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What a high octane season was the Barclays English Premier League 2009-10! The title race went into the final day. There wasn’t any drawn matches in the first week of the EPL 2009/10 and goals were scored left, right and center. And when Chelsea won the title for this season’s English Premier League in style, it showed that how unpredictable this game of football can be.
Unpredictable and Highly Competitive! Yes, those are the fitting words that can describe the English Premier League 2009/10. Figure these. 1053 goals were scored in this 38 matches this season. This stands just second to the 1060 goals scored in the EPL 1999/2000. Apart from the 1994/95, 1997/98 and 1998/99, none of the seasons barring EPL 2009/10 had the two top teams separated with just 1 point. Can you imagine, just 1 point ended the dream of the formidable Manchester United to lift the trophy for fourth successive time in a row? Yes, undoubtedly the Red Devils have been the most successful team in the history of this tournament with a record 11 titles. But the English Premier League Season 2009/10 was different and they finally had to be contented with the second spot, losing out to Chelsea.

And Chelsea’s statistics in the tournament suggest to the fact that they were the deserving winner of Barclays English Premier League 2009-10. The Blues scored 103 goals in 38 matches, 7 goals more than the Manchester United’s record of 96 goals in the tournament’s 2008/09 edition. The team netted seven goals each against Sunderland, Aston Villa and Stoke City. They scored eight goals against Wigan Athletic. And Chelsea conceded only 32 goals in the EPL Season 2009/10. Their goal difference of +71 is a record in the entire history of the English Premier League. The credit for Chelsea’s victory can be largely given to their coach Carlo Ancelotti’s tactics. In the first two third of the campaign even the most die-hard Chelsea fan was not convinced enough that the Blues can pull it up at the end. What they had was hope. Chelsea looked highly ambitious, yet vulnerable against set piece movements. The match against Aston Villa in October, followed by Stokes, Wigan and Hull City ruthlessly exposed the weakest spots in the team and suddenly things weren’t looking that bright for Chelsea. But Ancelotti took complete charge and fixed the blind spots which displayed his great analytical brain and level headedness. As the former coach of AC Milan he understood that carrying a baggage of diamond formation would not help the Blues in their hunt for the trophy. He immediately changed the formation to 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1 system. This accelerated the team’s performance in the closing month and is largely responsible for Chelsea’s big wins in the final weeks of English Premier League 2009/10.

The Blues coach’s tactics was well supported by his band of army on the field. Right from Frank Lampard to Florent Malouda, from Drogba to Nicholas Anelka, every member of the team responded with inspiring performances. Instead of brooding over the absence of injured Ashley Cole and Jose Bosingwa, Carols Ancelotti inspired Paulo Ferreira and Yuri Zhirkov for plugging the holes left by Cole’s absence. Branislav Ivanovic displayed awesome skills in both his forward and defensive roles. All these paved the way for Chelsea to lift the Barclays English Premier League 2009-10 title.

The Barclays English Premier League 2009-10 has only made us thirsty for more next season. But the countdown has already started for 11th June 2010. Yes, “The greatest show on Earth”- FIFA World Cup 2010 starts in South Africa on this day. With 32 nations participating in 64 matches in a period of one month and the total prize money of $ 420 million, it can’t get bigger than this! And we will have a chance to watch many of our favorite players from the English Premier League 2009/10 playing for their country. Different Country, different venues, different tournament, but no lesser adrenaline rush! That’s what football is all about!

Since the English soccer season is about to come to an end to an end the hush hush has begun! Though the talks are still in the initial stages but the clubs are making big moves for the next season. Let’s take a look at the people who will probably dawn in new colors come the next season:

David Silva – This Valencia winger has been made a final offer £15m by Liverpool.

Diego Forlan – As Silva is not a certainty so Liverpool has approached the Athletico Madrid and Uruguayan striker Diego Forlan in a swap deal for Lucas Leiva. The only problem in this deal is the transfer fee.

