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The International Olympics at Beijing is going to start at 8pm on 8 August, 2008, 08/08/08 and the sports celebration will continue for 16 days till 24 August.

The number eight is considered by the Chinese as a very special number and the Olympics opening ceremony will therefore start at 08:08:08, that is 8 minutes and 8 seconds past 8 in the evening (Beijing time) on the 8th day of August in the year’08. According to the reports, grand fireworks are planned by the organizers on the opening ceremony which the whole world can watch. This will be the opening and a very important moment for the celebration; hence all the possible problems are under consideration. But what if it starts raining that time??

China’s Scientists are worried about this possibility and they are engaged in the solution of this possible problem which can ruin the whole celebration. Till now, scientists are trying to make possible that in case, rain clouds come on the day, their path can be averted by rocket attack. They will be targeted by rockets and rain drops will be converted into ice that could be kicked away by rockets.

The whole world is focused on the games. With almost every country represented, there will be something to cater for everyone.

A bumper 29 sports will be on display. These are: Archery, Athletics, Badminton, Baseball, Basketball, Boxing, Canoeing, Cycling, Diving, Equestrian, Fencing, Football, Gymnastics, Handball, Hockey, Judo, Modern Pentathlon, Rowing, Sailing, Shooting, Softball, Swimming, Table Tennis, Taekwondo, Tennis, Triathlon, Volleyball, Weightlifting and Wrestling.

Meanwhile, the International Olympic Committee and the Chinese organizers BOCOG have agreed to lift all Internet restrictions for the Beijing Games, IOC vice-president Gunilla Lindberg told reporters on Friday.

This issue had caused major stir days before the start of Olympics with IOC officials insisting there would be no censorship and BOCOG saying sensitive sites would remain blocked.

Top stars will be taking part. Athletics will have Usain Bolt, Asafa Powell and Tyson Gay in the sprints. Isinbayeva in the Pole Vault, Kenisa Bekela the great Ethiopian long distant runner and all the top Kenyans. Federer and Nadal and the Williams sisters will participate in Tennis. Kobe Byrant and Lebron James in basketball and Ronaldinho will be in football.

Tags: Archery, Asafa Powell, Athletics, Badminton, Baseball, Basketball, Bejing, Boxing, Canoeing, Celebration, China, Cycling, Diving, Equestrian, Federer, Fencing, Fireworks, Football, Gymnastics, Handball, Hockey, IOC, Isinbayeva, Judo, Kenisa Bekela, Kobe Byrant, Lebron James, Modern Pentathlon, Nadal, Olympics, Rain, Ronaldinho, Rowing, Sailing, Scientists, Shooting, Softball, Swimming, Table Tennis, Taekwondo, Tennis, Triathlon, Tyson Gay, Usain Bolt, Volleyball, Weightlifting, Williams sisters, Wrestling

After 108 years, Monsoon reached in New Delhi on Sunday, June 15 almost a fortnight ahead of the schedule.

Monsoon 2008 break more than a century old record of hitting the capital on or before June 15 which otherwise is scheduled on June 29.

“The monsoon has reached Delhi,” Meteorological Department Director B P Yadav told PTI.

Heavy rains rushed up in the city giving relief from humid and hot weather of June.  The Meteorological Department recorded a rainfall of 15.3 mm started since 7:30 am till 11.30 am on June 15.

The cool showers lead the minimum temperature of this morning at 27.5 degrees Celsius, two notches below normal, as recorded by Met. The maximum settled at 33 degrees C on Saturday.

The south-west monsoon was advancing across the country in much more smooth and rapid manner as compared to last year giving an experience of coolest summer in recent past.

The annual rainfall system had set in over south Andaman Sea on May 10, five days earlier than the normal onset and reached Kerala on schedule on May 31.

Rainfall during this season has been good and well distributed as compared to the previous year with 30 of the 36 meteorological sub-divisions receiving normal to excess rains. Record breaking showers were also hit during the last month.

Last year, only 13 meteorological sub divisions had received excess to normal rainfall till June 11.

Tags: Delhi, Monsoon, Rain, Record

Very unusual and surprising raining and storm in the month of MAY in North India has made the weather experts to bite their nails. Every year, when the North Indians were used to face the scorching sun in the month of May, they are enjoying the sudden rain splashes this year. However, stormy rain and thunder is giving a jolt to smooth routine of the citizens damaging life and destroying crops.

