Bookmark or Share  |  

Rahul Mahajan was born in 1974, in a Maharashtrian Deshastha Brahmin family is an Indian politician. Rahul Mahajan is the son of the late Indian politician, Pramod Mahajan. Rahul Mahajan came into the news when his father was shot by his own brother and struggled for his life for twelve days before succumbing. Television footage showed him comforting his sister and mother and maintaining a stoic demeanor. There were rumors that Mahajan would be inducted into the BJP to follow his father’s footsteps.

However, exactly a month after his father’s death on June 3, 2006, Mahajan was hospitalized after an alleged cocaine overdose. His father’s secretary, Bibek Maitra was also rushed to the hospital but was pronounced Dead on arrival. The two had imbibed a cocktail of drugs along with champagne. Mahajan recovered, but on his discharge from hospital on June 6 2006, he was arrested by the Delhi Police on charges of drug possession and consumption.

The case has become more complex due to the fact that there are several different versions of what happened that night, and the fact that Apollo Hospital, where the two were admitted, said in a press conference that Mahajan’s toxin screens were negative for all known drug types. An independent testing of Mahajan’s blood has yielded different results, with high quantities of opiates detected in his blood sample. Apollo hospital has since changed their answer, saying that traces of barbiturates and opiates were found in his bloodstream. The forensics lab, after examining Mahajan’s gastric lavage, has declared that heroin had been consumed, probably after mistaking it to be cocaine, and the Indian press has compared the incident to the movie Pulp Fiction.

In July 2006, he got engaged to Shweta Singh; someone who he has known for 13 years. They were in flying school together in the US, and also flew for the Indian airlines Jet Airways. This engagement is a little controversial in its timing, with people wondering why it was so sudden.

After two weeks of his divorce, on August 17, 2008 Rahul joins Bigg Boss (Season 2), a reality show aired by the Colors (India TV channel). Much has been written about his close friendship with Monica Bedi and Payal Rohatgi on the show.

He is seen getting closer to his friend Payal Rohatgi. Also he escaped from the BigBoss house in the last week of result & thrown out from the Bigg Boss house, few days before announcing the final winner.

After BigBoss, Mahajan also participated in the reality show, is a swayamvar for Rahul Mahajan, where 16 girls are participating as his would-be bride. It is to be shown on NDTV Imagine channel.

  

Bookmark or Share  |  

Radostin Kishishev (born July 30, 1974 in Bourgas, Bulgaria) is a Bulgarian footballer. As of 2006, he plays for Charlton Athletic. He came to the club as a right-back but more recently has been a regular in the club’s midfield.

He has much experience playing at the top level, however, occasional lapses in concentration often result in his team conceding goals.

Kishishev has been a pretty constant presence in the Charlton midfield, never found wanting for determination & effort his contribution to the team is often overlooked by fans. Those with a keener appreciation of the game though can see that he often carries his more illustrious midfield partners when the going gets tough.

Kishishev prides himself on his stamina and often tops the team on the number of kilometers he runs during games, as shown by the Pro-Zone statistics system.

Kishishev was part of the Bulgarian teams at Euro 96 and the 1998 FIFA World Cup.

  

Bookmark or Share  |  

Andrew Todd (born September 21, 1974 in Derby, England) is an English football player who currently plays for Blackburn Rovers F.C. He is a central defender who can also play at full back or as a defensive midfielder.

Initially a trainee at Middlesbrough F.C. in 1992, he then was loaned to Swindon Town F.C. before his August 1995 exit. That same year he moved to Bolton Wanderers F.C., his first permanent club, for 250 thousand pounds. He scored two goals in total for Bolton over a four year period, watching the club win the Division One championship in the process.

He then moved to Charlton Athletic F.C., another Division One club, and won Division One for a second time. However, a training fracas with a then un-named player (who later turned out to be Dean Kiely), meant that he was on a knife-edge at the club. Initially welcomed back, he left for Grimsby Town F.C. in February 2002, who at the time were struggling in Division One. With his scoring of three goals in twelve league games, he managed to keep the club in the league.

