Federer, Henin loom large as US Open tennis begins by Delia Cruceru
The first day at the year's final Grand Slam tennis tournament has its winner: Roger Federer and Justine Henin. Federer played against Scoville Jenkins and defeated him with 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 at Arthur Ashe Stadium in New York Monday. He needed about 92 minutes to beat Jenkins, who had 31 unforced errors to Federer's 12. The 26-year-old Swiss is trying to become the first player to win the U.S. Open men's title in four straight years since professionals were admitted in 1968. "I'm more concentrated on the fact that I'm trying to defend my title really,'' Federer said at a news conference. "It happens to be four, so it's obviously more special.'' Henin defeated the German Julia Goerges with 6-0, 6-3 on the main court at the National Tennis Center. She won the French Open in June, faced only one break point in beating the 145th-ranked Goerges. Eight-time Slam champion Serena Williams and six-time Slam winner Venus Williams were set to play evening matches following a ceremony to honor the late Althea Gibson, the first black player to win a Slam title. "I thank everyone for coming out and supporting such an amazing champion like Althea Gibson,'' Serena Williams told the crowd at Arthur Ashe Stadium after her match. "If it wasn't for her, it's hard to believe that I could even be out here.''
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Phil Rizzuto is a famous baseball player, first of the shortstops who entered in the Hall of Fame. At the age of 89 years, he died in his sleep at a nursing home in West Orange, N.J., suffering of pneumonia. He loved baseball and when we could not play anymore, he turned to a career as a broadcaster of the games, reaching a whole new level of celebrity. He played for Yankees since 1941 until retirement, with a break during Second World War when he was enrolled in the Navy service. The nickname "The Scooter" was given to him because he was a leadoff man with quick feet who won 11 pennants and nine World Series between 1941 and 1956 and played 13 seasons alongside Mickey Mantle and Joe DiMaggio who said that he held the team together. In 21 consecutive World Series games, Rizzuto played errorless ball. Derek Jeter, Yankees' shortstop, underlined that "The Scooter" proved a person should not be judged by the physical stature, but by his will. As announcer he made a difference, being more like a storyteller known for his famous line âHoly cow!'. He used to acknowledge birthdays and anniversaries, read letters from fans, etc. There is even a Phil Rizzuto Day at the Yankee Stadium honoring his achievements and commitment to the team. The persuasive speech of Ted Williams made him enter in the Hall of Fame (Cooperstown, 1994). After his death, his No. 10 was retired by and the club will wear his number on its left sleeves for the rest of the season. At Yankee Stadium the flags were lowered to half-staff and also the team planned a moment of silence and a video tribute. God has taken a star, but his legend will live on. Let's keep a moment of silence!
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The 89th PGA Championship, an annual golf tournament conducted by the Professional Golfers Association of America as part of the PGA Tour, was won this year by the promising player Tiger Woods, earning 1.26 billion dollars. It was not a surprise because the predictions regarding his performance were more than favorable. According to him, the immense success he has made him to feel what is necessary to do in order to be successful. Furthermore, winning is an art that Tigers say he knows to master it. At this championship he achieved his best score ever in a major (63), although South African Ernie Els and American Woody Austin seemed to be a threat for him on Sunday, he still managed to overcome the danger. With a record of three majors and 12 PGA Tour events, now 13, he comes closer and closer to Jack Nicklaus' all-time record of 18. Woods explains it by putting all on his previous experience. The last major that he won was in 2000 and he says that since then, he developed a lot and his game too. On August 23 in New York will be the opening the four-event playoff series for the FedExCup with a prize of 10 million dollars and Woods wants to play in all four, also he will play in the Presidents Cup in Montreal, Canada. All of his time will be invested in playing golf and it will be interesting how everything will turn up. Stay connected and find out.
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Djokovic takes Rogers Cup from Federer by Ioana Madalina Tantareanu
Novak Djokovic considers his victory over Rafael Nadal, in the Rogers Cup semifinal, one of the biggest of his career. Djokovic solidifyed himself as a serious contender, by defeating world No. 1, Roger Federer, and winning the $2.45 million Master Series event. Djokovik stated: "It's a dream come true to win such a strong tournament as this and to win against probably the best player ever in the sport". This is Djokovic's first win in 5 matches against Federer, and his fourth tournament win this year. Djokovic also became the first player, since Boris Becker in 1994 in Stockholm, to beat the world's top three players - No.3 Andy Roddick and No.2 Rafael Nadal. He also manage to rise from No. 83 to the top 20 in the last year alone. Federer broke Djokovic to finish off the second set but the Serbian standout broke back to open the hird. Federer rallied to tie it at 4. Djokovic took over in the tiebreaker, finishing off Federer with a drop shot followed by a lob that fell inside the line. Federer's attempted return through his legs struck the net and Djokovic fell to his knees to celebrate. Federer remanis with 49 career tournament victories, tied with Becker, and he only getss $200,000 this year while Djokovic gets $400,000.
