Astro SuperSport bans Venus Williams due to flesh-coloured undies?

The hype about Venus Williams flashing too much flesh on court is not something new.

It started off even since the Australian Open earlier this year.

Personally, I like Venus' French Open skimpy outfits but Astro, my local satellite television thinks otherwise.

According to an inside source, Astro decided to ban Venus due to her inappropriate dressing - flesh-coloured shorts, which you could have mistaken her for not wearing any underwear!

So what if Venus still wearing the same dress to the final? Let's wait and see.

Updated: Here's the latest from source... Astro will air Venus' LIVE match tonight but any repeated or delayed matches of Venus will be edited if it's inappropriate.

WTA Malaysian Open 2010: Tickets giveaway for Astro Sports subscribers

ASTROLIFE IS GIVING YOU A CHANCE TO WATCH MALAYSIA OPEN 2010

100 winners for the Prelim Round Court (a set of tickets from 22nd to 25th Feb)
25 winners for the Season Centre Court (a set of tickets from 26th to 28th Feb)

Those interested please email below details to astrolife@astro.com.my:

Name:
IC No:
Astro Account No:
Contact No:

T&C Astro account must be active and subscribed to sports package.

Hurry! Send in your details before the end of this Sunday (deadline: Feb 21 before midnight).

Watch Barclays ATP World Tour Finals on Astro SuperSport 2 (CH 816)

Astro SuperSport 2 (Ch 816)
Barclays ATP World Tour Finals

23/11 - Men's Doubles & Singles: Day 1: Session 1 @ 2025 Live
24/11 - Men's Doubles & Singles: Day 1: Session 2 @ 0300 Live
24/11 - Men's Doubles & Singles: Day 2: Session 1 @ 2230 Live
25/11 - Men's Doubles & Singles: Day 2: Session 2 @ 0255 Live
25/11 - Men's Doubles & Singles: Day 3: Session 1 @ 2025 Live
26/11 - Men's Doubles & Singles: Day 3: Session 2 @ 0255 Live
26/11 - Men's Doubles & Singles: Day 4: Session 1 @ 2025 Live
27/11 - Men's Doubles & Singles: Day 4: Session 2 @ 1300 Delayed
27/11 - Men's Doubles & Singles: Day 5: Session 1 @ 2025 Live
28/11 - Men's Doubles & Singles: Day 5: Session 2 @ 0255 Live
28/11 - Men's Doubles & Singles: Semi Finals : Session 1 @ 2025 Live
29/11 - Men's Doubles & Singles: Semi Finals : Session 2 @ 0255 Live
29/11 - Men's Doubles & Singles: Finals @ 2030 Live

More tennis on Astro SuperSport, Eurosport in October

ATP World Tour 500's: China Open 2009

(Channel 811)
09 Oct 1100 Quarter Finals: Session 1 (Live)
09 Oct 1900 Quarter Finals: Session 2 (Live)
10 Oct 1200 Semi Finals (Live)
11 Oct 1530 Final (Live)

WTA Tour Beijing (Live)

(Channel 814)
05 Oct 1500 1st Round
06 Oct 1500 1st Round
07 Oct 1500 2nd Round
08 Oct 1500 Round of 16
09 Oct 1500 Quarter Final
10 Oct 1600 Semi Final
11 Oct 1900 Final

ATP World Tour 500's: Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championship 2009

(Channel 816)
09 Oct 1100 Quarter Finals (Live)
10 Oct 1100 Semi Finals (Live)
11 Oct 1230 Final (Live)

ATP World Tour 1000's: Shanghai ATP Masters 1000 presented by Rolex

(Channel 816)
12 Oct 1400 1st Round (Live)
13 Oct 1400 1st Round (Live)
14 Oct 1400 2nd Round (Live)
15 Oct 1400 Last of 16 Round (Live)
16 Oct 1400 Quarter Finals (Live)
17 Oct 1630 Semi Finals 1 (Live)
17 Oct 2000 Semi Finals 2 (Live)
18 Oct 1630 Final (Live)

(Images via menstennisforums.com)

You choose: Watch LIVE matches on Astro SuperSports or get tickets from HCFoo

A lot of tennis fans have been asking about this since Monday.

