Sachin Tendulkars 42 Unknown facts

1. Named after legendary music director Sachin Dev Burman by his father.

2. Grew his hair and tied a band around it to copy his idol John McEnroe.was called McEnroe by his friends.

3. Wanted to be a tearing fast bowler and even went to the MRF Pace academy but head coach Dennis Lilee told him to concentrate on his batting.

4.  Has scored big runs on Indian festivals like Gokulastmi,Holi,Raksha Bandhan and Diwali.

5. Loved to have i-can-eat-more-vada-pavs-than-you competitions with cricket buddies Vinod Kambli and Salil Ankola.

6. Loves sea food. co-owns a restaurant.

7. Sydney cricket ground is his favorite ground.

8. Loves Kishore Kumar and rock group Dire Straits.Fusses over his personal stereo.

9. A ganesh devotee, he visits Siddhi Vinayak temple in the early hours of morning.

10. Wears his left pad first, has the tricolor pasted inside his kit bag.

11. Remembers every test dismissals especially the bowler who dismissed him.Likes to dunk his glucose biscuit into his tea.

12. Ambidextrous: bats with his right hand and eats and autographs with his left hand.

13. Used to sleep with his cricket gear during his junior days.

14. Refused to shoot for a soft drink ad of him smashing cricket balls with a fly swatter.he reportedly told film-maker Prahlad Kakkar "that would make me greater than the game." the ad was modified: he hit the balls with a stump.

15. A fast car friend who likes to tear down Mumbai's road at 4 am.

16. Fell from a tree on a Sunday evening during the summer vacation, when Guide was showing on national TV. His infuriated brother (and mentor) Ajit packed him off to cricket coaching class as punishment.

17.In his debut Test match, English fast bowler Alan Mullally complained that Sachin Tendulkar was batting with a bat broader than the normal willow.

18. Came back from 4 month tour of Australia after the 92 world cup and turned up to play for his college ,Kirti college in April 1992.

19. Was without a bat contract during the 1996 world cup where he emerged as the highest run-getter. A famous tyre company promptly signed him up after that.

20. His coach at Shardashram,Ramakant Achrekar used to offer a 1 rupee coin as a prize to anyone who dismissed him. If he remained not out the coin belonged to Sachin. That he still has a good bunch of those coins tells the story. Tendulkar has 13 such coins.

21. Fielded for Pakistan as substitute during a one-day practice match against India in Brabourne stadium in 1988.

22. Was a ball boy during the 1987 world cup semi final match between India and England at Wankhede.

23. The first ad he shot was for a sticking plaster.

24. In school he was once mistaken for a girl by his good friend Atul Ranade because of his long curls.

25. Amitabh Bachchan became his favorite hero after watching Deewar and Zanjeer..

26. Played tennis ball cricket and darts during rainbreaks.

27. Sang and whistled with Vinod Kambli during their 664 run stand in Harris shield in 1988 to avoid eye contact with coach's assistant, who wanted to declare while the duo wanted to bat on.

28. Teammate Praveen Amre bought him his first pair of international quality cricket shoes.

29. Was a bully at school but was kind to cats and dogs. His first captain Sunil Harshe said that he loved to pick a fight. Every time he was introduced to someone, his 1st reaction was "will I be able to beat him?"

30. Used to go fishing for tadpoles and guppy fishes in the stream that ran through the compound of Sahitya Sahwas at Bandra East.

31. Made his mother once look for a frog bhaji recipe.

32.The nanny who looked after him is now universally called Sachuchi bai.

33. Colony watchman's son Ramesh Pardhe who was his playmate, said Sachin would ask him to dip a rubber ball in water and hurl it at him. He wanted to see the wet marks left on his bat to find out whether he middle the ball correctly.

34. A prankster, he once put a hose pipe into Saurav Ganguly's room and turned the tap on. Ganguly awoke to find his gear floating. Calls Ganguly babu mashai,Saurav calls him chhota babu.

