Chennai,the Champions

Indian Cricket League 20-20 Tournament(2007) should be one hell of a tournament ever in Indian cricketing history.The six teams that competed in this tournament were Chennai Superstars,Mumbai champs,Kolkata Tigers,Hyderabad Heros,Delhi Jets and Chandigarh Lions.When the squad was announced for each team,i was terribly disappointed with my home team chennai squad as it dint possess any hard hitting players who can change the game like Cairns for Chandigarh,Rassaq n Inzi for Pakistan sorry Hyderabad,Mcmillan n Klusener for Kolkata and Lara n Astle for Mumbai.But the main plus for Chennai was Bevan being the coach and experienced Stuart Law with Ian Harvey(all being Australians).But i felt Chennai and Delhi would be the first 2 teams to get eliminated and Mumbai would win the tournament.I guess everyone would have had the same opinion initially but everything turned upside down.Mumbai champs(???) were the first to be eliminated then the Hyderabad Heros followed them.In semi finals ,Chennai Superstars defeated strong Kolkata Tigers and Chandigarh Lions defeated weak Delhi Jets.

It was today the final held between Chennai Superstars and Chandigarh Lions.Batting first after losing the toss, the Chennai Superstars made 155/8 in their stipulated 20 overs, largely due to useful contributions from their two Aussie imports -- opener Ian Harvey making 36 off 31 balls and captain Stuart Law making 34 off 28 balls.Daryl Tuffey was the most successful bowler for the Chandigarh Lions with figures of 2/32.In reply, the Chandigarh Lions could muster only 143/8.Tejinder Pal Singh top scored with 35 off 33 balls while South African all-rounder Andrew Hall [Images] was left unbeaten at 30 off 27 balls.

Pakistan seamer Shabbir Ahmed impressed with the ball for the Superstars with figures of 4/23 with a Hat-Trick was announced the Player of the Match.Ian Harvey with his all around performance both with bat n ball through out the series was announced the Player of the Tournament.

I was very much excited of my Chennai Superstars winning this Tournament and i convey my hearty congrats to them.They deserve every bit of it.

Hi-speed Fight at Night !!!

Formula one's first night race will be held in Singapore in 2008 after the 18-Grand Prix calender was already confirmed by the sport's governing body.The city will host the Sept. 28 event,which it hopes will draw 80,000 spectators and generate S$100 million($68 million) in tourism spending.
Singapore has teamed up with Italy-based Valerio Maioli S.p.a,which specializes in the engineering of lighting and telecommunication system.Lighting plays an important part in the race and the company said it will use lights to guide the drivers.The entire track will be fitted with close to 1,500 projectors,placed 4 meters apart.This makes it almost four times brighter than an average sports stadium.But the brightness will not be too glaring for the drivers.This is because the projectors will be erected 10 meters above the course.The power surge will not result in any power outage or blackout,thanks to 12-twined power generators.The light will be brought to Singapore in early January to be tested in a controlled environment.
Contractors will then take approximately two to three months to set up the system,so the lighting system will likely be up in the second quarter of 2008."It's never happened before,so its very exciting for the world,and everybody's waiting for this night race.For instance, there are 400 reporters going for each grand prix.For Singapore,probably 600 are coming,almost double in number,because of the interest,"said Colin Syn,President of Singapore Grand Prix.
No wonder we are about to see a real "NFS Underground" live next year on 28th September.

Sense and Simplicity

Two time world champion, currently ranking No.1, the pride of Tamilnadu, the man of simplicity Chess GrandMaster Viswanathan Anand has always been an inspiration for me and he influenced me a lot in the recent past that i couldn't stop myself from writing about one of my heroes. After winning the world title for the second time, vishy as called by his close friends, came back home first to Delhi where he got a warm welcome and then to chennai as he was interviewed by the local channels. As i am a sports freak, i used to see only sports news whether its TV or newspaper, and i caught up with vichu(the way i call my hero) in TV news. There i felt the realism of vichu when he conversed in his local language Tamil which many people feel difficult to talk these days in our very own state though they are of tamil origin.

For the stature of vichu, who tour different countries most of the time its almost possible that he lose touch with his mother tongue. But he proved its not possible unless you fake yourself of being so. When men like spinner muttiah muralitharan and speedster narain karthikeyan can speak in tamil, why people who live in tamilnadu should pretend to ve lost touch with the language just because they learnt to speak English. I feel really proud of the man vichu, who always use tamil whenever he talks to the local people. There are many occasions i caught up with people faking as though they were brought up abroad, especially in shows like jackpot in jaya TV, jodi no.1 in vijay tv, some callers in sun music, almost all tamil heroines (though their english sucks big time), some tamil heros and the list goes on. My question is why use other language taking so much pain when both speaker and listener are of same origin. Why should people ignore their own language???why people look up and down if i converse in tamil in my own state???Yes, English is needed for so many reasons but why make it a prestige issue, use it when needed to, why show off with the few known words. I am not ashamed of speaking in my mother tongue rather i feel pity for people living a fake life. Its high time these people learn from the great ones like Anand and our own former president Dr.A.P.J.Abdul kalam to live a real and simple life.

P.S. I am not a follower of Dr.Ramdoss and i am not against English as i like it too. Its just my simple effort to make my language stand high.

Alonso quits Mclaren

McLaren have announced that former world champion Fernando Alonso is to leave the team, after both parties agreed to a ‘mutual parting of ways’. Alonso, who joined the British squad from Renault at the start of 2007, did have two years left to run on his contract.

The statement released on Friday revealed that, after discussions, it had been decided ‘it would be in the best interests of both parties to bring the relationship to an end’.

Although Alonso won four races during the 2007 season, and finished third in the championship battle, relations between the Spaniard and McLaren had become increasingly strained in recent months.
“He is a great driver but for some reason the combination of Vodafone McLaren Mercedes and Fernando has not really worked out, and in the end we reached a stage where none of us could find a way to move forward," explained McLaren team principal Ron Dennis. "We all believe that our joint decision to part company is for the best, and we will now continue to focus on our 2008 world championship challenge.

“Everybody at Vodafone McLaren Mercedes, especially McLaren’s Spanish Partners Banco Santander and Mutua Madrilena and the team’s title partner Vodafone, want to wish Fernando all the best for the future,”

For his part, Alonso said that, although he never really felt at home at McLaren, he still believed they were a great squad.

“Since I was a boy I had always wanted to drive for McLaren, but sometimes in life things do not work out," explained the 26 year-old. "I continue to believe that McLaren is a great team. Yes, we have had our ups and downs during the season, which has made it extra-challenging for all of us, and it is not a secret that I never really felt at home.

“I know there have been suggestions of favouritism within the team and people say a lot of things in the heat of battle, but in the end I was always provided with an equal opportunity to win. Today’s decision allows all of us to focus on 2008, and I wish the team, Vodafone, Banco Santander, Mutua Madrilena and all the other team partners who I have worked closely with during the year, the best for the future.”

The team also revealed that an announcement on Alonso’s replacement would be made in due course.