Saving The Planet the "Earth Hour" way

Sydney Opera House during "Earth Hour"

Tens of millions of people supported the Earth Hour campaign by switching off lights for an hour. From the Sydney Opera house to the Royal castle at Stockholm went dark as people switched off lights and skylines dimmed.This was part of the worldwide campaign to tackle climate change by reducing energy consumption.

The organizers expect that up to to 30 million people turned off unessential light and electrical appliances in order to support the campaign.The campaign began at Suva in Fiji and Christchurch in New Zealand and completed its run westward.

More than 380 towns and cities and about 3500 businesses in 35 countries around the world signed up for the campaign which is in its second year,the first one in the year 2007 began in Sydney.

Australia became one of the world's first countries to switch off the lights.Thousands had gathered in Melbourne's Federation Square for an hour of entertainment and celebration.The surrounding suburbs were crowded as Melburnians sought to catch a look at the darken sky which flaunted its unending beauty with Sydney plunged in darkness. The city's colourful Lord Mayor John So led the countdown to 8 p.m.

Across the world,the Earth Hour campaign was a huge success.People have joined hands in a bid to create awareness about the effects of global warming and to help save the planet.Even if you weren't able to participate in this year's Earth Hour,there's always the next.But....careful,you might miss next year's too,because the countdown's already begun.!

CHENNAI SUPER KINGS UNVEILED

Nayanthara,Vijay,Dhoni,K.Srikkanth
during the team launch of the Chennai Super Kings IPL team.

The Chennai super kings team was launched at a city hotel in chennai.The team sponsors and the brand ambassadors were introduced.The team — none of the foreign players could make it due to “prior commitments” — was introduced to the gathering.

Keppler Wessels is the coach and V.B.Chandrashekar is the assistant coach.K.Srikkanth,former India captain,Nayanthara,Vijay,Tamil cinema actors, Gurdeep Singh, Chief Operating Officer, Aircel Cellular Limited are the brand Ambassadors of the team.M.S.Dhoni is the captain.The team apparel whose sponsor is Reebok.

V.B.Chandrashekar described the team members as a group of fearless talented entertainers.

Some of the prominents Foreign players in the team are stephen fleming,matthew hayden,michael hussey,jacob oram,albie morkel,muttiah muralitharan,makhaya ntini.

Some prominent youngsters from domectic circle include S.Badrinath,R.Ashwin,L.Balaji,Suresh Raina,Parthiv Patel,Joginder Sharma.

SACHIN RULED OUT OF SECOND TEST

CRIC NEWS

Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar has been ruled of the second test with groin strain thus pouring water in Indian team managements hopes of fielding a full strength eleven for the second test.

Captain Anil kumble also picked up a groin strain during the course of fifth day's play and spent the remainder of the day in the dressing rooms on order to avoid aggravating the injury.Team physio paul close said kumble should be fine for the second test.

Ishant sharma whose has been nursing injuries seems fit but any decision on his availability will be made in the lead up to the second test.He will remain with the squad.

Md. kaif has made a comeback to the test squad.He has been named as a replacement for Sachin.This is a reward for his consistent performance in the domestic competition.

The placid batting provided for the 1st test has made disappointed many.Both the teams,the fans and the stalwarts of the game want sporting wickets for the remaining matches.Hope they get it.

5th Day,1st Test,IND vs SA

The match meandered to a tame draw.Nothing out of the box happened.Neil McKenzie helped himself to an unbeaten 155.Hashim Amla scored 81,following up with the century he scored in the first innings.Amla dented the Indian spin attack which was the only threat to the South Africans.The pitch never really posed any threat.It was dead as a dodo.

One bright spot for the indians was the bowling of Harbhajan who bowled with rhythm.he picked up three wickets.

A note about the pitch.Chennai is known to produce sporting wickets.It is considered as one of the best pitches along with the pitches at Mohali and Wankhade.But the pitch for this match was a placid batting wicket which only became slower and easier to bat rather break and aid turn.I just hope the pitches for the future matches at chennai are sporting as before.Hopefully the wicket for the remaining two teats provided a good balance between bat and ball.

cheers!

4th Day,1st Test,IND vs SA

South Africa came back strongly in this test by bowling out India for 627 runs.A mere 87 run lead.Indians could manage only 159 runs for the remaining 9 wickets on the fourth day.
Ntini and steyn shared the spoils as they picked 3 and 4 wickets respectively.

Dravid joins 10,0000 run club

It will also be remembered as a when dravid completed 10,000 runs in test cricket.He is the 3rd indian after Gavaskar and Tendulkar to do this and the 6th overall.This just another milestone in dravid's illustrious career.He has been a true team man and a Champion batsmen.

The South Africans began their second innings in an attacking mode and soon wiped off the deficit of 87 with the loss of only smith's wicket.This test is moving towards a tame draw unless either of the team produces some heroics.

cheers!

3rd Day,1st Test,IND vs SA

TREAT TO WATCH,WHAT AN INNINGS!!

