May Mary Kom win the Gold!

MC Mary Kom, the Queen of Ring, known as Magnificent Mary is assured of an Olympic medal in London. She will play her Semi-final bout tomorrow.

As people call her Magnificent Mary, she is truly magnificent woman from a corner state of Manipur located in the North-East of India. She is five times World Women Boxing Champion and she is the only woman to win a medal in all the six World Women Boxing Championships. Remarkable, isn’t it? And, yes she is a mother of two kids!

She is the glory of Manipur, North-East India and of course, she is our national glory. She has made every Indian proud with her determination, and consistent performance despite all odds.

London Olympics has for the first time created so much of interests in Athletics and other sports in Cricket crazy India. Yes, for the first time India’s victory over Sri Lanka in Cricket has been outshone by Saina, Mary, Vijay, Gagan, and others. This is a good change, indeed.

I join with billions of her fans and my fellow countrymen in praying for Mary Kom to win the coveted Gold medal for India, for Manipur and for herself in this Olympics. She definitely deserves the Gold. Go for Gold, Mary! We are with you. I also wish for a medal for Devendro, another boxer from Manipur, who will also play tomorrow in the quarter-final round.

Jai Hind!

Sachin hits his 100th century!

Today playing against Bangladesh at Mirpur, Dhaka Sachin hits his 100th international century. Many would, of course, say that this is not a ‘real’ century and doesn’t count, but then they do not know much about the composition of Sachin’s 99 other Test and ODI centuries.

Sachin has scored 6 centuries against Zimbabwe, 4 against Kenya and 4, previously against Bangladesh. And, before I forget, there’s a century against Namibia that is one of the 99. He’s scored 39 of his previous 99 centuries away and 17 at ‘neutral’ venues. That’s his track record.

There can be no denying that the achievement would have been more satisfying if it had come against a much stronger team – but this century is only one of 100 that he has scored. The century is a milestone in the achievement, not the achievement itself. The achievement is the fact that one man has scored 100 centuries in his career, a feat that has never been accomplished earlier and unlikely to be achieved in the future.

Congratulations to Sachin for his excellent performance and incredible records!

Here comes Indian Premier League Soccer

Fowler, Robert Pires, Italy’s World Cup-winning captain Fabio Cannavaro, ex-Chelsea and Argentina striker Hernan Crespo and former Bolton star Jan-Jay Okocha are just some of the big names who took part in Monday’s player auction for the newly-established Premier League Soccer (PLS) tournament. Former Arsenal legend Adams was one of the five managers up for grabs, along with Peter Reid and John Barnes. 
PLS is a West Bengal affair closely modeled on the annual Indian Premier League cricket tournament. The hope is it will give football a bigger stage in this cricket-mad country and perhaps help produce India’s next soccer star.
The inaugural edition of the PLS is likely to get underway with five teams. The competition was supposed to have six teams but at the auction buyers could only be found for five of the 10-year franchises. Haldia could not find a sponsor. The teams are Barasat, Durgapur, Howrah, Kolkata & Siliguri.
Even though their best footballing days are undoubtedly behind them, the likes of Cannavaro, Crespo, Fowler and Pires will certainly add some much-needed stardust to the fledgling league. Players of this caliber and experience will also, hopefully, share their wealth of knowledge with Indian footballers. PLS – like the cricket IPL – has rules that ensure local players get time on the pitch.
Team Barasat – with a base price of Rs 80 lakh – was sold for a whopping Rs 25.15 crore ($5.1mn) for 10 years when the bids were opened at a city hotel on Sunday in Kolkata. Barasat, on the northern fringes of greater Kolkata, became the most expensive hub of Indian football as the auction of franchises for PLS unfolded on Sunday. Hernan Crespo was the hottest property as he fetched $840,000 and went to Barasat.
There are plans to expand PLS beyond West Bengal to other football strongholds in India, such as Goa and Kerala, maybe next year.

Messi wins his third consecutive Ballon d’Or!

Barcelona’s Argentina striker Lionel Messi beat team-mate Xavi and Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo to the title of the world’s best player. It is the third straight Ballon d’Or success for Messi, who has won the first two awards since the prestigious prize was merged with Fifa’s World Player of the Year gong in 2010.

The Argentine scored 59 goals in 70 appearances for club and country in 2011, including 55 in 57 for Barcelona. He also racked up an incredible 35 assists in the calendar year.

