Sports World Review

Lucas determined to keep his place in the side

The Liverpool team’s midfielder Lucas Leiva who has been playing for the Reds this summer, is well aware of the fact that his place is not guaranteed in the starting line up unless he shows some improved performances ion the field. He is determined to fight for a place in the starting line up and has dome fairly well in the five matches that he has plated for Liverpool this season. He is keen to learn a lot of things from the experienced players in the side and is particular to learn from Steven Gerrard, the English international as well as Xabi Alonso.

The Liverpool Reds are aiming at making to the top four of the English Premiership Championship and Lucas, the Brazilian international, is eager to help the Reds achieve their goal. He said in an interview that he is learning a lot from the experienced players like Gerrard, Alonso and Mascherano as they have played many games in Europe, which is a foreign soil for the 21 year old young Brazilian. He respects all the players in the team and is determined to fight for a place in the team, as he know that he is pretty capable of grinding himself into the team with his soccer skills.

Beckham to play exhibition matches in Asia

David Beckham, the former England captain as well as a former Manchester United and Real Madrid footballer, is all set to travel with his new team Los Angeles Galaxy to play three exhibition soccer matches in Asia. The Los Angeles Galaxy, a Major League Soccer club in the United States, said that the team will begin their exhibition tour next week and will play in South Korea, China and Hong Kong.

The Los Angles Galaxy’s tour to the Asian countries is a publicity stunt in order to cash in on the huge popularity of David Beckham across Asia. The Asian exhibition tour will kick start in South Korea on the 1st of March against the FC Seoul in Seoul stadium. The second match will be played in China on the 5th of March against the Shanghai – Hong Kong United team in Shanghai. The third match is a latest addition to the Galaxy’s Asia Tour of 2008 and is to be played on March 9th in the Hong Kong stadium against the Hong Kong Union team. The Los Angeles Galaxy’s Assistant general manager said that the Galaxy team is pretty much excited about the prospect of playing these exhibition matches in Asia and the recent addition of a match at Hong Kong to their itinerary talks volumes about the huge fan following that David Beckham has.

Sharapova wins her second title of 2008

The 2008 Australian Open champion, Maria Sharapova, claimed her second straight title this year and the 18th title of her career when she bet her Russian unseeded counterpart Vera Zvonareva 6-1, 2-6, 6-0 at the Qatar Open tournament finals on Sunday. Sharapova had a jolt in the second set when she lost the set 2-6 to the former top 10 Russian opponent, but took perfect control of the third set by winning it 6-0. The 5,000 capacity audience at Doha was treated to some powerful forehands and deep ground strokes from the racket of Maria Sharapova.

Sharapova has earned $ 414,000 by winning the Qatar Open tournament and this is the largest amount given to any player of the WTA tournaments outside the Grand Slams. Later Sharapova revealed that, she pretty well knew of the capabilities of her Russian opponent and that she plays her beat tennis when she is trailing behind. The win at the Qatar Open has extended her unbeaten tally this year to 14 matches and the fourth seeded Maria should be pretty happy about defeating Zvonareva, as she was the one who defeated her in their last meeting at the Indian Wells. The Sharapova dominance was evident in all the matches that she played at the Qatar Open.

Men’s Curling competition in British Columbia, Canada

After three games, two of which were tie-breakers, the Victorian team lost to Castlegar. The downfall started early on with Champion’s Dean Janisse’s rock picking up some trash and veering off the path he sent it on. This is a common problem with the rocks. They will veer off the path if you don’t wipe them off before releasing. Playing against an expert player, Wes Craig of Esquimalt, Joanisse had plenty of chances to get back in the game. There were plenty of shots to make up for the many rocks that didn’t go where they were supposed to go. But the team was defeated.

The first place winner was Tom Buchy from Kimberley. He was quite happy with a 7-2 record. He is now in the four team playoff which gives him the advantage of throwing the last rock. Plus, he will get to check the rocks before the game and take his pick of which ones to use. He will also battle Bob Ursel in the play-off games. Finishing third was fellow Canadian and world champion McAulay. He had a 6-3 record. Ursel had stolen some three points from him and won in the 10th match.

Henin wins Laureus Sportswoman of the Year Award

Justin Henin, the Belgian world number one women’s tennis player, won the most prestigious awards for the entire sports world, the Laureus for the Woman Sportsperson of the Year. The 2007 season was a dream season for Henin, as she won 10 titles that include two grand Slam titles (the French Open title and the U.S Open title) and the Sony Ericsson Championship at the end of the season. She is the third women’s tennis player to win the Laureus after Jennifer Capriati and Serena Williams and is the first Belgian to win the award in the nine year history of the awards.

Henin not only ended the 2007 season as the World’s number one player but also became the first women’s player in the history of the game to earn more than $ 5 million as prize money in a single season. Henin has won 63 of the 67 matches that she played in 2007 and said that her positive nature and the things that happened in her personal life that has driven her to perform the way she did in 2007. She said that there is nothing called as impossible in life and that she has proved it again this year through her tennis.