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John Daly is a man who enjoys life and always sees the full half of the glass. For the PGA Championship he prepared by spending time in the casino and when he talked about the fact that some players came earlier to train, he revealed that he would rather stay with his family or do other things like ridding a golf cart. However, at a certain point he was the clubhouse leader by shooting a surprising 3-under 67 at the season's final major. He surprised before when in 1991 despite the lack of practice he won PGA at Crooked Stick after. The day started with Arron Oberholser and Woody Austin who were two shots behind, Zach Johnson started with a bogey and ended to a 3-over par start, Tiger Woods finished at 1-over 71, while the man of the day made close to the cut and ensured a longer stay atop the leader board. His life is as negligent as his golf game. He wrote a book in which he divulged that in the last 12 years he lost between $50 million and $60 million gambling. This year he was withdraw from four tournaments and his world ranking ended on No. 423 after missing the cut in eight more tournaments. According to him none of his failures is due to bad golf shots. Although the predictions on his performances were not that good he managed to get to all 18 holes and even made show at steamy Southern Hills. England's Graeme Storm has two-shot lead in the first round of the PGA Championship, but surprises might come along the way. Stay connected and take care on who you are betting, you never know what may happen. Enjoy!
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Christine Ohuruogu wants to run at the Olympics in 2012 by Ana Maria Ciobanu
Commonwealth Games 400 meters champion Christine Ohuruogu is ready to do anything it takes to fulfill her dream of competing at the Olympic Games. The 23 year old Briton athlete has just completed a one-year suspension for failing three drug tests and is now included in the Great Britain team for the World Championships in Osaka. The World Championships happen each two years but the Olympic Games are each athlete's dream and perhaps a once in a lifetime opportunity. Christine Ohuruogu might not be able to participate at the Olympics because the British Olympic Association has very strict rules about athletes with stories related to drugs. The regulations prohibit an athlete who has served a drugs-related ban to participate at the Olympic Games. The athlete has filed in an appeal but is aware she may have to find another way of getting to compete at her home Olympics in 2012. She has stated that she's given thought to competing for another country if her appeal will be rejected. Would this be fair? Of course the Olympic Games are every athlete's dream but those regulations aren't there just to be broken or avoided by changing your country. Athletes who participate at the Olympic Games have a higher goal than just winning for themselves; they're competing and representing their countries. What is the meaning of "country" for Christine Ohuruogu if she's willing to give it up?
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One year countdown to Olympics at Beijing by Ioana Madalina Tantareanu
Wednesday, as the clock hit 8 PM, Bejing's Tiananmen Square bursted in celebration as the twelve-month countdown to the 2008 Olympics began. There was everything from fireworks, pop singers who belted out a theme song, dancers and even politicians who spoke of the event that will aid China in it's rising economic and political clout. Although everything is hoped to go well, Jacques Rogge, president of the International Olympic Committee, is concerned about Beijings air that could postpone some events. "It would not be necessary for all sports, sports with short durations would not be a problem. But definitely the endurance sports like the cycling race where you have to compete for six hours, these are examples of competitions that might be postponed or delayed to another day" said Rogge. Besides these issues he added that Chinese organizers worked "extremely hard to give Beijing an Olympic shape". Almost all of the venues are succesfully on their way, with only a part of the $40 billion of the total sum allocated for the refitting of Beijing, being spent. To try and clean up the air, Beijing authorities have spent a lot of money on moving factories and refineries out of the city, in order to ensure a clean air for the 17-day event, and plan to keep 1 million of the city's 3.3 million vehicles off the road, to achieve better results. Due to the 550,000 visitors and about 22,000 accredited media expected in Beijing, image is very important, so certain campaigns against old habits like spitting in public, litterig and jumping ahead in line are being organized in order to improve the overall behaviour of Chinese citizens. "Great achievement is always accompanied by great challenges," said Jiang Xiaoyu, an organizing committee executive vice president. The biggest security threat of all might not come from al-Qaida, but from protesters who might seek to highlight causes like labor rights, or authonomy for Tibetans, or China's role in the Darfus crisis.
