Paul, the Octopus is on a tear. He has had a near perfect record of predicting this year's World Cup soccer matches.

We can endure anything from our celeb Gods. We find our voyeuristic dreams being lived through them. You hurt them.. you hurt our sense of being.

This year's World Cup soccer has been very successful in the US, based simply on the interest it has generated within the normal American public.

Have you seen TIger Woods' commercial by Nike? Well, it shows a sad Tiger - probably asked to think of a world without the "kittens" - and his dead Dad's voice in the background speaking to him.

There is a saying = "Begaani Shaadi mein Abdullah Deewana" (some one is getting excited at someone else's marriage). That is what this story is about!

Tiger's penis is much revered as an aphrodisiac in China, Taiwan and South Korea. One of the slangs for penis is "Wood". That should have been a BIG giveaway for the top golfer's wife!

Sania Mirza got engaged with her childhood friend and industrialist, Mohammed Shorab Mirza at the Taj Krishna Hotel in Hyderabad on Friday. It was an exclusive, by-invitation only function.

India finally won a Hockey Title as they beat Malaysia 3-1 in the 18th Sultan Azlan Shah Cup in Ipoh on Sunday. Arjun Halappa (8th minute), Prabhjot Singh (20th) and Shivender Singh (41st) scored for India while Misron (11th) scored for Malaysians.

This title has come after 13 years. Last year in April finally.. KPS Gill was sacked as the head of Indian Hockey Federation. His stay at the helm also coincided with the drought of titles for India. He was the IHF President for 15 years. Strange?

Anyways, finally the devil is out of this game - back to his den. And our boys are finally free to play matches.. and not "games" of the other kind with the bureaucrats!

Shivendra singh from India, center, battles for control for the ball with Ashraf Zeeshan from Pakistan in front of Pakistan's goalkeeper Ahmed Nasir during a Sultan Azlan Shah Hockey semi final match in Ipoh, Northern state of Perak , 200 kilometers from Kuala Lumpur, Saturday, April 11, 2009. India won the match, 2-1. (Photo courtesy: AP)

India's skipper Sandeep Singh scored twice to take India past Pak and into the Finals.

Sania Mirza is a celebrity. She has accomplished a lot if you look at it from the standpoint of a girl from India trying to make a mark in the tennis world. But from the global standards, she is still far behind. In any case, here are her pictures from the WTA Dubai Championship.

Indian villagers compete in a bullock cart race during the Kila Raipur sports festival on the outskirts of Ludhiana in the northern Indian state of Punjab, February 13, 2009

In 1933. Philanthropist Inder Singh Grewal started an annual recreational meet, where farmers from areas surrounding Kila Raipur could get together and test their corporal endurance. The idea gave birth to Kila Raipur Sports, the undisputed “Rural Olympics”.

Kila Raipur Sports Festival held in February every year in Ludhiana, Punjab is also known also as Rural Olympics. Rural Sports Enthusiasts come to see rural sportsmen and animals (special breed of bullocks, camels, dogs, mules and other animals).

He just started off somewhere mid way. After that it was not a race anywhere! Certainly not something that you see in the Olympics. And absolutely NOT in the 100m races! But Usain Bolt (from Jamaica).. well.. just bolted to finish from mid-way in a world record of 9.69 secs. The second guy (Richard Thompson of Trinidad and Tobago) clocked 9.89 sec, which means 0.20 secs behind - which is a BIG time difference in 100m! Look at how amazing the difference was in this illustration.

The third place was won by American Walter Dix at 9.91.

With this the top two spots went to West Indians. What gave him such a big win? YAM! Yes, according to his Dad, Usain likes the local variety of yam a lot and that is what makes him so powerful. I have seen many other West Indians as well - who have grown up eating yam while on their way to school after pulling it out of the ground. :-)

Wellesley Bolt said his son was partial to the vegetable grown in the north-western area of Jamaica where the sprinter was born.