In May 2002, he left for Blackburn, attracted by the lure of a big club, but failed to make an initial impact, and within fifteen months he was back on the transfer list again. However he subsequently came back into the side and impressed sufficiently to come off the list and he remainds a key part of the senior squad into the 2005-06 season.

Andy Todd is the son of the former Derby County and England defender Colin Todd who was manager of Middlesbrough F.C. when Andy made his debut.

  

Bookmark or Share  |  

Christopher George Robin Powell (born 8 September 1969 in Lambeth, London), is an English footballer, who has had a long career as a left back, crowned by five caps for the English national team. He currently plays for Watford. Since November 2005 he has been chairman of the Professional Footballers Association.

Powell started his career at Crystal Palace F.C., for whom he played from December 1987 until he was transferred to Southend United F.C. in August 1990 after a spell on loan at Aldershot.

In six years at the Essex club Powell made 288 first team appearances. In November 2004 a BBC poll of Southend United supporters voted Powell their all-time cult hero. One fan described him as “A very skilled, left-footed defender, who could quite possibly be considered one of the nicest men in football, a true gent.”

In January 1996 Powell moved to Derby County F.C. for a fee of Pound750,000. He made 99 first team appearances before being transferred to Charlton Athletic F.C. in June 1998 for a fee of Pound 825,000.

While at Charlton, he made 206 first team appearances, and evidently caught the eye of Sven-Goran Eriksson, who picked him for the England team in 2001, at the unusually late age of 31. Although he did not disgrace himself in his England appearances, the general view was that he was not quite up to the required standard. At Charlton he delighted the crowds after each home victory with his exuberant leaps of celebration.

Shortly after the start of the 2004/05 season, Powell was allowed to move to West Ham United F.C., where he played a major part in their successful promotion campaign. However, during the summer of 2005 he and West Ham were unable to agree terms for a further contract and he returned to Charlton on a one year contract, with a suggestion that he would develop his coaching skills.

However he has begun the 2005/06 season back in his old position of left back in the Charlton first team following the transfer of previous regular incumbent Paul Konchesky to, ironically, West Ham.

Typically consistent performance belying his years throughout 05/06 saw Powell regain his place as Charlton’s first choice left back, rotated with loanee Jonathan Spector, due to Hermann Hreidarsson’s move to the centre of defence.

On July 1st 2006 he signed a 1 year contract with Premiership newcomers Watford FC.

  

Bookmark or Share  |  

Edward Colin Hendry (born December 7, 1965 in Keith) is a former Scottish professional football defender.

Hendry first played for local clubs Keith and Islavale, mainly as a striker. He began his professional career in 1983 with Dundee, and in 1987 was picked up by Blackburn Rovers, where he was converted into a defender. He played over 100 games for Blackburn before joining Manchester City in 1989, where he was named player of the year in the 1989/90. His days at City were numbered, however, after he fell out of manager Peter Reid’s plans. He was re-signed for Blackburn by Kenny Dalglish and helped them to great success including winning the Premiership. In 1998 he got his dream move to boyhood heroes Rangers where he was signed by manager Dick Advocaat for Pound 4 million. However, despite winning the domestic treble with Rangers in his first season, his time there was relatively unhappy with Advocaat claiming that Hendry was “not his type of player”. After his spell at Rangers, Hendry also played for Coventry City and Bolton Wanderers, as well as Preston North End and Blackpool on loan, before retiring from playing football.

Colin Hendry managed to win 51 caps for Scotland despite the fact that he was a latecomer to the international scene, not making his debut until he was 27. His last Scotland appearance was to prove mixed emotions for Hendry when he scored two goals in a 4-0 win over San Marino but was banned for six games after the game for an elbow on a San Marino player.

