Belly Fat

Central obesity, commonly referred to as belly fat, is the accumulation of fat deposited between the internal organs in the torso resulting in an increase in waist size. There is a strong correlation between central obesity and cardiovascular disease.

While central obesity can be obvious just by looking at the naked body , the severity of central obesity is determined by taking waist and hip measurements. The absolute waist circumference (>102 centimetres in men and >88 centimetres in women) and the waist-hip ratio (>0.9 for men and >0.85 for women) are both used as measures of central obesity.

Central obesity is associated with a statistically higher risk of heart disease, hypertension, insulin resistance, and diabetes mellitus type 2 . Belly fat is a symptom of metabolic syndrome, and is an indicator used in the diagnosis of that disorder.

Causes

The main causes of central obesity are overeating and a sedentary lifestyle.

Overeating

Overeating is a behavior and not a medical problem. In general terms it refers to the persistent consumption of excess food in relation to the energy that the person expends, leading to weight gain and often to obesity.

Sedentary lifestyle

Sedentary lifestyle is used to denote a type of lifestyle most commonly found in modern cultures. It is characterized by sitting or remaining inactive for most of the day with little or no exercise. It is believed to be a factor in obesity, and, as such, may contribute to other diseases, such as type II diabetes, heart disease, depression and even hemorrhoids. Lack of exercise causes muscle atrophy, i.e. shrinking and weakening of the muscles and accordingly increases susceptibility to physical injury.

Prevention

Performing adequate aerobic exercise and eating a healthy diet prevent central obesity, and losing weight via these methods is the main way to reverse the condition.

Aerobic exercise

Aerobic exercise refers to exercise that involves or improves oxygen consumption by the body. Aerobic means “with oxygen”, and refers to the use of oxygen in the body’s metabolic or energy-generating process. Many types of exercise are aerobic, and by definition are performed at moderate levels of intensity for extended periods of time. To obtain the best results, an aerobic exercise session involves a warming up period, followed by at least 20 minutes of moderate to intense exercise involving large muscle groups, and a cooling down period at the end.

Healthy diet

A healthy diet involves consuming nutrients by eating the appropriate amounts from all of the food groups, including an adequate amount of water. Since human nutrition is complex, a healthy diet may vary widely, and is subject to an individual’s genetic makeup, environment, and health. For around 20% of the human population, lack of food and malnutrition are the main impediments to healthy eating.Conversely, people in developed countries have the opposite problem; they are more concerned about obesity.

Paradise !!!

Have you ever seen Paradise? If not yet, First go through this page and then fly to Jammu Kashmir. It is the sixth largest state in India including the area occupied by Pakistan and China. The crown of India lies in the extreme north of the country and is bounded on three sides by China, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The entire state is almost mountainous, broken by stretches of valley and dotted with mountain lakes. The state is studded with a number of hill stations, which are refreshing cool in summer. They offer to the tourists a leisurely or adventurous holiday amidst breath-taking scenery.

History

The state of Jammu and Kashmir which had earlier been under Hindu rulers and Muslim Sultans, became part of the Mughal Empire under Akbar. After a period of Afghan rule from 1756, it was annexed to the to the Sikh kingdom of the Punjab in 1819. Jammu and Kashmir came into being as a single political and geographical entity following theTreaty of Amristar between the British Government and Gulab singh signed on March 16, 1846. His feudal dispensation in the State was too harsh for the people to live under and under the inspiring leadership of Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, rose against the autocracy. The autocratic rule came down heavily on the people’s freedom movement. The high point of the movement was July 13, 1931 when 22 protesters were martyred. The event strengthened the movement and contrary to the expectations of the then rulers, the peopled emerged more determined in their resolution to seek an end to autocratic rule.

Jammu & Kashmir in the year 1947 was an independent country for all practical purposes. The Maharaja who ruled the State had signed agreements with both Pakistan and India to remain neutral and not be part of either country. India honoured that agreement but Pakistan did not. Pakistani raiders and soldiers attacked the state in 1947 forcing the Maharaja to flee to India.  He  agreed to make Jammu &; Kashmir part of India. The Indian ruler at that time was Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. He accepted Jammu &; Kashmir’s accession to India and agreed to rescue his people from the Pakistani attackers.

