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Madan Mitra: What he said, really meant and definitely didn’t

What he said:

“I didn’t know whether to invite players or call snake charmers to get rid of the snakes that crawled all over.”

West Bengal’s sports minister, Madan Mitra, laments the state of Kolkata’s Salt Lake Stadium, slated to host the Argentine soccer team on the 2nd of September, 2011.

What he really meant:

“I’m tearing out my hair in frustration and disbelief. I can’t walk around the ground, how will footballers play?”

What he definitely didn’t:

“Let’s play snake-and-ladders instead.”

Cricket World Cup: Funny thoughts and not-so-funny happenings (Humour)

Harbhajan Singh and Reebok have discovered the Teesra. In a viral video doing the rounds on YouTube, the off-spinner demonstrates a ball that stops and reverses back to the bowler.

It actually drops dead after spinning back and side-wards.

Much like the back-spinning, side-spinning drop shots employed by tennis masters .

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World Cup: Security precautions and Sena disruptions

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Should you feel secure at the 2011 ICC ODI World Cup?

Indian authorities believe that you should.

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Tennis Bytes: Sampras in the news, Federer wins 64th title

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Pete Sampras is in the news — in an active role and a passive one.

Roger Federer won the If Stockholm Open equalling Sampras’ record of 64 career titles.

Along the way, Federer passed 900 career matches —- the only current player on the tour to do so.

An interesting bit of trivia is that Federer has never retired from any of his matches.

This is hard evidence of his durability and mental toughness.

Federer’s powers may be on the wane but his popularity with fans endures.

The Stockholm Open did not offer any real challenge to Federer but sometimes the less challenging ones are harder to win.

Pete Sampras lost to Greg Rusedski 4-6,2-6 at Chengdu, China in an ATP Champions Tour event final.

The event also saw the debut of Thai star, Paradorn Srichapan.

The top seed in the event was Swede Thomas Enqvist.

This is one tour when the also-rans can get their own sweet measure of revenge for the many defeats inflicted on them by their better counterparts in their heyday.

Greg Rusedski boasts of just one win against the 14 time Grand Slam champion on the ATP tour.

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IPL: Iceland , diplomatic immunity , Kochi , signature campaigns and a Warneing

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Kochi meets the deadline?

There have been conflicting reports in the Indian press and media about the proposal submitted by the Kochi consortium to the BCCI.

The Times Of India (TOI) reports that the Kochi franchisee have requested an additional ten days to come up with a resolution of the ongoing dispute among the consortium members.

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A marketer’s dream, tennis nightmare?

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She was the young nymphet, the minx on court who seduced the spectators with her dazzling  blonde beauty.

She was the Lolita, the male spectator’s fantasy, who seemed to sound the siren call , the ‘come hither’ every time she stepped on court.

She was the young upstart, the agent provocateur, who stirred up a storm of protests when she was rewarded with center court at Wimbledon  ahead of her fellow – much higher ranked – players on the  WTA tour.Wimbledon broke tradition for her justifying their decision saying that they were giving the paying public what they wanted.

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Indian cricket: Asia Cup Team Selection

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The Indian cricket team for the Asia Cup in Dambulla from June 15 to June 28 has been announced.

There are no real surprises in the team selection bar the much expected(?) dropping of Yuvraj Singh and the resting of Sachin Tendulkar at his own request.

Yusuf Pathan has been dropped purportedly because of his inability to play short-pitched bowling. I guess the ones without a godfather are the first ones to feel the selector’s ire.

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