I had gone to the M.A.Chidambaram stadium to watch the third day's play of the ind vs sa test match..now i feel lucky and privileged to have watched one of the most entertaining knock i or rather the world has seen.Virender sehwag treated the hearts and eyes of 30,000 fans who had thronged the stadium.I am sure none would have left the stadium disappointed,not even the craziest of SA fans for they had witnessed one of the best innings ever seen.

sehwag scored a triple century at more than run a ball.He scored more than 100 runs in the post lunch session alone.Almost scored another 100 runs in the post tea session.His knock,because of the rate at which it was scored,has put india in position from where on they can call the shots.India will look to build a sizable lead on the fourth day and bowl out South Africa on the fifth day.

cheers!

2nd Day,1st Test,IND vs SA

The South Africans continued from where they left on the first day evening.Hashim Amla scored a century,his first against india.Mark boucher scored a half-century.India could not get the early break through which they were searching for.The only success for them in the first session came in the form of A.B.de villiers.

In the second session and in the post tea session india bowled out South Africa thanks to the splendid spell from Harbhajan Singh who finished with five wickets but not before they(SA) piled up 540 runs.

India responded positively.Sehwag led the way with a swash-buckling half-century.India ended the day on a high.India will look to wrest this momentum and try to pile up the runs at a good rate so that they can put some pressure on the South Africans.

cheers!

1st Day,1st Test,IND vs SA

“The day belonged to the Batsmen”.Anyone hearing this line cannot be faulted for thinking that the Indian batsmen called the shots because the instances of batsmen from visiting team(other than sub-continent teams) dominating the entire days proceedings in india are rare.But it was the South African batsmen who called the shots on the first day of the 1^st test of the future cup being played between India and South Africa at the M.A.CHIDAMBARAM STADIUM,chepauk,Chennai..

Neil Mckenzie,Greame Smith,Hashim Amla helped themselves to half-centuries on a lifeless wicket.Harbhajan and Anil Kumble snared two wickets each.

The momentum wrest with the South Africans but the Indian can shift the momentum by picking up two early wickets tomorrow.

THEIR VIEWS

India's failure to qualify for the olympics has been a big disappointment for all hockey fans.There has been lots of differents views on this debacle that has shaken up indian hockey.But Its always better to get the views of former national players who are the sole reason for the glorious moments of the past.here is what they had to say on this debacle:

M.P. Ganesh: This was waiting to happen the day we lost to China at the Asian Games. We did not bother to read the signs. I believe that we cannot hold any single individual responsible. The IHF should not accept Carvalho’s resignation as everyone, including players and administrators, were equally responsible.

Dhanraj Pillay: Britain was the only team worth beating at the Olympic qualifiers and we lost to them twice. It shows that the lessons of the earlier defeat were not learnt. I felt the players were not following any gameplan, the joint effort seemed missing.

N. Mukesh Kumar: It will be a big blow to the sport which is already struggling for survival. At least now, it is time for fresh ideas and youth to have a major say in the running of the sport. It will be unfair to blame Carvalho entirely for the debacle. May be, the team paid dearly for dropping seniors like Gagan Ajit Singh, Viren Rasquinha and Sandeep Singh.

R. S. Bhola: A coaching advisory council should be appointed to draw up a proper plan. They should have utilised the services of Charlesworth. Either bring him in directly into coaching the team or else let him train coaches.

Harbinder Singh: Britain outclassed us. We couldn’t play under pressure. Our poor trapping and aimless passing stood out. When Britain scored the first goal there were six defenders in the circle and the scorer was left unmarked. Britain played attacking hockey. This could have been a more humiliating defeat.

Mohammad Shahid: It is time the government interfered. Why did we reach the stage of having to qualify for the Olympics? It is a very sad and unfortunate day. It is not the first time we have lost but this loss would shatter the hockey fraternity.

A TRAGEDY

The Indian hockey team’s defeat at the hands of Great Briton in the finals of the Olympic qualifiers in chile made sure one cannot see our national hockey team in the Beijing Olympics this year. This is nothing less than a tragedy.

Anyone who witnessed the match will concede that the Britons were far more incisive and impeccable in their approach leaving very little for the Indians to do.The Britons inspired lot.

The fact that india will miss the Olympics after 18 successive appearances from 1928 is a bitter pill to digest. The signals of such a possibility were clear for years. Everything was either ignored with illogical reasoning.

It is a collective; from administration to government, from players to coaches, and, of course, the media, whose hunger for negatives for well over a decade contained the poison to demoralise every section.

There are several arguable factors that could either be addressed more pragmatically, or transparently. The choice and frequent change of coaches, constant shuffling of squads, and programming events without adequate recovery time for players from fatigue are among the few.

The results shown however have been disturbingly negative, be it the defeat against China in the Asian Games or the failure to win the qualifier. It is astonishing to look back on how a single defeat against China has almost transformed the course of history for Indian hockey. India should have notched up the qualifying spot at Doha at least by finishing as the finalist.

Now that the black chapter is etched in the history for posterity, it is time to make a critical, detailed evaluation of the causes that led to this trauma.