Finally the schedule for Proton Malaysian Open, Kuala Lumpur 2009 on Astro SuperSports Channel 816 is out!

01/10 (Thurs) - Men’s Singles Round 2 & Doubles Quarter Finals at 1130 Live
01/10 (Thurs) - Men’s Singles Round 2 & Doubles Quarter Finals at 1730 Live
02/10 (Thurs) - Men’s Singles & Doubles Quarter Finals at 1200 Live
02/10 (Thurs) - Men’s Singles Quarter Finals at 1700 Live
03/10 (Thurs) - Men’s Singles & Doubles Semi Finals at 1430 Live
03/10 (Thurs) - Men’s Singles & Doubles Semi Finals at 1900 Live
04/10 (Thurs) - Men’s Singles & Doubles Finals at 1430 Live

If you want to experience LIVE tennis, I have some Friday evening session tickets to giveaway.

I just need you to write down ANY comment and leave your email address so that I can contact you. Limited tickets available, so be fast. You could be walking away with a Proton Satria Neo that night too!

You need to collect the tickets from me at the stadium on Friday before the matches.

Thanks to the organiser of the Malaysian Open for reserving those tickets for us as tickets are almost sold out for Friday and weekend matches.

For those outside of Malaysia, you can watch live streaming at atdhe.net.

Astro SuperSport+ (Channel 816): US Open LIVE

In the next two weeks, Astro SuperSport+ (channel 816) will be showing the US Open LIVE (31 Aug - 14 September 2009).

Here are the event highlights:

31 Aug 2300 Day 1: Day Session: Men's & Women's 1st Round (Live)
01 Sep 0700 Day 1: Evening Session: Men's & Women's 1st Round (Live)
01 Sep 2300 Day 2: Day Session: Men's & Women's 1st Round (Live)
02 Sep 0700 Day 2: Evening Session: Men's & Women's 1st Round (Live)
02 Sep 2300 Day 3: Day Session: Men's 1st Round & Women's 2nd Round (Live)
03 Sep 0700 Day 3: Evening Session: Men's 1st Round & Women's 2nd Round (Live)
03 Sep 2300 Day 4: Day Session: Men's & Women's 2nd Round (Live)
04 Sep 0700 Day 4: Evening Session: Men's & Women's 2nd Round (Live)
04 Sep 2300 Day 5: Day Session: Men's 2nd Round & Women's 3rd Round (Live)
05 Sep 0700 Day 5: Evening Session: Men's 2nd Round & Women's 3rd Round (Live)
05 Sep 2300 Day 6: Day Session: Men's & Women's 3rd Round (Live)
06 Sep 0700 Day 6: Evening Session: Men's & Women's 3rd Round (Live)
06 Sep 2300 Day 7: Day Session: Men's 3rd Round & Women's Round of 16 (Live)
07 Sep 0700 Day 7: Evening Session: Men's 3rd Round & Women's Round of 16 (Live)
07 Sep 2300 Day 8: Day Session: Men's & Women's Round of 16 (Live)
08 Sep 0700 Day 8: Evening Session: Men's & Women's Round of 16 (Live)
08 Sep 2300 Day 9: Day Session: Men's Round of 16 & Women's Quarter Finals (Live)
09 Sep 0700 Day 9: Evening Session: Men's Round of 16 & Women's Quarter Finals (Live)
09 Sep 2300 Day 10: Day Session: Men's & Women's Quarter Finals (Live)
10 Sep 0700 Day 10: Evening Session: Men's & Women's Quarter Finals (Live)
10 Sep 2300 Day 11: Day Session: Men's Quarter Finals & Mixed Doubles Final (Live)
11 Sep 0700 Day 11: Evening Session: Men's Quarter Finals & Women's Doubles Semi Finals (Live)
12 Sep 0000 Day 12: Day Session: Women's Semi Finals & Men's Doubles Final (Live)
13 Sep 0000 Day 13: Day Session: Men's Semi Finals (Live)
13 Sep 0800 Day 13: Women's Final (Live)
14 Sep 0000 Day 14: Women's Doubles Final (Live)
14 Sep 0415 Day 14: Men's Final (Live)

To subscribe to Astro Sports Package, please call the Astro Customer Service Center at toll-free 1300-82-3838.

