Indian Premier League 2 : IPL 2 : IPL 2009

As cheerleading gains in popularity, the controversy rages on about whether it’s a sport or not. There are rarely any questions about the athleticism of cheerleaders, so are cheerleaders athletes without a real sport?

Definition of a Sport

In a dictionary you may find the word “sport” defined as a “physical activity that is governed by a set of rules or customs and often engaged in competitively.” It is the last part of the definition “engaged in competitively” that makes considering cheerleading a sport difficult. According to the Women’s Sports Foundation the following criteria has to be met to be considered a sport:

• A physical activity which involves propelling a mass through space or overcoming the resistance of a mass
• A contest or competition against or with an opponent
• Is governed by rules which explicitly define the time, space and purpose of the contest and the conditions under which a winner is declared
• The acknowledged primary purpose of the competition is a comparison of the relative skills of the participants

What is Cheerleading?

With the criteria above in mind, is the primary purpose of cheerleading to compete? Well, presently no. The majority of cheerleading squads do not participate in any competitions. Their sole purpose is to entertain, motivate and unite spectators of other athletic teams that are competing. Cheerleading is most often defined as the “Act of leading organized cheering, as at sports events.”

The Future of Cheerleading

Although there are many cheerleading squads that do meet the criteria of their primary function being competitive cheerleading. Until the majority of the squads move competing to the forefront and cheering at games to be a secondary function, there is little hope cheerleading will be officially considered a sport.

The skills involved in Cheerleading leave no doubt that cheerleaders are exceptional athletes. To perform their activities, they must be as strong as any football player, as poised as any dancer and as flexible as the best gymnasts. They are athletes by every definition of the word.

So, does it really matter how cheerleading is defined? Is it not more important to be considered an athlete, even if you don’t have an official sport? What’s your opinion?

Cheerleader’s blackmailing us says Wizcraft

Black skin cheer leader of King’s XI punjab owned by Preity Zinta and wizcraft has dragged their owner to court on the issue of racism in IPL. They said that two cheerleader one boy and other girl was taken off during a match on the basis of their skin color which is black.Wizcraft has inturn issue a statement that these are all false and inturn these two are asking for money to die down the issue.Moreover the said that they have paid to them through mediator.

Yuvraj Singh criticises Mumbai crowd

MUMBAI: Victorious Punjab Kings XI skipper Yuvraj Singh said Mumbai Indians captain Sachin Tendulkar’s run out was the turning point in the nail-biting IPL match which the visitors won by just one run.

“While Sachin Tendulkar was at crease I thought he would stay till end. After he got out the momentum shifted in our favour,” Yuvraj said.

Tendulkar, who top scored with 65, was run out on the last ball of the 17th over when the home team were well poised for their seventh successive win at 159 for 3.

Speaking about his dramatic run-out effort off the last ball to send back the home team’s number eleven batsman Vikrant Yeligati, Yuvraj said that he had decided if the ball came to him to rush to the stumps instead of taking a potshot at the wicket.

“I knew that if any of the circle fielders had got the ball, they would have thrown at the stumps. But it came to me and I had planned that I would run with it to the stumps,” he said.

Despite the victory, Yuvraj felt that his team’s bowling and fielding fell short of expectations.

“We dropped a couple of catches and the match could have gone either way but luck was on our side,” he said, adding that the 17 runs given away in the last over was “not good”, except for leg spinner Piyush Chawla.

“Chawla bowled well and anytime in tight situations whenever I give him the ball he does the job,” Yuvraj said.

He defended his decision to bring on VRV Singh to bowl the final over despite the fact that over 40 runs were scored off his first three overs.

“Bringing on VRV was not a gamble. It would have been a greater gamble for me to bowl,” Yuvraj said.

He also criticised the crowd at the Wankhede stadium for whole heartedly supporting only the home team and heckling even Indian players in his team.

“I don’t think anyone should take the liberty to heckle Indian players even if they are from the visiting team. Sreesanth, Irfan Pathan, Chawla and I have played for India and have come to Mumbai before and they should not criticise us in this manner,” Yuvraj said.

Punjab coach Tom Moody said it was a big relief to qualify for the semi-finals of the tournament with some games in hand.

“Every team in the competition wants to get to semi-finals and finals. I am happy to get there early,” he said, adding that the team still had three games left to prepare for the knock-out stage of the competition starting on May 30.

Sachin Unhappy with Tv umpire decisions

Sachin Tendulkar is unhappy with the performance of the umpires after his team went down to Mohali in a thrilling IPL match on Wednesday (May 21). However speaking to TIMES NOW, third umpire Suresh Shashtri said he acted as per the ICC law 28.1, and declined to comment further.