Hendry landed his first managerial job in June 2004 when he was appointed manager of his former club Blackpool, but was sacked by the club in November 2005 following a poor run of results.

  

Bookmark or Share  |  

Simon Charlton (born October 25, 1971 in Huddersfield) is an English footballer, who last played for Norwich City. He is a left-back who can also play as a left-sided central defender or occasionally in midfield.

He made his name in the Premiership initially with Southampton and then with Bolton Wanderers F.C. and has also played for Huddersfield Town A.F.C..

At the end of the 2005/06 season Charlton was released by Norwich City and as at 17/05/06 has not yet signed for another club. He left the club under something of a cloud, criticising manager Nigel Worthington in the local newspaper and stating that he believed Worthington had made a scapegoat and an easy target out of him.

  

Bookmark or Share  |  

Anthony Barness (born February 25, 1973 in Lewisham, England) is an English football player who usually plays as a defender. He currently plays for Plymouth Argyle after being released by Bolton Wanderers in May 2005.

Barness started out as a trainee for Charlton Athletic. It is to be noted that in his first spell at Charlton he scored Charlton’s opening riposte after going 3-0 down at Newcastle. Charlton went on to win the match 3-4 and this has been voted in the top 20 Charlton matches of all time.

His potential was spotted by a youth-scouting Chelsea side in 1992 – though some have said Chelsea only signed Barness after failing to sign his team mate, Scott Minto. During the four years which he spent at the club however, his chances of league starts were taken away from him at every possible opportunity. Thus, after just nineteen appearances in four years, he was loaned out to Middlesbrough (in August 1993) and Southend United (in February 1996).

Barness left Chelsea in August 1996, and returned to Charlton Athletic for a fee of 165,000 pounds. He was an important and regular part of the Charlton team, managed for the first two years by Alan Curbishley. Barness suddenly left the first team in 1998 and only made a handful of appearances from then on.

On the move again in 2000, he went to Bolton Wanderers on a free transfer deal, but was soon relegated to starting only in Cup competitions – which manager Sam Allardyce often left to the second team.

In January 2004, he travelled on loan to West Ham United, but was recalled within only 24 hours, after suffering injury problems. He then played a vital role for Bolton as they set a record for the most consecutive wins by their club.

After being released by Bolton in 2005 he joined Championship side Plymouth Argyle on a free transfer.

  

Bookmark or Share  |  

Dinesh Mongia pronunciation (born April 17, 1977 in Chandigarh) is an Indian cricketer who has appeared in ODIs for India. Mongia is a heavy run-scorer in domestic cricket with just under 6850 runs at an average of just under 50 and his highest score being an unbeaten 308. He made his ODI debut in 2001 against Australia without much success but in his fifth match, he scored his first half-century (71 off 75 balls) against England.

In 2002, almost a year after his debut, he picked up his first and only century (an unbeaten 159 off just 147 balls against Zimbabwe) to win the Man of the Match award. He was also named the Man of the Series. But after a string of below-par performances, he was dropped from the Indian side.

In 2004 he signed for Lancashire as an overseas player when Stuart Law was injured. In 2005 he was signed by Leicestershire on a full time contract.

  

Bookmark or Share  |  

Mahendra Singh (MS) Dhoni pronunciation (born July 7, 1981 in Ranchi, Jharkhand) is an Indian cricketer. He is an aggressive right-handed batsman and wicketkeeper. He is currently ranked number four in the official ICC cricket rankings for batsmen in Limited over internationals.

He was picked to play for the Indian cricket team in December 2004 and has been a regular member of the Indian one-day international team since then. His success in the limited overs format has also secured him a Test spot, and he is rapidly becoming one of the most famous & marketable icons in India, noted for his shoulder length hair.

