Crippling injuries are a part of sports and when you are involved in sports as physical as the UFC, injuries and pain become almost a part of the routine. But career crippling injury is a whole different story and the UFC champ Brock Lesner is currently facing a situation that could mean the end of his fighting career. Lesnar has been diagnosed with some sort of serious intestinal problem that UFC president Dana White says requires a ‘major surgery’. Now you might think people have come out of major surgeries before to resurrect careers, but when doctors tell you ‘you might never fight again’, things can never be too good.

Lesner was a revelation in the world of professional sports with his impressive physical specimen and despite his very limited in-ring talent made a huge name for himself in the WWE before he jumped ship and decided to join UFC. His career has always been full of promise and just when people though that Brock would fulfill that promise the current illness has put him out once again.

While fans and non-fans alike are wishing Brock the very best, Lesner himself could probably take heart from the life of one ‘Shawn Michaels’ who suffered a crippling back injury in 1998 and still came back in 2002 to WWE ring to work again fulltime. Hopefully Brock Lesner will script a similar fairytale in the UFC…

Citypages

Manny Pacquiao has won his seventh title in seven weight divisions. He also just made boxing history. Miguel Cotto ended up with bloodied shorts, proof that a lot of blood had gushed out of a face wound. Through a technical knockout, he lost his WBO welterweight belt to the world’s greatest pound-for-pound boxer today.

Pacquiao’s coach, Freddie Roach, boasted that his ward will take Cotto down on the 5th round. Pacquiao predicted one or two more rounds than that. Hillary Clinton predicted his victory. But Cotto was not an easy fight.

The battle, dubbed Firepower, lasted all of the 12 rounds. Well, a tad short of the 12 actually. The referee called for the end of the fight 55 seconds into the last round. While Cotto lost his balance and touched the floor twice early on in the fight, the Puerto Rican lasted that long with the Pacman who is known to take down his opponents well before the middle of the fight.

Pacquiao’s entire extended family plus his wife’s extended family were all in the audience, transported from their respective provinces in the Philippines.

The Pacman admitted he was cautious getting into the bout, saying that the Puerto Rican boxer may be his toughest fight ever. But a concert he scheduled at Mandalay Bay – his own concert – practically right after the fight only proves that Pacquiao was confident he will crush Cotto.

Overall, it was not a fight as exciting as the previous bouts Pacquiao had with Mexicans, or the surprises he pulled on Oscar de la Hoya and Ricky Hatton. But Cotto was in top form and posture, and although he ended up with bloodied white shorts, he remains to be the fighter that was able to wrestle the biggest share, among all other Pacquiao opponents, of the prize pie with the Pacman. In big-time boxing, nobody loses.

The New York Times/TIME/BBC

Four selections of Europe conquered their vacancy on this Saturday, after the next to the last round of the preliminary rounds for the World Cup of 2010. Denmark, Serbia, Germany and Italy didn’t give chances to their opponents and stamped their respective passports. Of the nine groups, only two will still need to define which will be them classified direct (2 and 3).

In the total, 19 selections are already guaranteed in the World Cup: South Africa, Holland, Japan, Brazil, Paraguay, Chile, Mexico, United States, Korea of the South, Australia, Korea of the North, Ghana, Costa of the Ivory, England, Spain, Serbia, Denmark, Italy and Germany.

In 2010 Africa of the South will be headquarters of the first World Cup in the African continent. The expectation is very big, in spite of being a developing country. There will be nine host cities that will be the nervous center of the Cup 2010.

Several world leaders will give prestige to the event, besides Barack Obama. The President of the United States Barack Obama will be illustrious visitor in the ceremony in the opening of the World Cup of 2010 in South Africa, Blatter said to journalists.

Mr. Obama, whose the father was kenyan, said that will go to participate in the event that will happen on June 11, when the first World Cup will be commemorated in the African continent.

The American leader calendar can change in one year, however, he said that if he can, he will be there.

Via: Copa do Mundo 2010.

The most interesting fact being that, arch rivals North and South Korea will face off each other for the first time in the Fifa World Cup, that is to be hosted in South Africa. According to the North Korean coach, Kim Yong-Jun Kim;

“We focused on the defending as we had come under a lot of pressure from the Saudis and I think our preparation for the game was one factor that earned the victory tonight. We monitored the Saudi team from the beginning of our campaign and I noticed that they have a problem in finding good strikers. We battled to qualify for the World Cup finals and I would like to thank my players for the great performance that they showed during the whole match.”

Even though North Korea is under immense pressure from the international community due to the political ramifications of its nuclear ambitions, still, soccer fans all over the world are keenly anticipating to see North Korea’s performance in this tournament.

North Korea, as of now stands, at second spot in the Group B, just behind South Korea who is at the top of the standing with 16 points. The qualification of North Korea was almost certain, since Iran failed to defeat South Korea. All North Korea needed to do was to achieve a draw against Saudi Arabia. As North Korean team’s defense is strong, hence, they did not face any problem in drawing the match with Saudi Arabia.

However, even in the soccer fields, the events in Iran made everyone feel their presence. Iranian players wore green wrist bands that are perceived by many to be an opposition to for the crushing defeat of the reformist candidate, Mir Hossein Mousavi.

