Press Release: Aircel Announces the Official Blogger for CSK.

This T20 season, one man will travel, stay and catch up on all excitement with the two-time champions – Chennai Super Kings, giving the world, never before heard or seen inside updates from the team.

Ashwath Ram, 23 years of age and a biotechnologist from Chennai emerged as the winner for up to 54 day dream run with the Chennai Super Kings. An avid sports fan and an outright fan of the Chennai Super Kings, Ashwath also maintains his blog.

On 10^th of March, 2012, Aircel had launched its exclusive contest – Aircel All Access. It allowed users to submit their entries to claim their all access to CSK. Over 3500 entries were received on the microsite www.aircelallaccess.com and social media platforms, Facebook and Twitter. Of these, 6 were finalised, based on the quality of their entries. A final on-ground audition was held in Chennai and a panel of judges including the CSK team manager picked out the winner.

Starting from April 3^rd, ie, when the Indian Edition of T20 begins, Ashwath will share insights all day long into the lives of the kings from the south, via Twitter and Facebook. More than just a ball-by-ball commentary, this will also give all the CSK fans a window to experience the life of their favourite champions. Stay tuned to Ashwath as he remains active with all the T20 action and more on www.aircelallaccess.com, www.twitter.com/Aircel and www.facebook.com/aircel.

Paes-Raja Keep India's Davis Cup Hopes Alive

After a disappointing first day, the Indian doubles combo of Leander Paes and Purav Raja took on Lim and Ji Sung Nam  from the Korean Republic on day two of the davis cup tie. With all hopes pinned on the experienced Paes to save India from crushing 3-0 defeat, the Indian tennis mastero didnt disappoint as the Indian pair thrashed the Korea in straight sets ( 6-4, 7-6, 6-2).

The doubles encounter was Purav Rajas's first Davis Cup encounter but the young Indian looked comfortable and struck the ball well through the game. The Indian pair displayed a great understanding of each others game. Leander constantly motivated his young partner who didn't fail to impress the crowds or his fellow team mate.

The first set saw the Indian pair break the Korean serve early on but couldn't keep the advantage as the young Purav lost his serve in the eighth game to level scores at 4-4. The set ultimately ended with India winning the last two games to take the set 6-4. The Indian body language was positive going into the crucial second set. The exciting second set went into a tie brake and before anyone realized India was already trailing 0-3. However, the Indian pair maintained their calm and fought back to take the tie brake 7-5 and the set 7-6. Paes and Raja were dictating terms and completely outbid the Korean pair by taking the one sided third set 6-2.

The elated crowd cheered every single point won and expressed their concern on points lost. The two and a half hour encounter ended with celebrations in the Indian camp. India now heads into day 3 of the encounter trailing 1-2. India needs to win both its reverse singles encounters to qualify for the next round of the Davis Cup.

Check out this space tomorrow whether India makes the comeback to advance into the next round.

Is Kobe Brayant as Good as Michael Jordan?

An infographic that analyses the careers of the two greats

Understanding the Fall of Brand Sachin

A story in today's Times of India talks about the little mater, Sachin Tendulkar's dipping brand value going to his major slump in form. While the story goes on to talk about how imaging brand, Canon has already decided to do away with him as their ambassador, it also talks about how his other brands including Adidas and Toshiba may follow suite. Manish Porwal, MD,  Alchemist, a talent management agency did highlight the possibility of this little rough patch being the lull before the storm. He believes that this could be a result of the uncertainty around his decision to retire.

The story was insightful but a quote from Dr. Alok Bharadwaj, Vice President, Canon India did open up possibilities of the Sachin Tendulkar brand dying owing to multiple reasons apart from Sachin his not so great performance on the field.

Brand Sachin is heavy on the pocket: Being the second highest paid cricketer in the world next to India skipper M.S Dhoni, the man commands a huge sum to share his reptation with any other brand. At a time when organisations are finding it a task to feed their own people, affording the little master may just be completely out of reach.

Brand ambassadors don't work anymore: Many experts believe that brand ambassadors are not worth the money that is spent on them. They believe that the culture of having a celebrity face associated to a brand doesn't work anymore. The possibility that Sachin's brand value is not the highest could be a factor of the dying culture of brand ambassadors.

He isn't 17 anymore: With the majority of decision making powers moving to the youth, many brands have employed strategies that give them a fresh and young positioning. With the little man's age tipping age tilting towards 'the not so young,' creating a youth appeal through him is far harder for a brand who has the option of signing a young and glamorous star from Bollywood.

Sachin Tendulkar has been the face of Indian cricket for over the past 20 years and writing him off as a successful sportman, a team player or a valuable brand is highly unfair. With cricketing greats including Ganguly and Dravid backing him, it is imperative for the Indian sports fan to support their favorite star at a time when  he needs it the most. After today's fine innings of 76, Sachin has shown clear signs of returning to form and for the sake of Indian cricket may this be just one of the great knocks that are still yet to come.

The Surprising Salaries of Sports Stars

There is no doubting the fact that sportsmen earn superstar salaries. Here is an interesting infographic I came across that gives quite an insight into 'The Surprising Salaries of Sports Stars.'

Click Image to increase the size

Trailer : Bhaag Milkha Bhaag

Sports is full of stories that inspire and motivate people to battle all odds to live their dream. While, many have heard of stories relatively popular personalities including a Sachin Tendulkar or a Kapil Dev,  very few know about the heroics of Milkha Singh. Popularly referred to as the 'Flying Sikh,' Milkha Singh represented India in the 1960 and 1964 summer Olympics held in Rome and Tokyo respectively.Milkha Singh is one of the very few Indian athletes to have bagged medals in the Commonwealth and Asian Games.

Bhaag Milkha Bhaag, a movie directed by Rakyesh Mehra captures the life of India's most respected athlete. With Farhan Akhtar and Sonam Kapoor playing the lead role, the movie is all set to be a must watch for all Sports fans in India.

            

Volkswagen is all set for a mega race weekend at the Sidvin Festival of Speed, Buddh International Circuit

·     Polo R Cup drivers get a hang of the circuit during the practice sessions today

·     South African Guest driver, Jeffrey John Kruger, sets the pace in Polo R Cup practice sessions

Greater Noida, November 30, 2012 – Buddh International Circuit is all set to host the most exciting race weekend of this season. JK Tyre Volkswagen Polo R Cup 2012, part of Sidvin Festival of Speed, is having a host of activities planned for this round. Beside the thrilling races, there are super-charged taxi drives planned in Audi R8 and TSI Race Polo cars for the sports car driving experience. This ‘flying lap’ concept will see the ace drivers Karun Chandhok, Aditya Patel and Armaan Ebrahim take the 5.2 litre V10 R8s out for a friendly race. Lucky few will get a chance to go around in a Race Polo for a taxi drive and get a feel of racing on an F1 track.

Polo R Cup drivers will see 2 new guest drivers, Jeffrey John Kruger and Robin Catherine Kruger, from South Africa join the races. This brother-sister driver duo, race in the Volkswagen Polo Cup in South Africa. Polo R Cup drivers have clocked much better times compared to the pre-season test drive and are thrilled for the qualifying session tomorrow.