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Climbing a mountain the first time can be tough but as Stephanie Rice is finding out, it is even tougher the second time round when your motivation isn't what it was. After winning three gold medals, the golden girl of the Beijing Olympics let her hair down – partying as if it was an Olympic sport. She has just resumed training but is finding it's even harder when you switch from the hunter to the hunted.

The Manly Sea Eagles are in the same boat. Last year's NRL rugby champions will be up against it to defend their title. No one has successfully defended their NRL rugby league title since Brisbane did it in 1992-93.

Once again the Melbourne Storm should be one of the teams to fear in the NRL league. They have sat on top of the NRL ladder for most of the last three years. NRL results just haven't gone their way when it mattered most. They will be looking to be the first team since the Parramatta one of 1981-84 to make four successive grand finals.

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Image Courtesys: Stephane Carter of Tennisgrandstand.com

Golfer Greg Norman stepped out last night as he introduced wife Chris Evert to his home state.

"Chris has asked me if I miss this place," said Norman. "And I said 'of course I do'. We've talked a lot about where I come from and the places I know.

"We fly back to the States tomorrow, but hopefully we'll get the chance to see more of Queensland in the future."

Norman said he had visited Evert's tennis academy in Florida and talked about how it compared to his Greg Norman Golf Foundation.

Norman, who married Evert last June in a $2 million wedding in the Bahamas, hosted a fundraiser at the Brisbane Convention Centre last night.

About 500 people attended "An Evening With Greg Norman" where the golfer renewed acquaintances with a few familiar faces, including old boss and mentor Charlie Earp.

Norman revealed he and Evert were considering starting a joint tennis-golf academy to develop young stars.

News and Image Source: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/

Cuban boxer Guillermo Rigondeaux, a two-time Olympic gold medalist, has defected to the United States and plans to turn professional.

Farah Colina said Tuesday her husband had no choice but to flee Cuba if he wanted to box again.

"I'm surprised on one level because he left home at the end of January saying he was going to Santiago," Colina said, referring to the eastern city that is Cuba's second largest. "But, on another level, I think he was obligated to do this."

Luis de Cubas, an agent for Arena Box Promotions in the United States, confirmed that Rigondeaux was in Miami and interested in fighting. The 28-year-old boxer won bantamweight gold medals at the 2000 and 2004 Olympics.

Colina said her husband called a neighbor Saturday to say he made it to Miami. The family does not have a phone.

Rigondeaux hoped to try for a third Olympic title at last summer's Beijing Games. But in July 2007 he and 2005 welterweight world champion Erislandy Lara disappeared during the Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro. Both were accused of overstaying their visas, arrested and sent back to the island.

Rigondeaux is the latest world class boxer to leave Cuba. Earlier defections include Lara and Odlanier Solis, the 2004 Olympic heavyweight champion.

News Courtesy: Associated Press, Google
Image Courtesy: Daylife.com

A Bulgarian grandmaster appears to have broken the world record for the highest number of chess games played simultaneously, organizers said Monday.

Kiril Georgiev played a total of 360 games simultaneously, winning 284, drawing 70 and losing six, during a marathon that lasted 14 hours and 8 minutes in Sofia's Inter Expo Center, the organizers said.

The record number of games and the winning percentage of 88 percent will allow Georgiev to apply formally for entry into the Guinness Book of World Records.

Kiril Georgiev is a three-time Bulgarian national champion and a former under-18 world champion, according to the Bulgarian News Network.

The Guinness Book says the current record for most simultaneous games played was set in 2005 by Susan Polgar, the Hungarian-American four-time women's world champion.

Polgar played 326 games, winning 309, drawing 14 and losing only three.

News Source: Associated Press, Google

The first move towards a night cricket Test in Australia will take place when a radical new pink cricket ball is put on trial in celebrity Twenty20 at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Sunday.

Former Australian skipper Steve Waugh, who is also a member of the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) technical committee, will introduce the ball this weekend and is keen to get feedback from the likes of former Test stars Matthew Hayden, Mark Taylor and Michael Slater.

Modern sporting market focuses on events after dark, so now the race is on to develop a ball that can last 90 overs and be seen under lights.

Cricket Australia (CA) spokesman Peter Young said he was keen to see how the pink ball performed and night Tests were a definite item on the governing body`s agenda.

He added that a pale blue ball had also been discussed, given the traditional red ball could not be seen at night and the white One-day ball became too dirty.

News and Image Source: Zeenews.com

Argentine coach, "The God" Diego Maradona became a grandfather on Thursday when his daughter Giannina Maradona gave birth to a baby boy, Benjamin Leonel at the Clinica Monteprincipe de Boadilla in Madrid on Thursday.

The father is Atletico Madrid striker Sergio Aguero, whose club announced the news.

Don Enrique Cerezo, the president of Atletico Madrid siad on the club's official website:

"On the afternoon of Thursday the 19th of February, 2009, Benjamin was born in Madrid. Everything went well and the child and his mother, Gianinna Maradona, find themselves in perfect conditions."

News Courtesy: Goal.com