35. Sachin Tendulkar loves collecting perfumes and watches.

36. Sachin Tendulkar was the first international batsman to be given out by a third-umpire.

In 1992, on the second day of the Durban Test, a Jonty Rhodes throw caught Tendulkar short of the crease. After watching TV replays, he was adjudged out. Karl Liebenberg of South Africa was the third umpire in the match.

37. . Sachin Tendulkar went to watch the movie Roja in 1995 with a beard and disguise. It all went wrong when his glasses fell off and the crowd in the cinema hall recognized him.

38. Sachin Tendulkar once told a Marathi news channel in an interview that his weakness is `vada-pao`, a popular Maharashtrian snack.

39. Sachin Tendulkar batted in his debut Test against Pakistan wearing the pads gifted to him by Sunil Gavaskar.

40. Sachin Tendulkar was a huge fan of John McEnroe, a former tennis legend. He grew his hair and tied a band around it to copy his idol.

41. Sachin Tendulkar is himself a role model for many admirers from other sports such as tennis stars Pete Sampras and Boris Becker, and Argentina footballer Diego Maradona.

42. Sachin is so possessive about his Ferrari that wife Anjali is not allowed to drive it.

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40 UN-KNOWN FACTS OF LiONEL MESSI

1. His full name is Luis Lionel Andres Messi. The middle name of Lionel Messi, probably the greatest football player in the World is Andres; a name that is rarely used to refer to this ingenious player. The name was given by his parents who are believed to be the descendants of early Italian immigrants who settled in the Rosario region of Argentina. Only a few people refer to Messi with this name.

2.   Messi was not very healthy and nutritious in his childhood days like the other boys around. He was diagnosed with a growth hormone deficiency which was stopping his normal growth rate at a tender age of 11. His parents could not afford his treatment, which was $900 a month.

3. At the age of 17, he made his league debut against RCD Espanyol and became the third youngest person ever to play on Barcelona. At that time he was also the youngest player to ever score for Barcelona.

4. Messi's first contract with Barcelona was detailed out on a paper napkin! FC Barcelona sporting director Carles Rexach was so impressed with Messi's skills that he wanted to make a contract immediately and there was no paper available at that time.

5. Barcelona was so impressed with Messi's footskills that they offered to pay his medical bills and move the family to Spain just to sign him when he was 13. That probably explains why the contract was first signed on a napkin.

6. During the 2005-2006 season, Messi began being paid as a first team member.

7.  Messi holds two passports - Argentina's and Spain's. He became a Spanish citizen in September 2005.

8.  Lionel Messi also made his debut in the Spanish First Division league. Out of his seventeen League appearances he scored six goals. He scored one goal in six for the Champions League.

9. His 2005 international debut lasted 47 seconds when he received a red card after coming on as a substitute.

10. Messi inherited the No. 10 Barca jersey from another great footballer Ronaldinho in the summer of 2008.

11. In 2009, he won his first Ballon d'Or and FIFA World Player of the Year awards. He followed this up by winning the inaugural FIFA Ballon d'Or in 2010, and then again in 2011 and 2012.

12.  Messi has won six La Ligas, two Copas del Rey, five Supercopas de España, three UEFA Champions Leagues, two UEFA Super Cups and two Club World Cups.

13. Along with England's Vivian Woodward (who accomplished the feat in the early 1900s), Messi is the only player to have scored 25 goals in a calendar year during international competition with both his club and his country.

14.  He was offered a place in the national team by Spain which he did not accept.

15. Messi is the sixth youngest soccer player to score a goal in a World Cup games.

16.  One of Lionel's nicknames is "The Flea" due to his speed and agility.

17.  Clearly, impressive soccer skills runs in his family. Lionel's cousins Emanuel and Maxi Biancucchi both play for solid clubs in South America, although neither had made the leap to a premier club or senior national team.

18. Two of the musical genres that Messi enjoys listening to are Samba and Cumbi.

19. Lionel Messi is the second richest soccer player in the world with a net worth of $180 million. The most wealthiest is Cristiano Ronaldo who is worth $230 million. 

20.  Between his contract and endorsements, he makes about $128,000 per day.

21. Messi has been featured on the covers of the Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 and Pro Evolution Soccer 2011 video games. He and Fernando Torres are the faces of the Pro Evolution Soccer 2010 video game and helped out with the trailer and motion capturing.