Indian troops were flown into the Kashmir Valley and they managed to drive away most of the Pakistani raiders from the state. But a large area of the state remained under the control of Pakistani soldiers.  Heavy fighting took place in 1947-48 between the Indian and Pakistani forces over Kashmir. On January 1, 1948 India took up the issue of Pak aggression in Jammu and Kashmir in UNO under Article 35 of its charter. After long debates, cease-fire came into operation on the midnight of January 1, 1949 which created the first Line-of-Control.

At this moment let’s leave all political complications and disputes about this state and think only of its beauty. In tourist point of view, Jammu Kashmir is regarded as the Paradise on Earth. I think a single passage will be too small  to go through at least the Top Tourist Points of this state. So let us now begin with Srinagar.

Srinagar

Srinagar is the summer capital of the state of Jammu and Kashmir in India, and is situated in the valley of Kashmir. The city lies on both banks of the Jhelum River, a tributary of the Indus River. The city is famous for its lakes and houseboats floating on them. It is also known for traditional Kashmiri handicrafts and dry fruits. Srinagar is 876 km north of Delhi.

Tourism is the most significant segment of the city’s economy. The city of Srinagar is a gateway to some of the most scenic and beautiful places of the Indian subcontinent. For decades, tourism has been contributing massively to the economy of the city for last several decades, but it has been adversely affected on account of insurgent activities by certain elements.

Srinagar is well known for its lakes. Dal Lake with its houseboats is famous all over the world. Srinagar is a small and beautiful city with a wonderful climate in the summer. Just outside the city are found the beautiful Shalimar Gardens created by Jehangir, the Mughal emperor, in 1619.

Houseboats were introduced accidentally to Kashmir: members of the Indian Civil Service serving in the plains who vacationed in Kashmir were not permitted to build permanent homes because of the then Maharaja’s suspicion of a British presence in Srinagar. They thus chose to live in houseboats. The first such, named Victory, was designed by Mr. M.T. Kenhard in 1888. There are now about five hundred on the Lake.

Srinagar has several gardens which are part of the several such gardens laid by the Mughal emperors across the Indian subcontinent, and which are known as Mughal gardens. The Mughal Gardens located in Srinagar and its close vicinity include Chasma Shahi (the royal fountains); Pari Mahal (the palace of the fairies); Nishat Bagh (the garden of spring); Shalimar Bagh; and the Nashim Bagh. The Tulip Gardens have been recently opened to public by Smt Sonia Gandhi. The gardens has rows of Tulips of different colurs and shades.

Elephant

Elephants are mammals, and the largest land animals alive today.  There are three living species: the African Bush Elephant, the African Elephant and the Asian Elephant (also known as the Indian Elephant).

The word “elephant” has its origins in the Greek ,meaning “ivory” or “elephant”. The elephant’s gestation period is 22 months, the longest of any land animal. At birth it is common for an elephant calf to weigh 120 kilograms. An elephant may live as long as 70 years, sometimes longer. The largest elephant ever recorded was shot in Angola in 1956. This male weighed about 12,000 kg , with a shoulder height of 4.2 m , a metre taller than the average male African elephant. The smallest elephants, about the size of a calf or a large pig, were a prehistoric species that lived on the island of Crete during the Pleistocene epoch.

Elephants are symbols of wisdom in Asian cultures, and are famed for their memory and high intelligence, and are thought to be on par with cetaceans and hominids. Aristotle once said the elephant was “the beast which passeth all others in wit and mind.”

Elephants are increasingly threatened by human intrusion and poaching. Once numbering in the millions, the African elephant population has dwindled to between 470,000 and 690,000 individuals. The elephant is now a protected species worldwide, with restrictions in place on capture, domestic use, and trade in products such as ivory. Elephants generally have no natural predators, although lions may take calves and occasionally adults. In some areas, lions may regularly take to preying on elephants.

