Mari Sharapova eclipses Venus William to reach fourth round

Melbourne: Sharapova missed out on a 3rd successive 'double-bagel' but humbled Williams 6-1 6-3 to charge into the 4th round of the Australian Open on Friday.
The centre court crowd was left stunned as the 2nd seeded Russian scorched to a 4-0 lead in the first set to rattle her American opponent, and charged on in the 2nd to wrap up the match in 79 minutes on a chilly evening at Rod Laver Arena.The twentififth seed Venus Williams sparked raucous cheers by breaking Maria Sharapova and holding her serve late in the 2nd set, but the Russian sealed the match with an ace and unleashed a 1st-pumping shriek.

Mohammad Asif became the world snooker champion

Snooker player of pakistan Mohammad Asif became the world snooker champion after defeating Gary Wilson of Britain.
he won the match after a long and thrilling final of the world snooker championship in Sofia, Bulgaria.
Mohammad Asif became the second Pakistani to win the world snooker title after Mohammad Yousuf. He was given a hero’s welcome when he landed at Karachi airport. After 18 years he helped Pakistan regain the title.
Despite limited resources and hard circumstances  Asif’s successful journey is a good lesson for our young generation.
Asif won the world title despite lack of government support and without a coach and manager.
the government must extend every possible help to the youngs and talented sportsmen to enable them to achieve glory in their respective sport.

Indian team has lost the hunger for success

Indian team defeated in 2nd OID by pakistan;
The decibel level of the angry Indian cricket fan is reaching a crescendo. It was bad enough to lose back-to-back Test contests in England and Australia by clean sweep 4-0 margins, not to qualify for the finals of the tri-series in Australia and not make the title round in the Asia Cup in Bangladesh.

Sania Mirza and her American partner Bethaniereach final in Brisbane

Brisbane: Sania Mirza and  Bethanie Mattek-Sands reached the doubles final at the Brisbane International tennis tournament here Thursday after their semi-final opponents Katarina Srebotnik  and Daniela Hantuchova pulled out out of the contest mid-way.
Sania Mirza and  Bethanie Mattek-Sands were leading 5-1 in the first set when the Slovakian-Slovenian duo retired.
Sania Mirza and her American partner Bethanie Mattek-Sands had defeated second seeds Liezel Huber and Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez earlier in the competition.

Glli-danda

Kds all over the Indian subcontinent -- India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka, pick up two sticks and play gilli-danda,Just like kids in the United States pick up a ball and a bat to play baseball. Danda is the stick, about two feet long and one inch wide.  It is used to hit the end of the gilli to make it fly through the air. Gilli is the size of a long, skinny pinecone.  It looks like a little wooden football. If you don't have a gilli-danda, you can make one easily by whittling a hard piece of wood.

Teams:
Form two teams.  Each team takes turns batting with each member of the team getting a turn to bat.  Or one batter can play against everybody.  Everybody gets to bat.

How to Play:
There are many ways to play gilli-danda.  This is the way we played in our neighborhood when I was growing up in India.
Draw a small circle on the ground.  This is home base.
Place gilli in the circle.  Batter taps the end of the gilli with the danda.  The gilli flies in the air and the batter tries to hit it as far as he or she can from home base, while it is airborne.
Fielders try to catch the gilli.  If caught, the batter is out.
If the gilli falls to the ground, the batter taps the gilli again to make it fly, and tries to strike it farther away from home base while it is airborne.
The batter can keep doing this until a fielder catches the gilli.
Batter measures how far gilli is from home base.

Scoring:
Measure the distance from the fielder who caught the gilli to home base with danda.  Each length of danda equals one point.  The team  with the most points wins the game.

Tennis star Serena Williams blasts Alize Cornet off court at Brisbane

The US diva started 2013 in the same emphatic fashion Serena Williams ended 2012, with a one-sided rout of anoutclassed  and outpowered opponent to charge into the Brisbane International quarter-finals.
On a day when the world's elite Serena Williams gave free tennis tips to kids at the Queensland Tennis Centre, she gave French world No.44 Alize Cornet a lesson with a 6-2 6-2 exhibition that lasted exactly 1 hour.
It was her 33rd win from her last 34 matches for William, a streak of undisputed dominance that stretches back to a 1st round shock at the French Open last May.
It wasn't the 31-year-old's full masterclass with the world No.3 looking to play within herself at times and making errors which showed she is not yet at her peak.
That is the scary thought for the rest of the world's best as she has hit the year looking as strong yet as relaxed as ever while the likes of Caroline Wozniacki, Petra Kvitova, Samantha Stosur and Maria Sharapova  battle form and injury issues heading towards the Australian Open.

Leander Paes and Edouard Roger Vasselin beaten by Thai brothers in Aircel Chennai Open Tennis tournament

Unseeded Thai brothers Sonchat  Ratiwana and Sanchai  Ratiwana dashed the hopes of defending champion Leander Paes and Edouard Roger Vasselin of France 7-6 (7) 6-1 to breeze into the quarterfinal of the  Chennai Open Tennis tournament in Chennai on Tuesday 1st january 2013.