Monday, September 26, 2011

While we were away...

It took a whole week to recuperate from the exams but now that its happened, it's time to look at what occurred worldwide meanwhile.

Novak Djokovic (a.k.a Tennis):

To begin with, having a post titled as XYZ - Part 1 means there should be a part two. But I'm not dedicating a whole other post now. Novak Djokovic won the US Open. And he did it by addressing some of the points in Part 1. The positive to take from that match is that Federer had match points against Djokovic again. Infact, Federer is the only person to have had match points against Nole this year (Nole having retired injured against Murray at Cincinnati... Poor Andy never get's the credit for anything). The conversion rate is only 20% but I guess it suggests that he does stand a chance of upsetting the Serbian of the year. If it can be stretched, then it can be said that Djokovic is under pressure against Federer.




Speaking of pressure, Rafael Nadal is under plenty. He said after the Wimbledon final that he thought this Nole level was not permanent. Now it sounds more like he was hoping. And despite him doing his best, he is falling short. He is not only losing bucket loads of ATP ranking points, but also quickly acquiring a steadily evening head-to-head against the Serb. Dominate a guy for three years and it gets undone in 10 months (6-0 this year, all in finals). That must hurt. Imagine then the spirit in him to bounce back in three days to win Davis Cup matches for his beloved Espana.

Now the Davis Cup tie between Australia and Switzerland showcased a lot of drama and excitement. Firstly, as expected, Federer won his singles. Secondly, as not expected, Wawrinka lost to Tomic and the Chris "who's-he?" Guccione - Hewitt pairing defeated the Beijing gold medalists. So when the deciding rubber between Hewitt and Wawrinka took place, it had plenty of eyeballs. The best of five setter went the distance and in the wee hours of Sunday, play stopped at 5-3 in the fifth set in favour of the Swiss. And when it resumed the next day, it ended in surprisingly swift six short points. The argument here is that when it was evident that both players were not letting up, shouldn't play have been suspended when both players were at par. The win puts Switzerland back into the World Group and will be joined by Japan (vs. India) and Canada. The final this year will feature Spain and Argentina.




Maybe, it is possible, that if Argentina win this time, then one of their players Juan Martin Del Potro goes on a similar rampaging run as one of the winners of last years Davis Cup.


The Men in black-and-blue:

The multicolored banner competes directly  with the now defunct Kochi franchise.

Indian players concluded a hapless, winless, injury-ridden and inspiration deprived tour of England as they prepared for the Champions League T20. The likes of Harbhajan Singh even opted out of the ODI series in England to mentally and physically recollect themselves for the World Cup of T20 leagues. However, debutantes Kolkata and veterans Mumbai will have to do without their batting mainstays, Gambir and Sachin respectively. On the other hand, Rahul Dravid, who performed so brilliantly in England, finds himself free again due to his team not having qualified for this event. This event promises heavy viewership as every player from each team was made to sign a contract stating they will not run away from the grounds. Ravi Shastri is even being paid to shoot "tracer-bullets" every over, irrespective of there being a boundary or not. The Indian public has even started a game where they try to guess which team is from which country.

Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi,
One of the finest.



Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi, one of the finest batsman and captains of his era and highly respected figure in Indian cricket passed away recently. MAK was not only a great cricketer and a gentleman, but also one of the mentors of Indian cricket. They say he taught the team to play to win, and not just play to draw. May his soul rest in peace.












Greetings from Papplay:

Papplay is the eight-legged, bubblegum pink mascot of Waves, the cultural festival of BITS-Pilani, Goa Campus. Well, technically its Papple. But Papplay is more in sync with the tagline and so...

Check out the Website here: http://www.bits-waves.org/

[PS- Do go to: Events(the surfboard) -> Quiz and check it out]
Papplay, the Wada-Pav eating, dhoti-suit wearing, Satchmo listening mollusc




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