Dust storms and heavy rains lashed huge swaths of Northern India, killing at least 22 overnight, an official said Tuesday. An additional 89 people died in non seasonal rain and dust storms in Uttar Pradesh state last week, police spokesman Surendra Srivastava said in Lucknow.

Srivastava said that strong winds of more than 70 miles per hour (113 kph) and heavy rains resulted in uprooting trees and electricity poles and destroying mud-brick houses.

“At least 22 people, five of them children, were killed in different incidents of house collapses and lightning strikes,” Srivastava said.

Another 23 people were injured and have been admitted to state-run hospitals, he added. According to government estimates the state has lost property and crops worth one billion rupees (USD 25 million; 16 million) because of two weeks of bad weather.

As reported the much-awaited South-West Monsoon on Tuesday further advanced into some more parts Bay of Bengal and is expected to set in over Kerala in the next three to four days.

Tags: Death, Heavy Rain, North India, Rain, Rain Storm

Triple Century of blasting batsman Virendra Sehwag led India to beat the huge score of South Africa. Today on the fourth day of the first test match of Future cup Series, India scored a brilliant record of 627 runs, 87 points more than the rival team. Sehwag was dismissed by Ntini at a mammoth record of 319. he crossed his own score but unable to beat Lara’s record of 400 runs.

Dravid has achieved the milestone of 10,000 runs in test. Dravid also gave his century with 111 runs and was knocked out again by Ntini after lunch. He became the sixth player to tally 10,000 Test runs reaching the milestone in the first Test against South Africa. He is the third Indian player after Sachin and Sunil Gavaskar to achieve this target.

South Africa scored 540 runs in its first inning and India replied the rivals with 468 runs on second day at only one loss. South Africans seemed very helpless in front of the star batsman Sehwag. He gave the opponent team a hard nut to crack. Sehwag is the second player who achieved the milestone of making two triple centuries in test matches after Brain Lara.

Other players including Sachin Tendulkar, Ganguly and Dhoni couldn’t use their bats much. They all got dismissed one by one very soon. Dhoni gave only sixteen and Ganguly contributed 24. Sachin, Harbhajan and R P Singh were sent to pavilion without opening their account. Laxman gave 39 while the captain (Kumble) couldn’t achieve more than 3. Sreesanth was the last player with only 4 runs in hand.

In the second inning of South African team, the players have recorded 131 runs in 33 overs at the end of the day at one loss. Smith had made 35 runs and was knocked out soon. McKenzie and Amla are now the overnight players with 59 and 35 runs respectively.

Tags: BCCI, Bhajji, Chennai, Chepauk, Cricket News, Dhoni, Dravid, Ganguly, Golden Ball, Harbhajan, India, Ishant, Kumble, Laxman, Live Score, live update, News Live, Rain, South Africa, Symonds, Team India, Test Match

After scoring 304 runs at a lose of four wickets in the first test against India on March 26, opening batsman Neil McKenzie told that South Africa will be looking to add another 100-150 runs on Thursday to push for a possible win in the series.

McKenzie who contributed sparkling 94 runs was happy with the start of the team scoring huge inning score but conceded that a lot of cricket was left in the match. But he is confident of getting big score by the remaining quality batsmen of the team.

“Still a long way to go. We have no illusions. Once the wicket gets to wear down, it will be difficult to bat on. I think another 100 to 150 runs tomorrow will be a good total and anything above that will be a bonus,” McKenzie, who added 132 for the opening wicket with Captain Graeme Smith, said after the match.

“We have dependable batsmen in Mark Boucher and AB De Villiers. If one of them comes up with a good individual score, it should be enough to fight our way for a possible win.” He added.

McKenzie said that it was a challenge to face high class spinners like Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh but his previous experience of conditions in the sub-continent helped him to fight but was a little disappointed

“I had toured the sub-continent (before). It is all down to experience,” the opener said.

“Paul Harris is a quality spinner, maybe not to the standards of Kumble or Harbhajan. If the same level of bounce that was there this morning continued in the Indian innings, Nitini and Morkel can be penetrative and trouble Indian batsmen,” he said.

“RP Singh bowled well in Australia but the Indian seamers did not get assistance from the wicket here today, though they played well as a unit,” he added.

The docile nature of the pitch rendered India’s pace bowlers largely ineffective, McKenzie said.

Tags: BCCI, Bhajji, Chennai, Chepauk, Cricket News, Dhoni, Dravid, Ganguly, Golden Ball, Harbhajan, India, Ishant, Kumble, Laxman, Live Score, live update, News Live, Rain, South Africa, Symonds, Team India, Test Match