Messi, man of the match in the Champions League final in 2011, also won the Primera Division, Spanish Supercopa, UEFA Super Cup and Club World Cup last year.

Congratulations, Messi!

Sahwag creates a record!

Virender Sehwag has registered the highest individual score (219 runs) in 50-over cricket, blasting seven sixes and 25 fours during his 149-ball stay to light up Indore’s Holkar Cricket Stadium. Congratulations, Sahwag! Keep your hitting the balls going on.

Playing his 240th one-day international, the 33-year-old right-handed batsman overtook compatriot Sachin Tendulkar, a player he was often compared to early in his career. Tendulkar has scored 200 runs before. He is the only other player to score a double ton in any 50 over One Day International cricket match.

Sahwag is the only Indian batsman to have scored a triple century in a test inning.

An Indian woman, mother of 2, scales Mount Everest twice in 10 days!

A woman from Arunachal Pradesh, India created history by climbing Mount Everest twice in 10 days and also became the first woman mountaineer in the world to achieve the feat twice in the same season. Incredible!

Anshu Jamsenpa, a 32-year-old mother of two children, unfurled the tricolour and an Arunachal logo at the summit of the 29,035 feet peak on Saturday at 5.05 am local time, official sources said. She had earlier been on the top of the world on May 12.

Indian schoolboy rewrites history on the Himalayas

Arjun Vajpai, a 17-year-old student of Ryan International School from Noida, a New Delhi suburb became a climbing sensation last year by becoming the youngest Indian to conquer Mt Everest, created a new record Friday, 20th May 2011 by becoming the youngest in the world to ascent Mt Lhotse, the fourth highest peak. After an aborted attempt last week due to bad weather he finally stood on the 8,516 m summit at 8.15 a.m., reported Asian Trekking, the Kathmandu-based mountaineering agency.

Mt Lhotse, the fourth highest peak in the world after Mt Everest, K2 and Kangchenjunga, had never been climbed solo by any Indian. Arjun also becomes the youngest climber in the world to conquer the technically difficult Mt. Lhotse. Mt Everest is 332m higher than Lhotse.

Super Sherpa scales Everest for record 21st time

Apa Sherpa, who is also known as Super Sherpa for his mountaineering feats, bettered his own world record on May 11, 2011 by reaching the top of Mount Everest for the record 21st time. He is 51 years old. Incredible! He was leading Eco Everest Expedition 2011, aimed at cleaning the mountain of garbage, set foot on the peak at 9:15am along with five other climbers on Wednesday. Super Sherpa set his foot on top of Mt. Everest for the first time in May 1990.

He has been leading the annual Eco Everest Expedition since 2008 with the message to ‘Stop Climate Change’. Over the years the expedition has collected 13,500 kg of garbage left behind by previous teams, recovered debris of an Italian Army helicopter that crashed in 1973 and four dead bodies.

Kudos to Super Sherpa!

Congrats! India lifts the World Cup for the second time.

India beat Sri Lanka by six wickets in a pulsating final to earn World Cup glory for the first time since 1983. India becomes the third country to lift the world Cup more than once along with Australia and West Indies.

Sri Lanka smashed 91 from their last 10 overs to post 274-6 in Mumbai, with Mahela Jayawardene making a superb 103. India lost Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar early on but Gautam Gambhir and Mahendra Singh Dhoni rebuilt the innings. Gambhir was out for 97, but captain Dhoni finished with 91 not out as India, chasing a target of 275, won by six wickets with 10 balls to spare at the Wankhede Stadium to become the first host country to win the World Cup. It was a great captain’s knock from Dhoni and he finished the match by hitting a sixer!

Yuvraj Singh has been selected as the Player of the Tournament, while MS Dhoni has won Man of the Match. MS Dhoni played a Captain’s knock just when all of India needed one from him. India’s arguably most successful Captain ever has brought in another prize.

Also, congratulations to Sri Lanka for a fantastic run in the final and a great fight put up by them.

Three cheers for India! Jai Hind!

World Cup

At last, England and Germany manages to go to the second round of last 16. France is out, while they were the last runners up!

It is good, that Asia has a representative there – South Korea. From Africa, Ghana is also there.

So far, Messi seems to be the star of this WC. Kaka is yet to show his talent. Rooney is a failure for the second World Cup. Ronaldo is showing his talents, too.

Second round should be more interesting.