What an amazing rally! It seems these guys don't miss anything! I completely lost count of the smashes that were easily returned by the Chinese team... just take a look.

Growing up in India and Pakistan, I am sure most kids would have heard of Gama Pehlvaan - specifically in North India. Who was he? Have you wondered? I did. I finally got something about this guy from an interesting blog of a Zakintosh. He is known for a great fight with a Polish wrestler which ended in 42 seconds.

Polish wrestler Stanisław Jan Cyganiewicz (aka Stanislaus Zbyszko), having had a dubious 'draw' in an earlier encounter, held a return bout in 1928 with the great Ghulam Mohammad, better remembered as Gama Pehlvaan, in Patiala. Zbyszko went down in 42 seconds (the earlier, 'drawn' bout had lasted 3 hours!) ...

Gama chose to migrate to Pakistan in 1947 and trained his nephews in wrestling. When the freestyle wrestling took over the old akhaara style fights, then their influence and wealth withered away. Gama died without much fan-fare in his adopted country.

The Great Gama died in the mid- or late 50s, uncelebrated in the country he chose, with little money for treatment. During his last days a small news item, buried in the pages of Dawn, informed us that Georg Zbyzsko, nephew of Gama's rival, had sent a donation towards his medical costs, having heard his uncle always praise Gama's strength and sportsman spirit.

The greatness of Gama is difficult to comprehend now. But given his day and age and his confidence with which he challenged the best and the biggest from India and the world without formal training or diet - it is indeed amazing that he did so well through his life! Sadly his end was not deserving of this great man. Here are some of his exploits and fights -

First Encounters with Raheem Sultani Wala

Fame came to Gama at the age of 19 when he challenged the then Wrestling Champion of India, Raheem Baksh Sultani Wala. At 6'9" tall with an impressive record, Raheem was thought to easily defeat the 5'3" Gama, but the bout continued for hours and eventually ended in a draw. The contest with Raheem was the turning point in Gama's career. After that, he was looked upon as the next contender for the title Champion of India. In the first bout Gama remained defensive, but in a second match, Gama was more offensive. Gama was bleeding from his nose and ears but he managed to destroy the lungs and heart of Raheem Baksh.

Winning the John Bull Belt

By 1910, Gama had defeated all the prominent Indian wrestlers who faced him except the Champion Wala. At this time, he focused his attention to the rest of the world. Accompanied by his younger brother Imam Bukhsh, Gama sailed to England to compete with the Western Wrestlers. In London, Gama issued a challenge that he could throw any three wrestlers in thirty minutes of any weight class. This announcement however was seen as a bluff by the wrestlers and their promoter R.B. Benjamin. For a long time no one came forward to accept the challenge. In order to break the ice, Gama presented another challenge to specific heavy weight wrestlers. He challenged Stanislaus Zbyszko and Frank Gotch, either he would beat them or pay them the prize money and go home. The first professional wrestler to take his challenge was the American Benjamin Roller. In the bout, Gama pinned Roller in 1 minute 40 seconds the first time, and in 9 minutes 10 seconds the other.

If you have anything planned for 2012 and want to convey it in England... you better watch out! That year is copyrighted and you could be prosecuted! Words like "Olympics", "London 2012" and even "2012" are copyrighted! It can't get more ridiculous than this .. can it?

In fact, the organising committee for a certain upcoming sporting event has decided it would be "disproportionate" to prosecute the author of a book called Olympic Mind Games for breach of copy-right. But, under no less than two acts of parliament, it could if it wanted to.

When it discovered that Robert Ronson's children's science-fiction novel was to be published, the organising committee for the previously mentioned happening sent him an email asking that he should use neither the O-word nor the expressions "London 2012, or 2012 etc" in the title. The committee was able to do so under statutes passed in 1995 and 2006, which in effect turn all the elements of its title into a trademark.

It really is hillarious when the thief starts shouting that he has been robbed.