Dhoni (affectionately known as Mahi), made his debut for Jharkhand in the 1999-2000 season as an eighteen year old. He started off his career with modest performances at the local level. He was noticed by the national team selectors in 2004 after his performances in first class tournaments such as the Deodhar Trophy and the Duleep Trophy. Dhoni was selected to represent India ‘A’ on a tour of Kenya and his performances were good enough to win him selection in the Indian national team, making his one-day international debut against Bangladesh in Chittagong in December of that year.

Dhoni’s best performance for India thus far was an unbeaten score of 183 off 145 balls against Sri Lanka at Jaipur on 31 October 2005, equalling the second best score by an Indian in ODIs. It was also the highest innings recorded by a wicket-keeper, and the highest number of sixes in an innings for a wicketkeeper with ten (all-rounders Sanath Jayasuriya and Shahid Afridi have hit 11). He also broke Saeed Anwar’s record of most runs scored off boundaries by scoring a total of 120 runs off 4s and 6s eclipsing the previous record of 118. [1] This has broken the record for the highest individual score for a team batting second. This has also established the new Indian record of number of sixes in a match, overtaking previous record holders, Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly (both hit seven 6′s in a match). Earlier, in 2005 he scored 148 against Pakistan in Vishakapatnam, in his fifth one-day international; the score came off only 123 deliveries.

At the end of the year Dhoni was rewarded a BCCI contract, starting with a B-grade contract.

Dhoni’s current batting average in ODIs is just over 50 (as of April 2006), the highest by any Indian player with more than 20 innings. With a career ODI batting strike rate of more than 100 he remains the only batsman with the unique double of a 50+ average scored at more than a run a ball. Currently, Dhoni has one of the highest strike rates in the world (103.00 runs per hundred balls). With 44 sixes in 38 ODI innings, Dhoni has hit more sixes than he’s played international matches.

Following his good one-day form against Sri Lanka, he ousted Dinesh Karthik in December 2005 as the Indian Test wicketkeeper. He made his maiden Test century against Pakistan in the 2nd Test at Faisalabad in January 2006, reaching the landmark in just 93 balls. Dhoni’s career batting average at the end of the ODI series against Pakistan in Abu Dhabi stands at 52.76, which is the fourth highest for any batsman having scored at least 1,000 runs in one-day internationals, behind Australians, Mike Hussey Michael Bevan, and Englishman Kevin Pietersen. [2]

However, in the third Test against England, Dhoni attracted some criticism when losing his wicket after playing an injudicious shot. India went from 75-3 to 100 all out to lose the match .

Just after the 2006 Test match Loss against England,which resulted in a 1-1 levelled series, Dhoni requested for more crowd support and he was obliged with the same, the team going to win the ODI Series that followed the Tests, his fans seem to be increasing by leaps and bounds and is received to a a rousing reception whenever he comes into bat.

As of 22th April 2006, Dhoni ranks number one in the ICC ODI rankings for batsmen, overtaking Australian skipper Ricky Ponting for the top ODI spot.

Records
On 31st October 2005 Mahendra Dhoni scored 183* runs of just 145 balls, accompanying that there are a list of records which he broke
He hit 10 Sixes, the most by an Indian in an Innings, and the second highest in ODI cricket (The highest is 11 by Sanath Jayasuriya and Shahid Afridi)
He broke Adam Gilchrist’s record of 172 for the highest score made by a wicket keeper
He is the second highest in scoring maximum runs in boundaries after Herchelle Gibbs of South Africa
In this match Kumar Sangakkara also made a century, making it the first match in which both wicket keepers scored a century
He has an average of 48.89 giving him the 4th highest average in the world overall
The highest Indian average
Highest average for a wicketkeeper.
2nd Highest average among those who have made more than 1200 runs in one day international cricket
Highest strike rate among the top 5 averages
He has a strike rate of 100.96 giving him the sixth highest strike rate overall
The highest by an Indian
The 4nd highest among players who have made more than 1000 runs in International Cricket
In April 2006 Dhoni was briefly ranked No.1 in the ICC one day Batsmen’s ratings. He is currently ranked No. 4 after a poor series in the West Indies.