The Indian Badminton sensation Saina Nehwal notched 3rd rank after winniing three world titles in a row.

 Saina had won the Indian Open Grand Prix at home, the Singapore Open Super Series Tournament and  defending her Indonesia Open Super Series trophy in Jakarta.

At her mentor P. Gopichand's Academy she said that while her immediate goals were to do well at the Worlds, Commonwealth and Asian Games, her dream is to win a medal at the London Olympics.

19th FIFA World Cup

The premier international football tournament will take place in South Africa between 11 June 2010 and 11 July 2010 .This will be the first time that the tournament has been hosted by an African nation, after South Africa defeated Morocco and Egypt in an all-African bidding process. Now only Oceania Football Confederation is left yet to host the FIFA World Cup.

There are 32 teams divided into 8 groups to fight for the coveted Jules Rimet Trophy.

    Football Confederation                                                      Teams

1. Asian Football Confederation (AFC)                               4

1.   Australia      
2.   Japan
3.   North Korea
4.   South Korea   

2. Confederation Of African Football (CAF)                        6

1.     Algeria
2.     Cameroon
3.     Ghana
4.     Ivory Coast
5.     Nigeria
6.     South Africa

3. Confederation of North, Central American                     3
     and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF)

1. Honduras
2. Mexico
3. United States

4. South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL) 5

1.  Argentina
2.  Brazil
3.  Chile
4.  Paraguay
5.  Uruguay

5. Oceania Football Confederation (OFC)                             1

1. New Zealand

6. European Union (UEFA)                                                      13

1.  Denmark
2.  England
3.  France
4.  Germany
5.  Greece
6.  Italy
7.  Netherland
8.  Porugal
9. Serbia
10.  Slovakia
11.  Slovenia
12.  Spain
13.  Switzerland

Whole world will watch players like Kaka, Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney, Lionel Messi, Xavi Alonso, Dani Alves, Lucio, Nicolas Anelka, Samuel Eto, Didier Drogba, Fernando Torres, Lukas Podolski etc. And Coaches like Diego Maradona, Dunga, Fabio Capello.
But we are missing players like David Bekham, Rio Ferdinand, Balack due to injury also.

This is the first World Cup that does not include any teams that are qualifying for the first time, although two of the qualifiers (Slovakia and Serbia) have previously appeared only as parts of former competing nations. Slovakia was previously part of Czechoslovakia, and Serbia has competed as part of Yugoslavia and Serbia and Montenegro.

The opening cermony will be held on 11 June,2010. And after that first game will be played between
host South Africa and Mexico and second game will be between Uruguay and France.

With the start of the first game of  'Bafna Bafna'(nick name of South African Team), it will signal the beginning of what many hope to be the opportunity for not only South Africa but Africa as a whole.
Long seen as the poorest cousin in the world, hosting the biggest sports event in the world illustrates just how far the 'dark continent' has come.


Some Facts:

1.  Official Ball           Jabulani  by ADIDAS.

2.  Total Teams          32.

3.  Total Matches       64.

4.  Players &              1600.
     Support Staff

5.  Countries               214.
     Watching

6.  TV Channels          376.

7.  Stadiums                10.
                                   Cape Town, Durban, Johannesburg, Rustenburg, Nelspruit, Bloemfontein, 
                                    Port Elizabeth, Polokwane, Pretoria.

8.  For the first time Eco- friendly Gersy will be used by 9 countries. These are manufactured by NIKE
     (Considered Jersey) from recycled plastic bottles which are sourced from Japanese and Tiawanese     
      landfill.
    

National Advisory Council (NAC) is likely to be reconstituted with a constellation of individuals with formidable reputations to steer the social agenda of UPA's 2nd Term.

NAC , headed by UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi , will retain four members from previous NAC - Aruna Roy, Jean Dreze, NC Saxena and AK Shiva Kumar.

And the six new members will be - Agriculture scientist MS Swaminathan , Madhab Gadgil, coordinator of social security at NGO SEWA Mirai Chatterjee, Muslim civil rights activist Farah Naqvi , Planning Commission member and economist Narendra Jadhav, technocrat V Krishnamurthy , Dilip Joshi and former IAS officer and social activist, Harsh Mander.

Where the domains of the member are:

• Madhab Gadgil           ENVIRONMENT
• A K Shivkumar          SOCIAL SECURITY AND DEVELOPMENT
• N C Saxena                FOOD COMMISSIONER TO SUPREME COURT
• Jean Dreze                  FOOD SECURITY
• Narendra Jadhav        EDUCATION, DALIT WELFARE
• Aruna Roy                  RTI, NREGS
• Anu Aga                     INDUSTRIALIST, ACTIVE IN SOCIAL CAUSES
• M S Swaminathan       AGRICULTURE
• Harsh Mander             PROPONENT OF BILL AGAINST COMMUNAL VIOLENCE
• Farha Naqvi               MINORITIES AND EDUCATION
• Mirla Chatterjee         WOMEN & LIVELIHOOD ISSUES

With such a pelothra  of civil society heavyweights issues like food security, communal harmony, education and public health would move centrestage and we can expect more inclusive growth policy and a wider social security net .