India won the recently concluded Asia Cup by WIDE margins. In finals they beat South Korea by 7-2! Not a small margin? The rest of the matches were even more one-sided!

Pakistan ended came right back at the end - 5th or 6th. So what do they do? The Pakistan Hockey Federation Spokesman comes out and blames India for bad umpiring! I mean PAKISTAN blaming INDIA? I was amazed at the very nonsensical nature of the allegation - that the match between India and South Korea was "influenced" by bad umpiring because - read this carefully -

Here is a video of the how the Indian team played field hockey during the Golden age of Indian hockey! These videos are most probably from the Berlin Olympics of 1936, when India defeated Germany in front of Hitler in the finals by an outstanding margin of 8-1! The only reason there was no controversy was that Indians were considered Indo-Aryans!

In this video, while the obvious mastery at stick work will jump up at you, what also seems exceptional is how quick the ball was distributed out.. instead of over-dribbling all over the place! And we are looking at Dhyan Chand and the like playing here.... not the modern Indian players - who are nowhere near Roop Singh and KD Singh Babu and Dhyan Chand!

Is it the Chak De India effect? It has been a while since India has won a tournament so emphatically! In the recently concluded Asia Cup 2007, India not only equalled a record by defeating Sri Lanka by 20 - 0 , it even won the finals against South Korea - against whom they could not even compete properly not too long ago - by 7-2.

Well, India also defeated Thailand 16-0, and Japan 4-1 on the way to the finals! It is as if the team was in one heck of a scoring mode!

The last time the Indian forwards were in such punishing mood was in the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics when India defeated US by 24-1! But that was the era of Dhyan Chand. Is this the revival of Indian hockey? I hope so. It has been a sport which has been close to my heart! My grand-father was one of the founding members of the Jawahar lal Nehru Hockey tournament and I have spent many a summers going to watch hockey matches in Shivaji Stadium! It used to be a treat to do that!

Today is the day to talk Indian sports. So, lets congratulate the rare women's tennis player from India - Sania Mirza. She is not just a tennis player but a youth icon. She just moved into the second round of US open beating Kaia Kanepi of Estonia 6-2, 6-7 (5/7), 6-1.

She is trying to better her 2005 fourth round performance in US open. Well, she is now World number 26 - the highest she has been ever! She better make the most of it!

Indian tennis has had some good moments:

Vijay Amritraj: He reached Quarter Finals in two Grand Slams in 1973. At Wimbeldon, he lost to Jan Kodes to eventual champion. IN US open, he beat Rod Laver but lost to Ken Rosewall in the last Eights. In second round, he came close to defeating Bjorn Borg - when he was two sets up and leading 4-1, only to be beaten! Vijay played his best tennis in Davis Cup and helped India reach the Finals in 1974 and 1989!

Ramanathan Krishnan: He was probably the greatest Indian singles player! He reached the Wimbledon semi finals in 1960 (lost to Neale Fraser) and 1961 (lost to Rod Laver). He was the 4th seed in 1961 - the highest any Indian tennis player has ever gotten to!

Ramesh Krishnan: He reached a career high ranking of 23. He reached Quarter Finals three times in Grand Slams - 1981 (US Open); 1986 (Wimbledon); and 1987 (US Open). In 1987, he partnered Vijay for taking India to the finals. He won the final match against Australia to take India to the finals against Sweden!

Did you know that Mahatama Gandhi was an athlete? That he was participating in the Indian National Games for 20 km walk event as late as February 2007? The Indian Olympic Association President has even issued the late Mahatama Gandhi a certificate of participation for the event!

Amazing these days its difficult for 60 year olds to walk and Gandhi is busy participating in National Games 60 years AFTER his death!! He was kinda special.. wasn't he?

courtesy: Hindustan Times

Finally, the game we Indians invented will have an Indian as world no. 1! Congrats Anand! btw, where are Kasparov and Karpov?

