The Third Commonwealth Youth Games Pune 2008

As the third Commonwealth Youth Games begin at Pune, India from Sunday, 12th October with 70 participating nations and around 1300 athletes. The games will be held for seven days and will conclude on 18th October. A special drive conducted during the games is 'Save the Tiger'. To visit official website of the games, click here .

The logo of the games shows the tradition and modern culture of the city. The logo reflects the historical seal of the great Maratha king, Shivaji Maharaj. The name of the Mascot is Jigrr. Jigrr is an amalgam of the Hindi word 'Jigar', which implies courage and the sound of a tiger roar (grrr...). For more on Logo and Mascot click here.

The games will be featuring 9 sports for 117 Gold medals. The sports included are Athletics, Swimming, Boxing, Wrestling, Shooting, Tennis, Badminton, Table Tennis and Weightlifting. For the detailed information of events, venues and medals per event click here . For layout of the stadium and Athlete Village click here .

There are 70 participating nations as viewed here, with India having highest participants. Going by the history, Commonwealth Games have been producing many medals for India. India always finishes in top 5. But this time with maximum number participants and home advantage, India is likely to finish on the top spot.
The probable top 3 could be,
1. India
2. Australia
3. England

Wish ALL THE BEST to the games and all the Indian Participants...

Ganguly Set to Retire after Series against Australia

The Bengal Tiger, Saurav Ganguly, has declared thet he will retire from International Cricket after the home series against Australia. There have been lots of talks about his retirements after the series against Sri Lanka. It was also said that he is selected for Australian series just to give him an honourable exit from International cricket. This was later denied by both the player and the selectors.But in today's press conference Dada finally announced the retirement.

This could just be the perfect time to retire for him. Only thing he would want is a strong performance in the upcoming series to prove his selection was far more meaningful than just an honourable exit.

Cyclist Riccardo Ricco banned for Two Years

I don't know how many readers are interested in cycling, but I still thought this post should be here. Italian rider Riccardo Ricco has been banned for two years after tested positive in dope test during the Tour de France this year.



Tour de France is supposed to be the biggest cycling tournament of the world. It is the ultimate test of stamina, speed and endurance. But in last few years it has always been spoiled by doping scandals. Ricco being the latest. These scandals have also raised question mark on Lance Armstrong who has won the tour 7 times and you might see his comeback next year just to prove that 'he never cheated' in his career.

This is not the first time Ricco is found guilty. The 25 year old was also caught as junior rider. But this is really sad for the sport. Ricco was thought as the future world champion. So we will be missing a potential world champion at the Tour de France for the next two years or maybe we will never see him again at all. I hope that the other riders will learn from this incident and we will have a dope free Tour next year.

Indian Squad Announced for First Two Tests

The India's squad for first two tests against Australia is out. The squad is,
Anil Kumble (captain), Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, MS Dhoni(wk), Sourav Ganguly, S. Badrinath, Harbhajan Singh, Amit Mishra, Zaheer Khan, Munaf Patel, Ishant Sharma and R.P.Singh
There were not many surprises in the squad. Ganguly was expected to return with the new selectors committee. Badrinath has shown fairly good form recently. However, selection of Mishra over Ojha or Murali Kartik was a real surprise.

In the starting lineup, Gambhir and Sehwag have proven themselves as the best opening pair of recent years. Dravid, after spending some good time at crease in Irani trophy match, will be confident at number 3. Laxman has always been intimidating to Aussies at number 5. I only doubt about Tendulkar and Ganguly. Both of them didn't play in the Irani trophy and didn't get any match practice since the miserable series against Sri Lanka. MS Dhoni looked good in both batting and keeping in match against Delhi. Looks like he is learning how to play with tail-enders (which Gilchrist did very well throughout his career). I don't see a place for Badrinath in starting 11 unless someone is unfit.

In bowling department no real talking points. Kumble, Harbhajan, Ishant and Zaheer are the most likely to start. Munaf or RP will only play in case of injury. Mishra is highly unlikely to get a match.

One thing has to be noted about Australia that, they arrived in India very early. Hence they got a good time to adjust with the conditions and also they will be getting two practice matches. As opposite, when India goes for a tour, BCCI keeps the schedule so tight that we hardly get one practice match and as a result team performs really badly in the first test match.

the Australian Squad is, Ricky Ponting(captain), Michael Clarke, Doug Bollinger, Stuart Clark, Brad Haddin(wk), Matthew Hayden, Michael Hussey, Phil Jaques, Mitchell Johnson, Simon Katich, Jason Krejza, Brett Lee, Bryce McGain, Peter Siddle, Shane Watson
With at least 4 new names and both spinners (Krejza and McGain) doing their debut, it really looks unfamiliar squad. With McGain likely to miss the first test, Aussies look weak in spin department. They will play with 3 seamers and single spinner. Probable Australian 11 could be,
Jaques, Hayden, Ponting, Clarke, Hussey, Haddin, Watson, Lee, Johnson, Krejza, Clark