African elephants

The Elephants of the genus Loxodonta, known collectively as African elephants, are currently found in 37 countries in Africa. African elephants are distinguished from Asian elephants in several ways, the most noticeable being their ears. Africans’ ears are much larger. The African is typically larger than the Asian and has a concave back. Both African males and females have external tusks and are usually less hairy than their Asian cousins.

African elephants have traditionally been classified as a single species comprising two distinct subspecies, namely the savanna elephant and the forest elephant , but recent DNA analysis suggests that these may actually constitute distinct species. While this split is not universally accepted by experts a third species of African elephant has also been proposed.

The Asian elephant

The Asian elephant is smaller than the African. It has smaller ears, and typically, only the males have large external tusks. The world population of Asian elephants – also called Indian Elephants or Elephas maximus – is estimated to be around 60,000, about a tenth of the number of African elephants. More precisely, it is estimated that there are between 38,000 and 53,000 wild elephants and between 14,500 and 15,300 domesticated elephants in Asia with perhaps another 1,000 scattered around zoos in the rest of the world.The Asian elephants‘ decline has possibly been more gradual with the causes primarily being poaching and habitat destruction by human encroachment.

Body characteristics

Trunk

The proboscis, or trunk, is a fusion of the nose and upper lip, elongated and specialized to become the elephant’s most important and versatile appendage. African elephants are equipped with two fingerlike projections at the tip of their trunk, while Asians have only one. According to biologists, the elephant’s trunk may have over forty thousand individual muscles in it, making it sensitive enough to pick up a single blade of grass, yet strong enough to rip the branches off a tree. Some sources indicate that the correct number of muscles in an elephant’s trunk is closer to one hundred thousand.

Tusks

The tusks of an elephant are its second upper incisors. Tusks grow continuously; an adult male’s tusks will grow about 18 cm a year. Tusks are used to dig for water, salt, and roots; to debark trees, to eat the bark; to dig into baobab trees to get at the pulp inside; and to move trees and branches when clearing a path. In addition, they are used for marking trees to establish territory and occasionally as weapons.

Teeth

Elephants’ teeth are very different from those of most other mammals. Over their lives they usually have 28 teeth. These are:

* The two upper second incisors: these are the tusks.
* The milk precursors of the tusks.
* 12 premolars, 3 in each side of each jaw.
* 12 molars, 3 in each side of each jaw.

Unlike most mammals, which grow baby teeth and then replace them with a permanent set of adult teeth, elephants have cycles of tooth rotation throughout their entire life. After one year the tusks are permanent, but the molars are replaced six times in an average elephant’s lifetime.

Skin

Elephants are called pachyderms, which means thick-skinned animals. An elephant’s skin is extremely tough around most parts of its body and measures about 2.5 centimetres thick. However, the skin around the mouth and inside of the ear is paper thin. Normally, the skin of an Asian is covered with more hair than its African counterpart. This is most noticeable in the young. Asian calves are usually covered with a thick coat of brownish red fuzz. As they get older, this hair darkens and becomes more sparse, but it will always remain on their heads and tails.

Legs and Feet

An elephant’s legs are great straight pillars, as they must be to support its bulk. The elephant needs less muscular power to stand because of its straight legs and large pad-like feet. For this reason an elephant can stand for very long periods of time without tiring. In fact, African elephants rarely lie down unless they are sick or wounded. Indian elephants, in contrast, lie down frequently.

The feet of an elephant are nearly round. African elephants have three nails on each hind foot, and four on each front foot. Indian elephants have four nails on each hind foot and five on each front foot. Beneath the bones of the foot is a tough, gelatinous material that acts as a cushion or shock absorber. Under the elephant’s weight the foot swells, but it gets smaller when the weight is removed. An elephant can sink deep into mud, but can pull its legs out readily because its feet become smaller when they are lifted.

Ears

The large flapping ears of an elephant are also very important for temperature regulation. Elephant ears are made of a very thin layer of skin stretched over cartilage and a rich network of blood vessels. On hot days, elephants will flap their ears constantly, creating a slight breeze. This breeze cools the surface blood vessels, and then the cooler blood gets circulated to the rest of the animal’s body. The hot blood entering the ears can be cooled as much as ten degrees Fahrenheit before returning to the body. Differences in the ear sizes of African and Asian elephants can be explained, in part, by their geographical distribution. Africans originated and stayed near the equator, where it is warmer. Therefore, they have bigger ears. Asians live farther north, in slightly cooler climates, and thus have smaller ears.

