prix Gold title last week.

Rest of the article here

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As always, my favourites are anyone other than England and Brazil.  Why i dislike England is because they remind me of the Indian cricket team comprising the fab 5 of yesteryears.  Apart from their personal records, India hardly won anything when they played.  Similarly, i believe the English football team is also a team of superstars.

Brazil is an exception as it manages to win the cup inspite of having so many superstars in their team.  But then they have won the trophy so many times that iam bored of following them.

Argentina, Italy, France, Germany, Spain, Portugal…so many to choose.  Hope Italy doesnt suffer from the defending champions curse and crash out soon.

The matches are telecast late at night here and i dont think i have the patience or energy to stay up late at night to watch the matches.   But will try to catch any of the matches that falls over the weekends.  If i was back home in Hyderabad, i would have stayed up late and watched all the matches with my dad.

My prediction of the toppers per group

Group A – France, Mexico
Group B – Argentina, Korea
Group C – England, USA
Group D – Germany, Australia
Group E – Netherlands, Denmark
Group F – Italy, Slovakia (guess)
Group G – Brazil, Portugal
Group H – Spain, Switzerland

May the best team win

Above world cup groups image courtesy: Eldirectorioargentino

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After playing exhaustive chess for over three decades, Viswanathan Anand has assured himself a place among all time greats as he retained the World Champion title with consummate ease against Veselin Topalov in his own den in Sofia, Bulgaria on Tuesday.

With the win Anand has accomplished something which no other chess great, not even Garry Kasparov has done. He has asserted his supremacy in the world by winning the title in every possible format of tournament including winning the world chess title three times in a row and against various opponents including two different ones in match format.

He has won in knock-out, round-robin and two matchplay formats to give an apt answer his critics that he cant stand the test of time. Anand now has to his credit a rare combination of the consecutive three World Champion title and four in all including the knockout format that he won in 2000.

He has been awarded many prestigious titles like Chess Oscars for three times on the trot. He is the only non-Russian other than Bobby Fischer to win the award after the tradition was reinstated.

He has also been bestowed with the inaugural Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, India’s highest sporting honour, in 1991, besides the Arjuna Award, the Padmashri (the youngest recipient of the title), Padma Bhushan, the Soviet Land Nehru award, the BPL Achievers of the World, Sportstar, Sportsworld “Sportsman of the year 1995″ Award.

Anand, who shifted to Spain in — for better opportunities, has received the ‘Jameo de Oro’ the countries highest civilian award given to a foreigner.

Read the full news here

To watch all the matches, go here and click on the animated moves.

Above picture courtesy: Telegraph

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The story goes like this. Before the Indian Premier League’s (IPL) third season took off, Lalit Modi, former commissioner of the league, made a close friend of his an offer, Modi thought was irresistible.

For Rs. 5 crore, Modi’s friend could buy the rights to have his company’s name plastered on a blimp that would float over stadiums where league matches are played. The mileage it could possibly attract, Modi argued, was worth a lot more than the Rs. 5 crore he was asking for.

His friend, the scion of a prominent tyre manufacturing company in the country thought it too expensive a deal and declined. Modi then took the proposal to MRF, his friend’s arch rival, who saw value in the offer and bought into Modi’s pitch. Estimates vary on how much Modi sold the rights to MRF for. But consensus is, it was anywhere between Rs. 12 crore and Rs. 18 crore.

As the season started to roll, Modi’s friend figured he’d lost out on a sweet deal. And so the next time he met Modi at a league match in New Delhi, he admitted he’d made the wrong call; and that Modi ought to figure a way out to get his brand into the IPL. Modi pointed to the 30 yard circle in the stadium and offered his friend, a buddy from his days at school, an opportunity to re-brand the circle with his company’s name for Rs. 30 crore. “30 friggin’ crores!” the friend yelled and baulked. Modi didn’t blink. “You didn’t take it when I offered you a sweet deal. This is the best I can do now,” he said. A few moments of awkward silence followed.

Apparently, Modi had gone to the home minister’s office to seek clearances for the league matches. But in an appalling breach of protocol, he refused to wait for his turn to meet Chidambaram and instead attempted to barge into the minister’s office. Now, Chidambaram is the kind of man who doesn’t suffer either fools or arrogance and promptly asked Modi to leave. A miffed Modi said some daft things, stormed out of the room and eventually created an altogether avoidable controversy that snowballed into Season 2 being shifted to South Africa.

Read the full article here

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An explosive start to the tournament is expected starting today when the defending champions, Deccan Chargers take on Kolkatta Knight Riders at Mumbai.

IPL3 is even bigger as not only is it back in India, almost all the world players will be there (sooner or later).  And most importantly, there is no Pakistani players (thank God for small mercies).  Hope it stays that way for years to come.

For the first time ever, IPL will not only be streamed lived on youtube, but also will be telecast live in multiplexes around the country.  Imagine watching 3 hours of cricket on a mega 70mm screen with stereo sound and hunderds of screaming fans in a dark hall.

Am sure, i don’t need to spell out my favourites.  Once a Hyderabadi, always a Hyderabadi.

Go Deccan Chargers Go !

Full schedule of IPL3 can be obtained here

All pictures source: Ibnlive, Rediff & Telugupeople

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