Dodo – Manchester United have agreed on a £5.4m deal for the Corinthians center back Dodo. This 17 year old Brazilian footballer is a part of Manchester United future projects.

Bojan Krkic – Blackburn have expressed their desire to take the Barcelona forward Bojan Krkic on loan.

Antonio Valencia – To add to the miseries of Wigan Athletic manager Steve Bruce his star Antonio Valencia is in the shopping list of Real Madrid and Manchester United.

Mark Schwarzer – The star of the season for Fulham Mark Schwarzer has already been linked with a couple of clubs namely Aston Villa and Tottenham Hotspur.

Emanuel Adebayor – Chelsea are in hot pursuit of this Togolese centre forward playing for Arsenal.

Ashley Young – In order to strengthen their team Guus Hiddink and Chelsea are looking to rope in Aston Villa’s Ashley Young.

Edin Dzeko – Bosnia and Wolfsburg forward Edin Dzeko has had primary talks with Chelsea bosses but his joining the club is still a distant possibility.

Roque Santa Cruz – Tottenham Hotspur are looking for sharp striker and they have set their eyes on Balckburn Rovers’ Santa Cruz. It seems that this will be a swap deal where Darren Bent would land up in Blackburn.

Paul Scharner – Newcastle United are trying to rope in Wigan Athletic’s centre back Paul Scharner to give boost to their week defence.

Gael Givet – This Marseille joined Blackburn Rovers on loan in January and has impressed one and all. Impressive performances are about to earn Givet a permanent signing.

Though there is still so much time to go before the next season starts that the whole scenario might change but many of these deals might also be finalized.

As Tiger Woods marched towards his 14 majors this year, there was one person on the course for whom I feel pity. It was none other but Phil Mickelson who made Tiger sweat all the way till the final hole.

There was a stage in the tournament when Mickelson was tied at front nine low of 6-under 30 at Augusta and the Masters looked to be in his kitty. All channels flashing golf news were waiting eagerly to crown Mickelson. And why not? After all Phil needed to shoot a 2-under on the back nine to get through to the playoffs and a 3-under back to win the Augusta Masters crown. But after a double bogey on the par 3 12th Mickelson could only muster 1-over for the back nine. After that his downward trend continued with him missing plenty of chances, with 4 footers and an eagle on 15 and birdie on 17.

What would be the gains if Mickelson had won Augusta Masters tournament?

* He would have got the No. 1 ranking by overtaking Tiger Woods
* He would have won his 3rd Masters and 4th Major golf tournaments
* Staging a comeback from 7-shots down Mickelson would have played the best Sunday ever (shooting a 9-under 63) that would be even better than Jack Nicklaus’s historic final round score of 65 in 1986.

So close yet so far, only a 3-under on the back nine! Phil Mickelson would have entered the history books of professional golf being the best golfer after the Tiger Woods era. Just a little magic with the iron and Mickelson wouldn’t have broken thousands of hearts!

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It’s the end of the final countdown. The Indian Premier League’s second season is back with a bang. Mr. Lalit Modi is undoubtedly the happy man with worldwide success in the first edition. Though there were a few initial hick ups (the IPL second season had to be shifted to South Africa as the Indian government dismissed the IPL authority’s demand of supplying extra protection to the players) but IPL still rocks!

As of now IPL’s South African safari is moving along swiftly, big money and big stars have made the League an instant success in land of the sun. If last year was marked by a deluge of stars in the League then this year the list got even longer with many English players deciding to turn up for the IPL. English players were the biggest attractions of the IPL with Andrew Flintoff (who joined Chennai Super Kings) and Kevin Pietersen (playing for Royal Challengers Bangalore) being the most priced players for this edition. Then there are English players like Ravi Bopara who has signed for Kings XI Punjab and Paul Collingwood who would be playing for Delhi Daredevils .

