Anand says firm no to politics
Grand Master Vishwanathan Anand said he was not interested in joining politics, but promised to learn Hindi to able to interact with a wider section of people in the country.

“I don’t see my future in politics,” was his reply when asked whether he had any plan to join politics. He said he was concentrating on chess and wanted to be in the game for another 5-6 years.

Asked whether he would get into business after retirement, like many sportspersons of the country, Anand said he was not thinking about retirement right now as he was fully concentrating on his game. Anand said he needed to speak Hindi like his wife as he was touring the entire country to promote chess and mastery over the language will help him interact with a large audience.

Woods’ wife wins money, apology

Elin Nordegren Woods, wife of golfer Tiger Woods has won USD 183,250 and an effusive apology from an Irish magazine that published a “deliberately offensive” article and a faked nude photo of her.

Trevor White, publisher of The Dubliner, conceded that the article - published in September 2006 when Ireland was hosting the Ryder Cup - “was cheap, tasteless, and deliberately offensive. It was also completely untrue.”

Nordegren Woods welcomed the settlement in a statement. “The false and deeply offensive article in The Dubliner magazine, with the accompanying photograph of another woman wrongly claimed to be me, caused great personal distress to me and my family,” she said. She will donate the money to a cancer charity in honour of Heather Clarke, the wife of Northern Ireland golfer Darren Clarke.

Pink is the colour for Gilchrist

Australian wicketkeeper batsman Adam Gilchrist has decided to don pink keeping gloves in the first Test against India at the MCG to raise awareness about breast cancer.

Gilchrist will be following the footsteps of his team-mates Matthew Hayden and Andrew Symonds, who used pink batting grips in  last year’s Boxing Day Test against England.

Gilchrist will wear pink gloves to raise awareness for the McGrath Foundation. Gilchrist needed permission from Cricket Australia (CA) and the International Cricket Council to wear pink gloves, but was happy to help his friends’ charity.
“Glenn has not only been a great team-mate, but he and Jane have been close friends of mine and my wife, Mel, for many years now,” he said.

“Jane’s recovery from her illness has been truly inspirational and to be able to help in some small way for their foundation is a great privilege,” the wicketkeeper batsman said.

US block Cuba’s cricket debut 

Cuba will not be able to take part in the Stanford 20/20 Caribbean cricket competition after US authorities denied the competition's organisers permission to deal with the island nation.

The competition is backed by US businessman Allen Stanford, but US authorites made it mandatory to take their permission to handle Cuban athletes.

Stanford said on Tuesday that his application had been denied and therefore Cuba would not take part in what would have been their debut in international cricket.
“We have been anxious to include the entire Caribbean in the Stanford 20/20 Cricket Tournament and I am extremely disappointed that Cuba will not be able to play,” said Stanford in a statement.