The joys of hypnotic snooker

i know this post won’t paint me in the most gloriously cool “light” ever but the World Snooker Championship began today and i’m looking forward to spending a good bit of time watching it over these next 17 days!
while still remaining ever so slightly hypnotic, watching this championship has always been something i’ve loved. in years gone by it was a massive revision distraction, but today it was one of the greatest chill outs i’ve had in ages. i came home after a long weekend away speaking and sat with mumsy, not moving for a few hours, enjoying the chat, loving the game and especially appreciating the lack of urgency of anything pressing! i’ve missed times like that recently.
i’m off work tomorrow and am looking forward to a good lie in and another afternoon watching wee mark allen from antrim try to beat stephen hendry…

Dream Match Tennis

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Dream Match Tennis is the most realistic 3D tennis game. You can play REAL tennis at your home computer. Control the ball and win the match! *Game Features - 2 game modes Challenge and Exhibition. - 3 court surfaces Hard, Grass and Clay court. - 4 characters - Supports keyboard and joypad It is strongly recommended to use joypad. - Supports PLAYER vs. PLAYER and PLAYER vs. COMPUTER - 7 computer levels *System Requirements Windows 98/ME/2000/XP 1 GHz CPU 128 MB RAM DirectX 9.0c DirectX Compatible 3D Card
Free download from Shareware Connection - Dream Match Tennis is the most realistic 3D tennis game. You can play REAL tennis at your home computer. Control the ball and win the match!

Tall Tennis

Yes the picture's real. Burj Al Arab in Dubai is home to the world's highest tennis court (at times). At 210 meters (about 690 feet), it's pretty far up there. Way higher than I'd feel comfortable running around hitting a ball. The court doubles as a landing pad when there aren't any matches being played, and as a place to shit your pants the rest of the time.
Video of Andre Agassi and some other guy playing tennis up there after the jump. I like how at the end they just start wailing balls off of the side trying to hit things. Because that's what I would do.

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"India need European hockey coaches"

"India need European hockey coaches"Prabhjot Singh
Former Malaysian skipper Sarjit Singh. — Tribune photo
"IF you are looking for results in hockey, you must go for a European or Australian coach," says Olympian and former Malaysian skipper Sarjit Singh. "Asians may have been better or more accomplished than players from other parts of the world but coaching is a different ball game," he says.
"We cannot match the scientific and strategic planning of European and Australian coaches. See Pakistan and Malaysia. Ever since they engaged foreign coaches, their results have improved considerably," adds Sarjit. A finance professional, Sarjit has taken to coaching part time after retiring from competitive hockey.
Sarjit Singh not only represented Malaysia in all major hockey events, including Olympic Games, World Cup, Asia Cup and Asian Games, but has also been associated with the training of the junior team. His parents come from Punjab. He was in the city with the Malaysian junior team which was here to play the fourth and last Test.
Though he took the team to Jalandhar for an exhibition game with the Ramesh Hockey Academy, he could not spare time to visit the villages of his father and mother in Amritsar.
"I have been with the Malaysian junior team for more than six months. I have learnt a lot from Paul Lissek, the German coach, who has been training our national (senior) team. He is a giant and after playing in more than 200 internationals, including Olympic Games, World Cup, Asian Games and other tournaments, I find myself nowhere compared with Paul," admits Sarjit.
Hockey has become very scientific and technical. As such, strategies, game plans and training methods which were used in the 80s and 90s have become redundant now.
Both Europeans and Australians have such a strong command over the game that the rest of world has no choice but to emulate them. Gone are the days when Olympians from India and Pakistan were welcome for coaching assignments anywhere in the world. Many of the best hockey coaches never played the game at the international level. But their ability to analyse moves and strategies and to counter opponents on the basis of their strengths and weaknesses have put the Asian teams under pressure, says Sarjit.
"We lost all four Test matches against India Juniors. We will play four Test matches in Pakistan before we return home on March 15. In April, we will be back in Pakistan to play in the Asia Cup for Juniors. These matches will be held in Karachi from April 20. We have Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, China and India in our pool.
"We came here to learn what our weaknesses were and so that we could improve our game in time for the Karachi tournament. I am satisfied with the performance of my boys. Four of my boys are in the senior team, playing in the Olympic qualifiers at Madrid. One player, who was a member of the bronze-medal-winning Malaysian team in the 2002 Asian Games, is injured.
"The present Indian junior team is good. It has talent and is well knit. I hope both India and Malaysia qualify for the semi-finals in the Karachi tournament," he added.

6-wicket win for South Africa

Opening bowlers Shaun Pollock and Makhaya Ntini set up a six-wicket win for South Africa in the first one-day international against Sri Lanka at the Wanderers Stadium today. Pollock took four for 18 and Ntini had figures of three for 22 as Sri Lanka struggled to 128 all out after being sent in on a lively pitch.Shaun Pollock appeals successfully to get the wicket of Aravinda de Silva in the first one-day international at Johannesburg on Wednesday.— Reuters photo

Indian Squad For Twenty20 - T20 World Cup 2009

Indian Squad for Twenty20 World Cup in England is named. However, its only the preliminary squad and is subject to some changes if need be.
There is no surprise and MS Dhoni will be captain for the second edition as well. He takes all credit in surprising cricket mad Indian fans by a win in South Africa in 2007 against Australia. No wonder the game instantly became popular here in the sub continent.
About 30 members are named in the preliminary squad and this will be trimmed to 15 members before the event. In the 30; however, seniors such as explosive in form batsman Virender Sehwag and off-spinner Harbhajan Singh find spot. There is a surprise inclusion in Lakshmipathy Balaji who was off limelight for more than 3 years after some shine with his bowling. The team of 30 look like this:
Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma, Irfan Pathan, Yusuf Pathan, Zaheer Khan, Munaf Patel, Murali Vijay, Ajinkya Rahane, Naman Ojha, Subramaniam Badrinath, Robin Uthappa, Ravindra Jadeja, Manoj Tiwary, Virat Kohli, Wriddhiman Saha, Amit Mishra, Abhishek Nayar, Rudra Pratap Singh, Ravichandran Ashwin, Lakshmipathy Balaji and Dhawal Kulkarni.
The final 15 members are guessable by anyone who follows Indian cricket international and domestic circuits closely.
From what I have heard and followed, Joginder & Sreesanth are dropped from T20 World Cup