22. Messi is the founder of the organization, Leo Messi Foundation, which helps give children the best opportunities for education and health care. His foundation, with the help of Herbalife, helps to pay for medical treatment, transportation and recuperation for children diagnosed with major medical problems.

23. Messi is also the Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF.

24. He also works for people suffering from Fragile X Syndrome (a disease related to autism).

25. On March 2013, Lionel Messi donated €600,000 ($812,000) towards the refurbishment of a children's hospital in his hometown of Rosario, Argentina. The money was used to renovate the oncology unit at the Victor J Vilela Children's Hospital, as well as paying for doctors to travel to Barcelona for training.

26.  His playing style and stature have drawn comparisons to compatriot Diego Maradona, who himself declared Messi his "successor".

27. Messi was was the first Argentinian ever to be named FIFA World Player of the Year, not Diego Maradona. However, this is due to a technicality because the award was created in 1991, at which point Maradona had begun his downward spiral after he peaked in the 1986 World Cup.

28.  He has been dating his Argentine-born girlfriend and mother of his child - Antonella Roccuzzo - since 2009.

29. His son, Thiago, was born on November 2, 2012.

30.  His infant son is already an official member of the Newell's Old Boys' supporters club. When Messi's son Thiago was just 72 hours old, Newell's Old Boys which was Messi's original club, was first in line and managed to sign the infant to a supporters club contract.

31. Lionel Messi also had the boy's name and handprints tattooed on his left calf.

32. Lionel Messi is considered by most football experts to be the best footballer of his generation.

33. Messi ranked second behind Neymar in SportsPro magazine's 2013 list of the world's most marketable athletes.

34. Messi is the first football player in history to win four FIFA/Ballons d'Or, all of which he won consecutively, as well as the first to win three European Golden Shoe awards.

35. Lionel Messi is 5′ 7″ tall (1.69 metres). With this shorter body height as compared with the average height of other football players, Lionel Messi continues to amaze the World with his unusual football tricks that tear apart the defence systems of the opponent teams. Lionel Messi is well endowed with abilities that make the ball to stick on his legs, despite the strenuous efforts by opponents to get the ball off him.

36.  Messi has been a very shy person right from his childhood and this trait continues to until even now. Apparently, it is very difficult to make him talk on the phone. Most the important messages that have to be delivered to him and received from him take place through SMS.

37. After scoring a goal, Messi typically celebrates in a calm and composed manner by simply raising both hands in the air. This gesture is to thank and pay tribute to his grandmother who was very close to him and passed away when he was 10. Messi believes she is up there and watching her from above and this is his way of showing that he would always be grateful to her.

38. His favorite pastimes include relaxing with his girlfriend and playing with his son, Thiago. He is also an avid PlayStation player.

39. Lionel Messi does not like to watch highlights of himself.

40. Japanese jeweller Ginza Takana used a cast of Messi's left foot to create a solid gold replica, weighing 25 kilograms (55 lb), which went on sale in Japan in March 2013 to raise funds for victims of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. It was valued at $5.25 million.

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Unknown Facts of YUVRAJ SINGH

1. Yuvraj is the only Indian crickter after Sachin Tendulkar to have been signed by English county Yorkshire, an honor few overseas players are bestowed upon.

2.Yuvraj Singh was signed by Microsoft as a brand ambassador when the Xbox 360 video game console was launched in the Indian market way back in 2006.

3. He was an avid roller-skater as a child, and has also won gold medal the National Under-14 Roller Skating Championship.


4.Yuvraj is a huge Sachin fan since childhood. Yuvraj cherishes those moments he spent on the crease with the master blaster, and rates that test in Chennai in 2008 when he had a crucial partnership with Sachin to win India the match as one of his greatest cricketing moments.

5. Yuvraj used to study at Chandigarh's DAV School. The Southpaw had the maximum attendance on the cricket pitch though, and it is said that Yuvraj broke a sign of the school's name which used to be on the school's wall with a barrage of huge sixes.