Around the World in 195 Days

Mark Beaumont, the cyclist from Scotland has become the owner of the record of the fastest person to do cycling around the world. He broke the earlier record by completing his pedaling in Paris 195 days and six hours after his start. He has overcome the earlier record of 276 days .Everyday Beaumont covered an average distance of 100 miles to achieve this record. He rode in to the Arc de Triomphe, the finishing line after pedaling a distance of 18, 000 miles. During his journey he covered countries like New Zealand, Australia India, Pakistan, Iran and U.S.

Mark Beaumont believes that he could have finished the cycling earlier, but was not able to do so because he had to eat the junk food while passing through Australia and U.S, as no other options were available and this caused bad effect on his stamina a swell as mental focus. Beaumont said that “it is an absolutely fantastic feeling to achieve a world record after six months on the road”. The Guinness World Records spokesperson Amarilis said that the organization was watching the performance of the cyclist very closely and their researchers will review the documents before making any official declaration.

Arsenal moves to the top of the Premier League Table

 The defeat of the Manchester United to Manchester City came as a blessing to the Arsenal as they were pushed to five more points and reached the top pf the league. The chances of Chelsea and United winning the premier league were dropped by their defeat and Arsenal’s chances are brighter now. Though Arsenal was finding it difficult to get into form in the match against Blackburn, the goals from Emmanuel Adebayor and Philippe Senderosa helped them to save their face. Arsenal’s coach Wenger is very satisfied with the performance of his boys.

With twelve more games remaining in the Premier League, Wenger is confident that his team will come out with flying colors as the team has the right mind condition to handle the pressures of the game. In the current league they have won 19 matches, drawn 6 matches and lost 1 match. The team believes that by playing any game with confidence, team spirit and the true desire to win will produce the result. As there will be more hard games to be played later in the league, it is necessary to remain focused and to fight till the last minute of the game.

Henin makes an emotional final return to her home tennis court

Justin Henin, the world number one women’s tennis player has left behind all her personal tragedies and has decided to compete in the Antwerp WTA tennis tournament in her hometown after a gap of five years. She wanted to play at home and says that the decision to play at home was a pure emotional one. Henin wanted to perform in her home town for one last time so as to give all her fans, well wishers and close friends a chance to see her play in this tournament.The painful divorce that took place in 2007 has really drained her emotionally and she accepts this tournament as a gift for all the unwanted things that has happened in her life for the past few years. Henin will be playing her first official tournament since the loss to Maria Sharapova in the quarterfinals of the recently concluded Australian Open. The other seeded women players for this tournament include Anna Chakvatadze, Patty Schnyder and Daniel Hantuchova.. Justin Henin lost to Kim Clistjers in the semi final of 2003 Antwerp Open, which was the last appearance for her in this court. The Belgian player’s fans are hoping for a good performance from her side this time around and many expect her to win the title.

City defeats United at their home

Manchester city completed a premier league sweep of their rival Manchester United by beating them 2-1 amid the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Munich disaster. it was in 1970 that the Manchester City defeated united for the last time in the league matches played in home as well as away. Darius Vassel was one of the players who took city to the win through his goal in the 24th minute and Benjani Mawaruwari did the final nailing down of United with his goal before the half time. Even though Michael Carrick scored a goal for Manchester United, the rest of the team failed to support him.

Before the match between the city and the united, the eight players on Matt Busby’s team that died in the disaster of 1958 was recalled on the electronic hoarding placed in the stadium. A minute’s silence was observed in the stadium to pay homage to the victims of the crash. Both the teams were wearing the uniforms of the 1950s –style devoid of sponsorship. The players of the united will be upset as they failed to give a fitting tribute to the five survivors of the disaster who attended the match at Old Trafford.

Some Common Answers About Steroids and Sports

In the heat of the accusations of drug use for pitcher Roger Clemens, a survey came out about how professional athletes can influence younger athletes to use steroids and other performance enhancers. The survey showed that majority of grades 8 to 12 students confessed that they used anabolic steroids in order to achieve their goals in sports. They confessed they would use a pill or a powder even if they knew it would be bad for their health.

To enlighten a lot of people, Dr. Edward V. Craig gives some answers to common questions about the use of steroids and performance enhancers.

When asked if it were more dangerous for younger athletes to use steroids than for older ones, he replied that steroids are more dangerous for younger athletes. He explained that steroids supply a lot of synthetic testosterone to the body, which can lead younger players to premature puberty. One effect of this is that the growth in height stops. Steroids can also affect the mood and may cause either depression or aggressive behavior in young people.

When asked what the effect of anabolic steroids to the body is, Dr. Craig said that they increase the number of muscle cells. This leads to hypertrophy.

Dr. Craig also revealed that young athletes also take other performance enhancers like creatine, a protein powder that is mostly used as a nutritional supplement. Some teenagers take androstendione, a hormone that becomes testosterone when in the body. He added that though these may not be as harmful as steroids, taking them early in life may later lead them to taking greater-risk substances or drugs.