Miss World 2009

Gibraltar's Kaiane Aldorino won the 2009 Miss World crown at a glittering ceremony here on Saturday, defeating 111 contestants from across the world but Miss India Pooja Chopra disappointed by failing to make it to the final round. An HR Clerk by profession, the 22-year old blond brought her country the Miss World title for the first time.

"Thank you South Africa, this is the most wonderful moment of my life," said Aldorino with tears in her eyes. Miss Mexico Perla Beltran finished second, while South Africa's Tatum Keshwar took the third place.

Former Miss World and Bollywood star Priyanka Chopra was one of the judges in the contest whose final round saw a close contest between seven beauty queens. Aldorino was crowned by Kseniasukhi Nova, the Miss World 2008, of Russia. 


Miss India Pooja Chopra, who participated in the contest, nursing an injured ankle, made it to the semi-final along with 15 other contestants but was eliminated in the penultimate round.

 

India Wins 2nd T20 Against Lankans

India defeated Sri Lanka by six wickets in Mohali to square the two-match Twenty20 international series. It was the highest successful chase in Twenty20 internationals.

Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara had threatened to upstage the home side again by smashing a belligerent 59 off just 31 deliveries as Sri Lanka piled up a massive 206 for seven.  

Sehwag (64 off 36 deliveries) then got the chase off to a solid start and Mahendra Singh Dhoni contributed 46, but Yuvraj, who also claimed three for 23, overshadowed those performances with an undefeated 60 (25 deliveries)

 

Sangakkara won the toss but Ishant Sharma, who shared the new ball with Ashish Nehra, struck in his first over to remove Tillakaratne Dilshan, knocking out leg stump with a delivery that moved off the seam. 

Sangakkara, who replaced Dilshan, was off the mark with a boundary and thereafter took the game away from India with some ferocious hitting. He dominated an 81-run stand for the second wicket with Sanath Jayasuriya (31), a partnership which helped the visitors recover nicely from the blow of Dilshan's dismissal.
Sangakkara, dropped on 28 by Ravindra Jadeja on the ropes, raised his half-century off 29 deliveries with a six off Yuvraj. 

 Yuvraj, who turned 28 today, was dropped on 40 in a Nuwan Kulasekara over from which he hit 23 and reached 50 off just 20 deliveries. India, well in control by then, suffered a minor blip as Dhoni and Suresh Raina were dismissed in quick succession, but Yuvraj finished off the game with a six.

2010 W.Cup tickets go on sale, locals not buying

one million World Cup tickets were made available on Saturday in the latest phase of sales for the 2010 finals amid fears not enough tickets were being bought by the South African hosts because of the cost.
About 90 percent of the previously available tickets have been sold, but FIFA and local organisers are having to implement an aggressive marketing campaign to entice more sales to locals. South African residents have bought just over half of the 674,403 tickets already sold in the first two phases of sales, soccer's governing body said.

The slower pace of sales in South Africa contrasts with the demand for the last finals in Germany, where an average of six applications were received for each available ticket. Jordaan said his compatriots had a habit of buying tickets for sports events at the last minute, though prices have been set much higher than that normally paid by South African fans.

The cheapest World Cup ticket is US$20 while to attend local premier league matches costs around US$3. The tickets released on Saturday would be made available through a random ballot with international fans applying though the Internet, while locals could make applications at bank branches. Applications close on Jan. 22.

Green Car of the Year 2010 - Audi A3 TDI

Audi A3 TDI has been declared as the 2010 Green Car of the Year.  The magazine and web site gave the A3 TDI the award over the Honda Insight, Mercury Milan Hybrid, Toyota Prius, and Volkswagen Golf TDI.

This compact luxury car features an impressive EPA estimated 42 mpg on the highway - a 50 percent highway fuel efficiency improvement over the standard gasoline engine A3," says Green Car Journal head Ron Cogan.  "Plus, this Audi's quiet, clean diesel engine delivers loads of low-end torque and a fun-to-drive experience, all with the functionality of a 5-passenger hatchback."

Its an honor that also pleases top brass at Audi.  "In winning the 2010 Green Car of the Year Award, the Audi A3 TDI demonstrates the bright future that clean diesel technology provides through reduced fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions,".

Two Grammy Nominations For A.R. Rahman

For the film Slumdog Millionaire, Music maestro A.R. Rahman has been nominated for two Grammy awards.

  The Mozart of Madras, as Rahman is fondly called, has been nominated in the best soundtrack for motion pictures, television or other visual media category for the film, and in the best song for motion picture, television and other visual media category for "Jai ho", said the official Grammy website. Written by lyricist Gulzar, "Jai ho" has been sung by Sukhvinder Singh, Tanvi Shah, Mahalaxmi Iyer, Vijay Prakash and Rahman himself. Nominated for the first time at the Grammy's, Rahman won two Oscars for "Slumdog Millionaire" and the best original score award at the 2009 Golden Globe Award.

By next year Jan 31 the 52th edition of the Annual Grammy Awards will be held at the Staples Center in Los Angeles .

Paa Hits Theaters

Paa is a film driven by a simple narrative, a sweet, heartfelt story of relationships and some of the best performances of the year.

Amitabh named as Auro and Abhishek as Amol Arte, Vidya Balan as Vidya in this film. Auro is an intelligent, witty 13 yr old boy with an extremely rare genetic defect that causes accelerated ageing. He suffers from a progeria like syndrome. Mentally he is 13, very normal,but physically he looks 5 times older. In spite of his condition, Auro is a very happy boy. He lives with his mother Vidya , who is a gynaecologist. Amol Arte, is young, progressive and a full of ideals, politician. He is out to prove to the world that 'politics' is not a bad word. He is a man with a mission. Auro is Amol's son. Paa is a 'rare' story about a father-son, son-father relationship.

The music as been composed by Isaignani ilayaraja(He has been a prominent composer of film music in southern Indian cinema) and R.Balki directed the movie.

Murali Vijay pulverise Sri Lanka

Murali Vijay had big shoes to fill in replacing the in-form Gautam Gambhir, but he started off in confident fashion when he flicked a full delivery from Welegedara through the leg side for a boundary in the first over of the innings.Vijay got his first boundary with a sweetly timed boundary through the covers off Welegedara in the 25th over of the innings.

There was no stopping Sehwag as he went on a rampage against Muralitharan. He stepped down the wicket and hit him over long-off for the third six of his innings to continue India's domination with the bat. India were in complete control after lunch as the first eight overs after the break fetched 41 runs.

Vijay showed he also existed at the other end when he stepped down the wicket and slammed Muralitharan over midwicket for a six to complete his maiden half-century. The 25-year-old opener completed his fifty of 78 deliveries, having hit six boundaries and a six in the 28th over.

Vijay looked set for his maiden century till he was dismissed leg before wicket by Herath. The right-hander tried to sweep Herath but missed the ball and was struck on the left pad right in front of the stumps. The Tamil Nadu hit 87 from 121 deliveries, inclusive of ten boundaries and a six, adding 221 runs for the opening wicket with the Sehwag.