Via CNN

The Manchester United and Barcelona match has already got the fans supporting the two teams crazy with excitement. The match that is to be played in Rome has tourists pouring in to watch the Champions League final. Surprisingly, the excitement for the rivalry between the team and the excitement among its supporters have gone ugly. A Manchester United fan was reported to have been hospitalized after he was stabbed.

Rome’s airport is said to have received approximately 30,000 fans from England and some 20,000 supporters from Spain. The security has been tightened. Sales of alcohol have been banned in the city and the area near the stadium. Despite the restrictions, two Manchester United fans have also been reported to have assaulted bystanders and were supposedly drunk.

This match has been much awaited and the soccer fans can’t seem to wait for the match. Although such incidents only seem to dampen the mood of some, true soccer fans are all set to support their teams in a more sport way. The police in Rome also are very vigilant and doing a great job.

Via:IndianExpress

The boxing sensation, Manny Pacquiao has made Philippines proud after pounding Ricky Hatton last Saturday night at Las Vegas, Nevada. Pacquiao afterall did seal his reputation as a capable boxer after knocking down Hatton. The son of Philippines is expected to receive a warm homecoming celebration and parades. A national day of celebration will also be observed this Friday.

However, despite the victory, is it safe for the health of the nation to allow Pacquiao in Philippines, now that he is coming from the US. Due to the rampant rate at which the swine flu cases are going up, the Heath Secretary, Francisco Duque has expressed his concerns. It would be necessary for Pacquiao  to be quarantined in Los Angeles or in Manila, and could be released after five days if he didn’t display any signs of the flu. The World Health Organization has already confirmed the type of this H1N1 virus to be transmitted from person to person. The incubation period of the virus in the body is for seven days after which the person begins to display symptoms of the virus. During this time, even a perfectly healthy person could be transmitting the flu to others.

Despite the request, the boxing champ has boarded the plane in Los Angeles for Manila. Hopefully, the necessary health precautions will be taken in Manila.

Via:CNN

The pics published in Britain’s News of the World, showing the eight times Olympic gold medallist Michael Phelps using a bong, were taken in November at a University of South Carolina house party. He did appear genuinely apologetic and embarrassed when he apologised to his fans and sponsors earlier this week about the photo. “It’s something I am going to have to live with and something I’ll have to grow from,” Phelps told The Associated Press on Wednesday outside the pool where he trains. ”By no means it is fun for me, by no means is it easy.”

Surprisingly, several of Phelps’ sponsors — including Visa, apparel company Speedo and luxury Swiss watchmaker Omega — have expressed their support of the athlete.Even the Swiss-based FINA praised Phelps for his public apology on Wednesday.

In the wake of such whole-hearted support, it did come as a jolt when Phelps reportedly mentioned to Baltimore Sun that the incident has forced him to think whether to compete in 2012 Olympics. He said he’s going to discuss it over with his family and his coach, Bob Bowman. “This is a decision of mine that I’m not going to make today and I’m not going to make tomorrow,” Phelps said. “If I decide to walk away, I’ll decide to walk away on my own terms.”

If you really meant what you said about learning from your mistakes, Phelps, we DO hope that you won’t let this immature incident let you walk away from another stellar Olympic performance!!!

Via : AP/ Baltimore Sun

It’s the next good thing that we hear in Cycling, after Lance Amrstrong announced his decision to come back and go for an eighth Tour de France crown. After spending a huge amount of man-hours and money on research, we may finally have a successful technique to uncover dopers. This “biological passport” is a program in which athletes provide blood and urine samples to create individual drug profiles. The milestone could come through in weeks or months, most likely in cycling and will soon produce its first cases. Ofcourse, it wouldn’t be an overnight success as some dopers would always find a way to manage their drug use just below the radar screen level.

What makes this technique superior to others is this. Unlike regular testing, blood screeners aren’t looking for specific drugs or doping methods. Instead, they’re searching for doping’s telltale traces in the body. Illegally enhancing performance with blood transfusions or hormones like EPO throws the body out of whack and skews blood values. By spotting those abnormalities, scientists believe they can prove an athlete must have doped, even without identifying the specific drug or method.

But Pat McQuaid, the head of UCI (cycling’s governing body) wants to tread very carefully and ensure that the first doping case is a 100% clear cut case and can withstand an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. If the first case proves to be a dud, it means more sorry PR for the drug-tainted sport of cycling.

Via Yahoo

Maria Sharapova won’t be able to defend her title at Australian open this year. This news is bound to disappoint fans of 23- year old Russian player who has won all major tournaments last year. Sharapova has been nursing shoulder injury since last August. She has finally announced that though largely recovered and back in practice, she hasn’t yet recovered her form to play her first Grand Slam of the year 2009.

It must have been a most difficult decision for Sharapova. No tennis champion would want to give Grand Slam a miss.  But when a player has to defend last year’s title, pressure to perform at highest level is big. Apart from the title and records they risk slipping down in world ranking.  Also winners get good prize money. Starting this year Australian Open winners are going to get increased prize money. So she is going to miss it all. But meanwhile apart from practicing she can always endorse brands and be visible to her fans. Hope she’ll be back with a bang winning all tournaments, Grand Slams back to back and breaking all previous records!!

Via Timesonline