Elephant calves

Elephant social life revolves around breeding and raising of the calves. A female will usually be ready to breed around the age of thirteen, at which time she will seek out the most attractive male to mate with. Females are generally attracted to bigger, stronger, and, most importantly, older males. Such a reproductive strategy tends to increase their offspring’s chances of survival.

After a twenty-two-month pregnancy, the mother will give birth to a calf that will weigh about 113 kg and stand over 76 cm tall. Elephants have a very long childhood. They are born with fewer survival instincts than many other animals. Instead, they must rely on their elders to teach them the things they need to know. Today, however, the pressures humans have put on the wild elephant populations, from poaching to habitat destruction, mean that the elderly often die at a younger age, leaving fewer teachers for the young.

All members of the tightly knit female group participate in the care and protection of the young. Since everyone in the herd is related, there is never a shortage of baby-sitters. In fact, a new calf is usually the centre of attention for all herd members. All the adults and most of the other young will gather around the newborn, touching and caressing it with their trunks. The baby is born nearly blind and at first relies, almost completely, on its trunk to discover the world around it.

African v. Asian Elephants

African elephants have long been reputed to not be domesticable, but some entrepreneurs have succeeded by bringing Asian mahouts from Sri Lanka to Africa. In Botswana, Uttum Corea has been working with African elephants and has several young tame elephants near Gaborone. African elephants are more temperamental than Asian elephants, but are easier to train. Because of their more sensitive temperaments, they require different training methods than Asian elephants and must be trained from infancy hence Corea worked with orphaned elephants. African elephants are now being used for  safaris. Corea’s elephants are also used to entertain tourists and haul logs.

A tale from my God’s Own Country

You may have definitely heard of kerala, the God’s own country. If you wonder what else you can do beside cruising on the backwaters, getting an ayurvedic massage and messing with the sands, you should reshuffle your thoughts, because aptly you are in God’s own country. You will always find something or the other to elevate your spirits – be it mist-clad mountains or handsomely decorated elephants at Thrissur. ‘Puram’, the most colourful temple festival of Thrissur (or Trichur, as is known locally), attracts thousands of people to witness the grand elephant procession. Apparantly, no celebration in Kerala is complete without an elephant pageant. The gentle pachyderm has been revered a noble position and accorded the privilege of fetching numerous gods and goddesses of this land. Interestingly, many well-to-do families in Kerala, until a few years ago, owned an elephant which was considered as a member of the household.

A Festival For The People, By The People And With The People

Considered to be a people’s festival, the ‘Pooram’ is held at the Thekkinkadu Maidan outside the Vadakkunathan Temple in the Malayali month of Medam (April-May). Beautifully caparisoned elephants in two processions representing the Thiruvambadi and Paramekkavu temples, compete to create impressive sights and sounds. The celebration eventuates in the early hours of the dawn and continues till the break of the next day. Each group is allowed to perform with a maximum of fifteen elephants and extensive efforts are made by each party to insure the best elephants of South India and the most colourful and artistic cloaks, several kinds of which are raised on the elephants during the display.

The commissioning of elephants and parasols is done while maintaining an utmost secrecy by each party to surpass the other. The mammoths decorated with gold ornaments, each ridden with three priests, are a splendid sight to behold. Tourists can crowd at the maidan with their loved ones and see the elephants stand still, ears flapping nonchalantly. Soon a magnificent work of fireplay will enchant you as hundreds of cylindrical drums of the Chenda Melam orchestra rise to a deafning crescendo. The procession of the Thiruvambadi Pooram to the grounds of Vadakkunnatha Temple and back is not only fascinating, but much more than that. Listen to the magical euphony of the ‘Panchavadyam’, a combination of five percussion and wind instruments, a joy to the ears that is to be felt to be described. The revelry continues all night with the Vadakkunathan Temple act as a backdrop in a blaze of coloured lights.