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Manaudou To Be Coached By Her Big Brother by Delia Cruceru
According to L'Equipe website Jean-Luc Manaudou, Laure Manadou's father, she will return to France to train with her brother Nicolas Manaudou, after she was fired by her Italian club Monday. "She gave her agreement this morning," Jean-Luc Manaudou said, adding cautiously: "Nothing is sure yet, she could still change her mind." When Laure decided to "break up" with her trainer Phillipe Lucas in May, she moved to Turin, Italy at LaPresse club to be near her fiancée, Italian swimmer Luca Marin. Claude Fauquet, technical director of the French federation said: "I am not saying that this is a bad decision but a lot of things ... on the medical front and other areas of support ... have to be put in place." He added: "I am starting to tire of all this." Despite sparking rumours of a reunion of Laure Manaudou with her former coach, the swimmers French lawyer and agent, Didiere Poulmiere, denied that Jean-Luc and Nicolas Manaudou dined on purpose in a restaurant with Lucas. Nicolas said about coaching his little sister: "I don't have great experience at the [highest] level of coaching but I know my sister from the heart. I don't know if this is the best solution. I do know that she is in the midst of a difficult period ... and we will be there for her."
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The Olympic Games 2008 - a political scam? by Ana Maria Ciobanu
Everything orbits around the big, bad Politics domain for ages. Nothing has changed. In 2008 China will host the Olympic Games. The one year countdown has begun and protests have begun to. Six activists have been spotted by the authorities on Tuesday, descending part of the Great Wall with a 450-square-foot banner reading, "One World, One Dream, Free Tibet 2008." If the Free Tibet Campaign is right, then China is using the Olympic Games to strengthen its claims on Tibet. So what China says it has ruled Tibet for centuries?! If the Tibetans of the third millennium don't feel Chinese, don't think Chinese and don't want to be Chinese how can anyone just take away their cultural identity, their traditions, their history and replace it with Chinese surrogates? We're not living in the Dark Age anymore, conquering isn't so important. At least it shouldn't be...but maybe we haven't learnt anything in these 2007 years. The Chinese communist troops occupied Tibet in 1951 and the region is still ruled with an iron hand. Anyone who thinks outside the communist wall should understand that Chinese athletes winning all the gold medals and a temporarily beautiful Beijing city, doesn't really bring comfort.
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Barry Bonds is the kind of person that makes history. At the game against Washington Nationals everyone expected to make his 756 home run and enter the Hall of Fame. Mike Bacsik was the pitcher that stayed between the fulfilling of a lifetime goal, unfortunately for him he became the 446th different pitcher to surrender one of Bonds' home runs- a shame that John Lannan, a 22-year-old rookie making just his third major league appearance, avoided. Bud Selig, the commissioner, who watched No. 755 in San Diego, sent Jimmie Lee Solomon, Major League baseball executive vice president and Frank Robinson at the four-game set between Giants and Washington. Before the game started, Asaad Ali, son of the boxing legend Muhammad Ali, sent a message on the video screen saying he wishes good luck to Bond and that he is a great fan. Michael Jordan, Joe Montana and Wayne Gretzky came to support him too. Fans jumped to their feet when the famous hitter comes in. His wife and his two daughters were in the house together with Willie Mays. Hank Aaron, the hitter that broke all records with 755 home runs, was not present at the game that broke his record. All expectations were fulfilled and Barry Bond will remain in history as the hitter that achieved 756 home runs. His name will remain in the Hall of Fame, how Giants manager Bruce Bochy said: probably the best hitter ever. Until a new hitter steps out of the crowd and let us know that his there to take the newest record, let's applaud the present achievement.
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Iraqi insurgents praise football win by Ioana Madalina Tantareanu
An Iraqi insurged group broke ranks by congratulating Iraq's Asian Cup-winning football team, instead of attackin celebrating fans as most other militants groups would have done. Sunni Muslim, a militant group, posted on a Web site used by al-Qaida and other insurgents, that "Hamas al-Iraq congratulates the Iraqi people on the occasion of our national team's winning the Asian Cup for 2007". "We ask the Almighty that this joy may herald the grand joy when our country is liberated from the occupiers and their lackeys," Hamas al-Iraq, a relatively small insurgent group, said. Because this Web site is normally used for claiming bomb attacks, threatening or support for insurgents, the Hamas al-Iraq brought up controversy and angry responses from site users such as this one, from a man called Abu Hamza : "We urge the administrators to remove this shameful statement which infringes on the status of the Web site". The Hamas al-Iraq declaration even attracted mockery such as this one, suggesting that maybe the group should even organize it's own soccer team : "Maybe then you would change your (statements) ... from 'one of our mujahideen was killed in an ambush' to 'the other team fouled our player by tackling him from behind'". On July 25, 50 people were killed by two car bombs while celebrating the teams's semi-final win. Many insurgent groups consider the fact that Shi'ite Arab, Sunni Arab and Kurdish players a provocation in a country ravaged by sectarian violence, or anyone linked to the government, like the national football team, legitimate targets. In this spirit, the brother of goalkeeper Noor Sari was killed, and relatives of midfielder Nashat Akram were kidnapped and murdered.