As the league unfolds itself the biggest surprise was the upsurge of Deccan Chargers . Some of the other teams who brushed aside their last year’s disappointment were Mumbai Indians, ably led from the front man Sachin Tendulkar, and Delhi Daredevils. With more uniformity between the bat and the ball on the seaming wickets of South Africa the battle would definitely be more intense one.

Whether you are at home, office or in friends circle there is only one thing to discuss IPL matches and IPL live scores. If SARS was deadly then this fever is deadlier!

It’s the time, when boys become men and college players graduate to professionals. Among the new comers to the NBA there are many who have the potential to make it big and achieve the iconic status. We have shortlisted the top ten probable for this NBA season.

Blake Griffin – At the number one pick of the year we have this tremendously athletic power forward who is going to play for the Sacramento Kings in the coming season. This hard working player has tremendous potential and is a superstar for the future.

H.Thabeet – This giant statured center is a great signing to anchor the defense of Washington Wizards. With his huge presence and superb handling skills many teams are going to have a hard time getting past.

Ricky Rubio – He is one of the most promising Point Guards in Europe. He has been projected as the best point guard in this draft. He is described as ‘he has eyes on the back of his head’. Even the LA Clippers think of him as the most prized acquisition of the summer.

James Harden – He will be a really good player for the young OKC Thunder team. This shooting guard is a well rounded player and can perform multiple roles for the team. Swift passing is one of his forte and superb dribbling is his natural skill.

Jordan Hill – He’s got strength, speed and agility that will make any team sign him. But for the next season he will be sporting the uniform of Minnesota Timberwolves. Hill has been compared to the great Tyrus Thomas but there are some grey areas in his game that need to be mended such as his post moves and turning the ball over to good defenses.

So the big boys look out tha babies have grown up and ready to make the moves!

Player	Team	Position	Stat
Blake Griffin	Sacramento Kings	PF	22.7ppg, 14.4rpg, 1.2bpg
H.Thabeet	Washington Wizards	C	13.6ppg, 10.8rpg, 4.2bpg
Ricky Rubio	LA Clippers	PG	9.8ppg, 5.7apg, 1.9spg
James Harden	OKC Thunder	SG	20.1ppg, 4.2apg, 5.6rpg
Jordan Hill	Minnesota Timberwolves	PF	18.3ppg, 11.0rpg, 1.7bpg

World Cup organizing committee members in South Africa should be over the moon with the sales of tickets in the first phase! There is a long way to go for the gala event but the World Cup fever has caught up in all almost every corner of the globe. Over 1.6 million ticket applications were sent to FIFA for tickets to World Cup 2010. The first phase of ticket sales ended on 31st March. FIFA sources informed that they received a whooping 1,635,136 applications from soccer fans across 205 nations.

The “impressive total underlines the extraordinary level of interest all over the globe,” said Danny Jordaan World Cup Local Organizing Committee (LOC) chief executive. Amongst the tickets applied for World Cup 2010 around 30% were from the South African residents while the rest of the 70% were from fans across the globe. Most of the overseas applications were from United States, Britain, Germany, Italy and Australia. However, most popular requests amongst the 64 matches came for the Inaugural match on June 11 and the final on July 11 both of which are to be played at Soccer City Stadium in Johannesburg.

With the outstanding success in the first phase itself the World Cup Organizing Committee is looking forward with fingers crossed to 4 May when the second phase will start.

To give the game a new face lift, to avoid boring lop-sided matches the IRB is all set to experiment with a new set of rules. The rules aim to make the game faster and keep all the rugby enthusiasts glued to the game. Actually, the IRB officials have been working on developing these rules ever since the Rugby World Cup in France in 2007. Most of the matches were rather too mundane and not many teams risked running into the deep and thus conceding crucial points to the opposition.

In order to deliver “knock out rugby” to the fans and to force players to run with the ball there are a set of three new rules implemented by the IRB. Following is a list…

1. Kicking directly out of play will result in a lineout from where you kicked it, regardless of whether the player was inside the 22 metre line, and regardless of whether that team played the ball back inside it or not. This excludes full penalties, in which case the current law still applies.