Choose Your Way

The Thrissur ‘Puram’ being one of the most celebrated festivals of this southern state of Kerala, attracts thousands of spectators during the festive time. Special KSRTC buses are also regulated between Thrissur and other destinations like Guruvayur, Ernakulam, Palakkad, Coimbatore, Kozhikode and Trivandrum. The nearest airhead is the Cochin International Airport at Nedumbassery, 45 km from Thrissur. One can fly upto there, then get a cab to reach the festive destination. However, if you are planning to come from Ernakulam (79 km) or Trivandrum (275 km), you have to drive on NH 47 that links Salem to Kanyakumari.

A R Rahman- Indian Beethovan

Hey , Do you agree with me? Anyway I’m not doubted. A.R. Rehman is a great musician , that India have ever seen. He is classic, modern and even more vibrant. Allah Rakha Rahman , born on January 6, 1966 as A. S. Dileep Kumar in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India, is a critically acclaimed award-winning composer, record producer and musician. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest Indian film composers ever, and his career is considered a turning point in the history of Indian film music.

Many credit him with having single-handedly revolutionized the standards of film music composition in India.He is also credited with re-energizing the popularity of Indian film music the world over.In a career spanning over a decade, Rahman, by 2003, had sold more than one hundred million records of his film scores and soundtracks world-wide, and sold over 200 million cassettes making him one of the world’s top 25 all-time top selling recording artists; he is the only person of Indian descent on the list. Let us just go through some of the world famous works of Rahman.

Vande Matharam

Rahman has been involved in several projects aside from film. He made an album Vande Mataram (1997) on India’s 50th anniversary of independence to immense success. The album made this song so popular and femiliar to the least.

Roja

The soundtrack features score and 6 songs composed by A. R. Rahman, with lyrics by Vairamuthu. This soundtrack was revolutionary in that it changed the face of Tamil Film music, announcing the arrival of Rahman as a potent force in the Indian music scene. He used many instruments and grand arrangements to generate an epic sound to the songs.

Dil Se

Chaiyya Chaiyya,a song in this movie has become one of the most popular Bollywood tracks in the last ten years. It has been featured in the soundtrack of hollywood movie Inside Man as well as being one of the songs in the hit stage musical Bombay Dreams.

Lagan

Lagaan is a Bollywood feature film made in India. It became the third Hindi language film to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film (after Mother India in 1957 and Salaam Bombay! in 1989). All the songs in this film were super hits.

Bombay

The original soundtrack features score and 6 songs composed by A. R. Rahman, with lyrics in the Tamil language by Vairamuthu. The track “Bombay Theme” from the soundtrack is an instrumental orchestral piece composed, arranged and conducted by A. R. Rahman. It was recently featured in the soundtrack and score of the Nicholas Cage film Lord of War, released in 2005.

Jodha Akbar

The film centers around the romance between the Muslim Mughal Emperor Akbar, played by Hrithik Roshan and his Hindu wife, Jodhabai, played by Aishwarya Rai. The music is composed by acclaimed music composer A. R. Rahman. The soundtrack of the movie was released on January 19, 2008.

Guru

The soundtrack was released in November 18, 2006. Guru, a musical by nature, has music composed by A. R. Rahman with lyrics provided by Gulzar. Like many of Rahman’s soundtracks, Guru comes with a variety of songs. The music and lyrics met popularity upon release. The songs vary in their musical style, from the Turkish inspired Mayya Mayya to the folk-ish Ek Lo Ek Muft and the love ballad, Tere Bina.

Boys

Boys (2003) is a Tamil film directed by S. Shankar. The film stars Siddarth, Genelia, Bharath, Vivek, and Senthil. The film’s score and soundtrack are composed by A. R. Rahman.In the film, there are five teenagers who are very good friends. They have stereotypical teen-boy fantasies – proposing to every girl they come across, touching women in crowded areas, boozing, porn, and call girls etc.