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For the third straight year Tiger Woods won the Bridgestone Invitational and is now ready to go to the PGA Championship in a very good shape. Woods started the final round one shot behind Rory Sabbatini on a very rainy Sunday. Tiger Woods picked up five shots in a five-hole stretch on the front nine. The game had a funny- for some people- tragic for others event. Woods hit a 58-year-old woman in the arm while slicing to approach around the trees and dropping from a branch. Sabbatini showed a very nervous behavior and asked a police man to remove a spectator after the man in question shouted to him: "Hey Rory, still think Tiger is beatable?" Rory Sabbatini stopped and hugged his children after seeing them standing by the 10th tee. His disappointment was huge and it is perfectly normal...but Tiger Woods is still Tiger Woods and maybe he should have psychologically prepared better for this defeat. After the game, Sabbatini was asked if he plans on tempering his comments in the future. His answer was: "Why?" "I hope I inspire him and play well enough that I can give him a good challenge." Woods left the game $1.35 million richer, after his 58th career victory.
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Bonds hits 755th home run and ties Aaron by Ioana Madalina Tantareanu
Barry Bonds spent the first part of his evening easing some of his nervous sweat by vaulting himself into a tie with Hank Aaron for the career home run record, finishing with 775 home runs.His Saturday afternoon was spent by taking extra batting practice at Petco Park. Bonds provided the picture that had been expected, while hundreds of camera flashes were going off throughout the stadium.Bonds slashed it over the left-field fence when the Padres' Clay Hensley tossed Bonds a high and outside 2-1 fastball in the second inning. There was an interestingly mixed reaction as soon as Bonds's ball caromed off a red advertising sign in left field. Even if many people had suspected he might hear relentless boos,Bonds did not.He heard some cheers and some boos, but, at some points, the cheers seemed to be louder in a park where Bonds had been booed for the last two nights. Bonds slapped the first-base coach Willie Upshaw's hand, lowered his head and continued trotting around the bases when he reached first base. When Bonds made it across the plate, Bonds hugged his son, lifted him up and carried him for a few feet and then he kissed his wife, Liz, and his daughter, Aisha. It was the kind of quick, powerful swing that has made Bonds such a lethal hitter for more than two decades, the kind of swing that has been missing as he went his last 28 plate appearances without even hitting a ball to the warning track.Now that Bonds has 755, it will be interesting to see if that alleviates the pressure on him or increases it. He is one swing away again, one swing away from being alone as the home run king."No matter what anybody thinks of the controversy surrounding this event, Mr. Bonds' achievement is noteworthy and remarkable," said Seling, a reluctant witness to its history.It took Bonds less than 34 years to join Shove Aaron on that same pedestal, although Bonds's ascension was controversial because of the suspicions that he used steroids. Bonds was a few days away from celebrating his 12th birthday when Aaron's 755th home run came with the Milwaukee Brewers on July 20, 1976.His father, Bobby was playing for the California Angels that season.
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The Internet is more close to us than ever, as perfect examples are the collaboration between CNN and YouTube for the presidential debates and the convention organized by DailyKos.com, the leading Internet forum for liberal-minded writers on the Internet. Every U.S. presidential candidate has a Web site and as a new step towards the new era a White house blogger will be appointed. Former North Carolina Senator John Edwards' wife, Elizabeth stated that the Internet is the new way of communicating with the voters. Former Alaska Senator Mike Gravel suggested a blog would be one of the next president's most powerful tools. All Democratic hopefuls except Delaware Senator Joe Biden went to YearlyKos bloggers' convention this weekend in Chicago, proving that the new medium is the Web. Also the eight-way race to become the Democratic nominee next yea might be the "blogosphere", according to political analysts. Of course the entire purpose of the forum mentioned above is to find people that are willing to get out there and knock on doors. There is always the chance to stumble on some lunatics or some cranks, but that is a small percent. Who will be the White House blogger? Is the question of the day and wouldn't you like to know the answer. Unfortunately you have to wait like the rest, surf some more and click until you'll find the intriguing news. Enjoy!
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