Tendulkar was unhappy with the performance of Umpire Suresh Sashtri, who was the TV umpire of the match.

The first controversial decision was to give Mohali batsman Luke Pomersbach not out when he looked short of his ground against the direct throw from Shaun Pollock. The third umpire wasn’t convinced that the ball knocked off the bails as television footage added to the confusion. To make matters worse for Mumbai, Pomersbach went on to score 79 not out, putting up a century stand with compatriot Australian Shaun Marsh.

Then, during Mumbai’s innings, Dwayne Smith was run out by Piyush Chawla in what looked like a highly dubious decision.

Mumbai also felt unhappy about the run out of young batsman Chitnis. At the post match conference the diplomatic Tendulkar’s ire was more than evident.

“We are not allowed to comment anything - the whole would knows what happened, the whole world knows what it’s all about, and I would leave at that. I leave it to the management if they want to do somethng about it, but I won’t want to say anything,” he said last evening.

i’ve no problem with SRK says Dada

Kolkata Knight Riders chief executive Joy Bhattacharya on Wednesday rubbished rumours of a reported rift between team owner Shah Rukh Khan and captain Sourav Ganguly.

According to media reports, both Shah Rukh and Sourav have fallen apart on several issues including team selection and also on coach John Buchanan being given more power by the owner in running the team.

But Bhattacharya said there are no differences between the Bollywood actor and the captain and that the reports emerging from the media are “baseless and false”.

“We have nothing to say because we think there is no problem in running the team. The reports of rift between Sourav and Shah Rukh are all baseless. The report doesn’t attribute to any source or official. It was an imagination of the reporter’s mind,” Bhattacharya told IANS.

Captain Sourav Ganguly, while leaving Kolkata for his team’s match against Delhi Daredevils, said: “I have no problems with Shah Rukh.”

The Knight Riders are already in a bad situation after their loss to Rajasthan Royals Tuesday night in the Indian Premier League, and it will need a miracle for the Kolkata team to get into the semi-finals.

Bhattacharya admitted that the only problem for the team is “we are losing matches.”

Differences between SRK and Ganguly

MUMBAI: The differences between Kolkata Knight Riders’ owner Shah Rukh Khan and its skipper Sourav Ganguly have come out in the open after the team’s poor performance against the Rajasthan Royals cost them their chance to feature in the top four teams.

Sourav Ganguly spoke to Times Now and said, “I have seen the reports and I will clarify his stand in the controversy later.” Refusing to comment on the issue and not denying any such reports could hint at a possible rift between the two. However, owner Shah Rukh Khan has not reacted to reports over possible rift between the two.

Has the peace in the Kolkata Knight Riders’ camp been shattered? Are ‘Dada’ Sourav Ganguly and ‘Badshah’ Shah Rukh Khan not getting along with each other anymore? Yes, say insiders.

The two power centres in the Kolkata team are not seeing eye to eye on many issues. The problem apparently started with the entertainment tax that Shah Rukh Khan is paying for the matches being played at the Eden Gardens.

The Bollywood star wanted Ganguly to speak to West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya and try and get it abolished. The Kolkata captain, who is known to be close to the CM, has refused to oblige, at least till now.

Interestingly, it is learnt that Eden Gardens is the only stadium where an IPL team is paying entertainment tax. That is not all though. The bigger bone of contention is KKR’s sudden dip in form and its poor performance in the last few games, harming their semifinal chances. Shah Rukh, sources say, is not too happy with this change of fortunes although he hasn’t expressed his feelings openly. Ganguly, on the other hand, has not been too pleased with the team composition right from the beginning. The differences surfaced during the auction itself, with Sourav wanting more batsmen while the team management was more keen on bowlers.

The problems magnified when coach John Buchanan was given more powers than the captain himself. To add fuel to the fire, Shah Rukh announced that the coach will take all the decisions for the team next year onwards, upsetting Ganguly in the bargain.

Ganguly has apparently already begun showing his discontent: he preferred to go back home after the last match rather than stay back for a press conference to annouce Knight Riders’ tie-up with a website. Said an insider, who was present at the event, “Shah Rukh did pass some caustic remarks saying, ‘I thank all my teammates for being at the press conference but who can forget Dada who is missing from the event’.”

The duo also had a spat when Khan was keen that his team fielded first in the last game against Chennai; Ganguly, however, preferred to bat first. Eventually, the Knight Riders lost by 3 runs on Duckworth-Lewis following a rain interruption.

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