Rangeela

Rangeela (1995) is a Hindi-language movie, a product of the Bollywood film industry. It was directed by Ram Gopal Varma, and starred Aamir Khan, Urmila Matondkar, and Jackie Shroff. Rangeela was music director A. R. Rahman’s first Hindi movie with an original score. The film features playback singer Asha Bhosle, who made a comeback singing Rahman’s songs.

Jeans

The Jeans soundtrack was released by Westop on April 1, 1998. The original scores from the film’s composer, A. R. Rahman, make up the tracks on the album. The Lyrics are by Vairamuthu. The soundtrack also features six vocals played during the film: “Ennake Ennaka” by Unnikrishnan and Pallavi, “Columbus Columbus” by A. R. Rahman, “Poovukul” by Unnikrishnan and Sujatha, “Vaaraya Thozhi” by Sonu Nigam, Shahul Hameed, Harini and Sangeetha, “Kannodu Kanbethallam” by Nithyashree and “Anbe Anbe” by Hariharan and Anuradha Sriram. These songs were dubbed into Hindi, using Javed Akhtar’s lyrics when it was released in North India.

Janaganamana

Jana Gana Mana is the national anthem of India. Written in Bengali, it is the first of five stanzas of a Brahmo hymn composed and scored by Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore.A musical album has been released by A R Rahman in this name , as a tribute to the nation.

Maria Sharapova – Tennis Princess

I think one who loves Tennis will love Maria Sharapova and one who loves Maria will love Tennis too.  Anyway I am her fan. In my childhood my strong feeling was that no sports person, especially women ,  shall be charming or beautiful. I thought they will be strong and will look rough and tough due to vigorous practice and all.  But Maria just rolled out all my calculations. Yes! she deserves the name Tennis Princess !!

Mini Bibligraphy

Maria was born in 19th April 1987 at Nyagan , now in Russia. Her birth name was Maria Yuryevna Sharapova. Maria started hitting tennis balls at the age of four. At the age of six, Maria Sharapova participated in a exhibition in Moscow that featured Martina Navratilova. So, at the age of nine, she began training at Nick Bollettieri’s Tennis Academy located in Bradenton, Florida, USA.

Therefore, during those two years, she was separated from her mother for two year due to visa restrictions and finances. Maria occasionally travels with her father and works with tennis coach managers Michael Baroch and Robert Lansdorp. During her leisure time off court, Maria’s interest includes modeling in fashion, singing, jazz dancing and movies (Pearl Harbor (2001)). Maria enjoys reading books of her interest in the “Sherlock Holmes” and “Pippi Longstocking” collection series. Basically, Maria’s favorite dessert is ‘anything’. Maria favors Russian music and food.

Maria Yuryevna Sharápova is the  former World No. 1 Tennis plater.  As of April 21, 2008, she is the third-ranked female player in the world and the top ranked Russian female player. At the end of 2006, she was the world’s highest-paid female athlete.

Sharapova has won three Grand Slam singles titles. In 2004, she beat Serena Williams to take the Wimbledon title at the age of 17. Two years later, she defeated Justine Henin in the final of the 2006 U.S. Open. At the 2008 Australian Open, she beat Ana Ivanovi? in the final. Sharapova has been ranked in the top 10 since winning Wimbledon, the longest of any current female tennis player.

Notable matches

2004 Wimbledon final: defeated heavily-favored two-time defending champion Serena Williams 6-1, 6-4 to become the third youngest woman to win the title at the All England Club and the lowest seed (at the time) to do so.

2004 WTA Tour Championships final: defeated Serena Williams 4-6, 6-2, 6-4. Sharapova came back from a 4-0 deficit in the third set and won her first WTA Championships trophy.

2005 Australian Open semifinal: defeated by eventual champion Serena Williams 2-6, 7-5, 8-6. Sharapova led 6-2, 5-4 before Williams rallied to win the second set. In the third set, Sharapova again carved out a lead and even held three match points, but Williams battled back once again to win the match.

2005 U.S. Open semifinal: defeated by eventual champion Kim Clijsters 6-2, 6-7(4), 6-3. Sharapova was down 5-2 in the second set and one game away from defeat but fought back to claim the set. Sharapova wound up saving five match points; however, Clijsters won the match on her sixth match point.