Fans will definitely like the idea, as it would make the game more aggressive. But the success of this initiative will depend on how the breakdown is policed because the players might not want to run the ball into contact from behind their own line.

2. The ball will no longer need to be fed into the middle of the scrum and ‘crooked’ feeds is also allowed.

Though scrums are a trademark of the game but they consume a lot of time because the scrums have to be reset again and again. With this rule the game can be restarted more quickly. But the game will lose the scrums as there will be no chance of the opposition winning the ball.

3. There will be a limit to how many times each player can kick the ball during a game – this will be set at 3 each for backs and 1 each for forwards to begin with, but could be adjusted easily at a later date.

This rule will in turn lead to the appointment of a ‘Kicking Official’ who will keep count of the number of kicks for each player. According to the IRB this rule will reduce unnecessary kicking to a large extent.

Hope these rules will alleviate the game to the next level and remove yawning crowds from the rugby field!

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Ever since the final team list for RBS 6 Nations tournament was announced there were speculations in the French press regarding the fitness of the Les Blues rugby star Lionel Beauxis. But the star decided to end all speculations with his stellar performance against the resilient Scottish side. Owing largely to the lion-hearted display by Beauxis France was able to defeat Scotland 22-13. He kicked five penalties and added 11 more points to make the difference between the two teams. Though Thom Evans made the initial tries but Beauxis got into the act and sailed away France out of Scottish reach. The performance raised many questions over the team selection procedure as Beauxis had to sit by the sidelines in France vs Ireland match.

Beauxis, the man behind the France’s victory over Scotland earlier this year, had a pelvic injury he suffered in the Top 14 win over Toulon. This injury meant that he had to undergo extensive rehabilitation and most of the season. But now that he is back and creating ripples in the International Rugby scene all his fans are having gala time!

Tiger, tiger burning bright!
Its the time for celebration for all the Tiger fans! Yes, Tiger Woods is back in action with a bang. Woods overcame a front-nine wobble to win his first match at the Accenture Match Play Championship. Incidentally this was his first professional outing since last June when he won the US Open. Right after this victory Tiger Woods had to undergo a reconstructive knee surgery.

Thank God! The long hibernation did not leave any mark on his game. Woods had a whopping 3&2 victory over the young Australian golfer Brendan Jones and marched to the second round of Accenture Match Play Championship. Organized at the picturesque Ritz-Carlton Club Tiger Woods managed to live up to the expectations of the crowd and smashed a 460-yard par-four in the opening hole. Woods went on to bogey the four-par at the seventh and hit a birdie in the eighth hole. Tiger Woods went ahead of his opponent in 12th and 13th holes and soon took the control of the game in his favor by winning the 16th hole.

Though the spectators were quite happy with the victory but Tiger Woods himself admitted that he “had some loose irons in the middle part of the round”. According to him the saving grace to his play was the strong start that the world champion had. It was great news for the Tiger fans as the star himself admitted about his knee that “it felt good”.

My father only heard about Golf when he was a child. There were more football and hockey at that time. Cricket wasn’t that popular and was considered the game of riches. But there was no golf, at least not in the news or in anything that common man has any association with.

But I know golf. I can name all the players who have been successful in this sport and have created their identities. Golf is also making headlines in news today. We know about the various tours and the Master’s tournaments. We know how Jeev Milkha Singh, Arjun Atwal and Jyoti Randhawa are doing at the various tournaments. And there are television commercials endorsed by the golfers!

More people are now interested in golf since there are fame and money attached to the sport just like they are with any other sports. It is common to find many youngsters gathering at the open fields on weekends with the hope of becoming another Jeev Milkha Singh in their heart. It is also heartening to see that golf is receiving so much support from the business communities as well.

My father often regrets for not getting the same football or hockey nowadays. I hope my pride will be alive for many more years when more Indians will come forward to rule the international golf courses.