Viswanathan Anand, who upstaged Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria from the world number one position following his title win at the Morelia-Linares tournament, will be for the first time crowned as top-ranked player in April.

Anand will gain eight rating points to be ELO 2786 when the International Chess Federation's (FIDE) rankings list will be officially updated next month.

Story Link

Burqa + Bikini = Burqini. Its the new swimwear from Ahiida Zaneti in Australia. It seems she is exporting the new sportswear and swimwear gears designed to protect the "modesty" of the Muslim women! A Muslim lady in the Surf Life Saving Australia - called Mecca Laalaa, has adopted it as the dress of choice

"I'm part of history, that's what's so exciting about this,'' said Mecca Laalaa, who will be the first to wear the outfit on patrol next weekend.

Ms Laalaa is one of 17 men and women from Sydney's Muslim community who qualified to become lifesavers as part of a Call The Same Wave program.

Introduced after the Cronulla riots, it promotes ethnic harmony and encourages Australians from diverse cultural backgrounds to become lifesavers.

Lee Howell, of Surf Life Saving Australia, said the burquini, made from polyester and teflon, had created worldwide interest.

Here are some more Sania Pictures.. for the Sania fans...

Sania is known more for her controversies with her dress that she wears on and off the court. Here are two pictures of Sania Mirza undertaking Umra - Hajj at times other than Ramadan, courtesy Rediff.

This morning I went for a walk to the nearby lakes. Some folks were fishing there. Now, most of the city lakes have a rule that fishing in the lakes can be done but the fishes need to be released back into the lakes. So all these guys are busy throwing their fishing hook into the lake and some guys that I saw actually got the fish too.. after a few moments of the fish gasping for breath and feeling the pain of the hook being taken out and generally lack of water .. she is thrown back in.

Interesting article on the Sikhs in sports - motivated by the rise of Monty Panesar. The writer, Frank Keating, starts with Bishen Bedi - one of the best all time spinners in cricket!

Bishen Singh Bedi was the very same age, and I savour the thrill of enchantment at my very first sight of him twirling his softly supple southpaw slows alongside the gasometers that midsummer of 1971. The preening choc-caps of Surrey were on their way to another county championship but that day, against the Indian tourists, successively one by one their batsmen - Stewart, Younis, Roope, Storey, Intikhab, Long, Arnold - were dispatched to the hutch, shaking their heads in baffled embarrassment at the Sikh's placidly lethal cocktail of curve and loop and spin.

Why did Zidane butt his head into Marco? Here are two possible interpretations from an email from my friend, Howard Davis - a Yoga Teacher in LA. The first one is from a lip reader..

An Italian lip-reader last night claimed to have deciphered the words Marco Materazzi said to Zindine Zidane that provoked the French captain into butting him in the chest during Sunday's World Cup final, the great midfielder's final act before a red card ended his career in top-level football. According to the BBC, Materazzi said, "I wish an ugly death to you and all your family," and then told Zidane to "go fuck yourself".

***********************

Ok, here is a basket ball shot now.  It is by far the most amazing basketball shot ever seen!!! 

Needless to say that the team won by just this shot!

Here are some awesome soccer goals!  It includes my favorite one from Argentina vs England match scored by Diego Maradona.  Solo goal he scored by dodging the entire England team!

Begani Shaadi mein Abdullah Diwaana

(Abdullah is getting crazy during the wedding of a stranger)

Basically, this phrase means that the event is occuring with relation to total strangers - but you are getting worked up.

Something like that has been happening - and happening repeatedly in Bangladesh.. The news byte below was from June 17th. It happened again last night during the Germany vs Argentina match. Latin American teams are favorite with the Bengalis in India and Bangladesh - so it aint surprising for one who understands how crazy the Bengalis can be! Funny thing is two totally stranger teams are playing (and your country is not even in the tournament ANYWHERE) and these folks end up destroying their own public property!!!