2006 Miami semifinal: defeated Tatiana Golovin 6-3, 6-7(5), 4-3 retired. Sharapova had match points at 6-3, 5-1 but could not convert. The third set was close until Golovin was forced to retire after dramatically twisting her ankle. Some criticized Sharapova for turning her back on Golovin, but a television replay showed Sharapova turning her back before the fall. Sharapova later explained that she thought Golovin had simply cramped. When the Frenchwoman retired and was leaving the court, Sharapova gave her a round of applause along with the crowd to show her appreciation.

2006 San Diego final: defeated Clijsters 7-5, 7-5. This was Sharapova’s first victory over the Belgian and her first title in San Diego. After this match, Sharapova lost just two more matches during 2006 and claimed three additional titles, including the U.S. Open.

2006 U.S. Open semifinal: defeated Amélie Mauresmo, the World No. 1, 6-0, 4-6, 6-0. This was the first U.S. Open semifinal with two 6-0 sets.

2006 U.S. Open final: defeated Justine Henin 6-4, 6-4 to win her second Grand Slam title. Sharapova beat Henin for only the second time in her career. This was only the eighth time in history that a player beat the world’s top two ranked players in a Grand Slam event.

2007 French Open fourth round: defeated Patty Schnyder 3-6, 6-4, 9-7. Sharapova came into the tournament with an injury and overcame two match points against her during this match.

2007 WTA Tour Championships final: defeated by Henin 5-7, 7-5, 6-3. World No. 1 Henin was the pre-match favorite, but Sharapova took the first set on her eighth set point and at one stage in the second set, was a mere five points from victory. The match lasted 3 hours, 24 minutes, making it the 12th longest women’s match in the open era. It was widely agreed as the best women’s match of 2007,[citation needed] with some citing it as an all-time classic.

2008 Australian Open quarterfinal: defeated Henin 6-4, 6-0. Henin was the World No. 1, but Sharapova won her third victory in nine meetings with Henin. The win snapped Henin’s 32-match winning streak and marked the first time Henin had suffered a “bagel” set since 2002. It also marked the first time since 2005 that Henin had lost in a Grand Slam tournament before the semifinals.

2008 Australian Open Final: defeated Ana Ivanovic to claim her third Grand Slam singles title. This was the first time she was favored in a Grand Slam final, but she still was able to win. This gave her a 3-1 Win/Loss record in Slam Finals and now only Roland Garros stands in her way of completing a career Grand Slam.

Latest News on Maria

Sharapova heading to Beijing Olympics

Maria Sharapova and Svetlana Kuznetsova will represent Russia in the women’s singles at the Beijing Olympics, the country’s federation chief Shamil Tarpishchev said Monday.

“We can send four single players and two doubles to Beijing,” Tarpishchev told the press. “Sharapova and Kuznetsova will definitely play in the women’s tournament, while the other girls will fight it out for the two remaining places.”

Three times Grand Slam tournament winner Sharapova is set to become one of the biggest names competing in Beijing and is certain to attract huge media attention.

Maria Shapova’s 21st Birthday

The fashion and entertainment elite came out to celebrate Maria Sharapova’s 21st birthday last night at a party hosted by luxury watch brand TAG Heuer.
The invitation-only event for the three-time Grand Slam winner drew several celebrities including Michelle Trachtenberg and Dave Annable. Vogue’s Anna Wintour also made an appearance at the party, along with designers Vera Wang, Doo.Ri and Brian Wolk and Claude Morais of Ruffian.

TAG Heuer President and CEO Ulrich Wohn welcomed Sharapova’s friends and family and toasted the 21 year-old before presenting her with an elegant white and pink eight-tier cake

Sharapova advances in women’s rankings

Russia’s Maria Sharapova climbed to the third spot in the WTA women’s tennis rankings released Monday.

Maria gained 110 points in Charleston and has a total of 3986 points and is closing the gap on #2 as she is only 171 points behind Ana Ivanovic. This is Maria’s highest ranking of the year.