6.  When he was 7 years old, he kept insisting his mother to buy him a bicycle. When she finally agreed, Yuvraj jammed the bicycle onto a rickshaw on the very first ride and ended up with 10 STITCHES.

7. When one of Yuvraj's friends brought an air gun when they were young, and nobody could figure out how it worked, Yuvi took the matter into his own hands and accidently shot his friend in the stomach! Thankfully no damage was done!

8.He didn,t know that he was in cancer at the time of 2011 world cup and gave his best knock in world cup.

9. Many times we see cricketers lose their cool on field and do various sorts of actions to express frustration. And Yuvi reveals he was no different. “There was a time I would throw my bat if I was given out by the Umpire and one day Sachin told me ‘the bat you just threw, that brings food to your home. Never do that again.’ And his advice worked wonders and never have I repeated the same mistake again.”

10.  We all have heard about Yuvi's battle with cancer, but did you know that Yuvraj was diagnosed with a rare germ cell cancer between his lungs, for which he underwent three cycles of chemotheraphy in the United States.

11.  Yuvraj Singh has also done a Bollywood animated movie ‘Jumbo’. Yuvraj did a voice over in the movie produced by Akshay Kumar. And he worked in some of Punjabi films also.

12. Yuvraj has started a great initiative with 'YouWeCan', with which he plans to help cancer patients in their treatment. YouWeCan has helped in bringing out cancer cases of 1,25,000 people and they all are getting treated.

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19 interesting facts of Usain bolt

• 
  Usain Bolt’s first sport was cricket and he specialized as a fast bowler.

• Usain Bolt is a fan of Christiano Ronaldo and therefore he had offered him some sprinting tips. Ronaldo himself was delighted with the offer as he is a big fan of Bolt too.

• Usain Bolt is the youngest ever gold medalist of the World Junior Championship, wins the 200m at age of 15.

• Usain Bolt is the first and the only junior athlete to break sub 20 seconds in 200 meters.

• Usain Bolt is nicknamed as 'Lightning Bolt’ due to TWO reasons: firstly due to his extraordinary performance and secondly due to his 100metres world record which set just after the lightning storm in New York in 2008.

• Usain Bolt became the first to holds the World records, World Championship records and Olympic Games records at all-three sprint events (100 , 200 and 4x100) at the same time.

• Usain Bolt’s first Olympics were at 2004 where he was eliminated in the first round of the 200 metres with an upset time of 21.05 due to an injury.

• Usain Bolt improved his annual 100m time from 10.03 to 9.69s at Beijing Olympics where he set not only without a favorable wind (0.0ms) and a slow reaction time (0.165s) but also with a celebration at the last 20 metres which significantly slowed him down and his shoelace was untied.

• Bolt partnered with a company called RockLive to make mobile gaming app centered all around him. It’s creatively named “Bolt!” It’s the number one app in Jamaica and the number two free app in the UK.

• Usain Bolt has made $20.3 million over the past year in prize money, bonuses, appearance fees, and endorsements. That amount made him the 63rd highest paid athlete in the world.

• Companies Usain Bolt has an endorsement deal with: Gatorade, Hublot, Virgin Media, Visa, Soul Electronics, Nissan Motors, and his biggest sponsor who has been with him the longest, Puma.

• He’s the highest-paid athlete in the history of sprinters.
  

• Usain Bolt set a world record for the 100m in the men’s final at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. AFTER having a meal of chicken nuggets.

• He signed a deal with Soul Electronics to create his own headphone line. Pretty cool. He also has his own clothing line and his own restaurant that he owns and operated in Jamaica.

• His victory stance is basically the Tabooing of the Olympics. It even has its own name. It’s called the “To Di World” pose.
  

• He is 6 ft 5 inches in height – very tall for a sprinter.

• Bolt can run at a speed of about 23.7 mph.

• He owns his own restaurant / sports bar called Tracks & Records.

• SportsPro Magazine named Bolt the “most-marketable sportsman on the planet” in its second annual ranking of the world’s 50 most-marketable athletes.  

• know more about Usain Bolt 
  

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