Playing in Arthur Ashe Stadium on the opening day includes Kim Clijsters, Serena Williams and Roger Federer.

The night session will feature Venus Williams against Vera Dushevina, followed by Andy Roddick against Bjorn Phau.

(Via Astro website)

TENNIS WATCH: Taste of Tennis, '15', Rafael Nadal, Astro SuperSports+

Starting from today, I'm going to introduce a segment called TENNIS WATCH which summarises brief tennis news into one post.

World’s top tennis players including Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Andy Roddick, Vera Zvonareva, Victoria Azarenka, Tommy Haas and Fernando Gonzalez are set to serve-up the US Open’s hottest pre-tournament action at the 10th Annual BNP PARIBAS TASTE OF TENNIS.

The players will cook-up culinary aces alongside highly acclaimed chefs including celebrity chef and author Bethenny Frankel, Carla Hall and Ariane Duarte from Bravo’s “Top Chef,” and Alfred Portale of Gotham Bar & Grill.

ESPN Sportscenter anchor Hannah Storm will serve as emcee.

If you're interested to attend this, you can join them at the W New York Hotel for a night to remember on Thursday, August 27, 2009. Check out Taste of Tennis website at: http://www.tasteoftennis.com/

*******

Roger Federer, spoke to the Toronto-based Globe and Mail, on the mixed reactions he received due to the '15' jacket he wore after winning Wimbledon.

"I won and a guy walks out and says 'Look, if you want to wear this jacket, it's got a 15 on it.' I was like, 'That's kind of cool.' So I look at the jacket and I can't find it, it's so small. Then I look and it's on the back at the side..."

"It would never have occurred to people that I wore it except that Sue Barker asked me about it on Centre Court. She made a big deal out of it and I think that's why people then thought it was classless or and a bit arrogant, especially towards Andy [Roddick]. But it's got nothing to do with that."

So there you go... Federer is not arrogant.

*******

Congrats to Rafael Nadal and his coach Francisco Roig after defeating Novak Djokovic and Dusan Vemic 7-5, 6-4 in the first round of doubles in Montreal this morning.

Nadal entered the doubles to get some match practice ahead of his first singles matches in more than two months.

*******

For Malaysian tennis fans who still don't know about the LIVE coverage on Astro SuperSports+ (Channel 816), there'll be exclusive broadcast rights of 2 LIVE ATP World Tour 1000’s Masters (Montreal and Cincinnati) as well as the US Open.

The events on Astro SuperSport+ (Channel 816) are as follows:

Rogers Masters (10 – 17 Aug)
Western & Southern Financial Group Masters (17 – 24 Aug)
US Open 2009 (1 – 13 Sept)

To subscribe to Astro Sports Package, please call the Astro Customer Service Center at toll-free 1300-82-3838.

French Open 2009: Great coverage on Astro

First of all, I would like to say that I'm not the one who complained to Astro about the sudden commercial break during when Andre Agassi walked out to the centre court for prize-giving ceremony.

However, I would have complained if it's Rafael Nadal's 5th consecutive Roland Garros win though... hehe...

Thanks to Astro for doing such a tremendous job in covering the recent French Open 2009, where Roger Federer won his historic Grand Slam title.

Through the exclusive channel on Astro SuperSport+ (channel 816), Malaysian tennis fans were given the opportunity to watch incredible tennis matches through multiple screenings, both LIVE and repeat.

When Federer’s semifinal match was not even shown LIVE in the USA, Malaysians have the privilege to watch it in the comfort of their own homes.

So, thanks again and we're looking forward for more excitement in this month's Wimbledon.

An email interview with Jo-Wilfried Tsonga

Thanks to Astro for giving us the opportunity to participate in an email interview with French player Jo-Wilfried Tsonga recently.

Worried about Jo Willy's performance on clay, we came up with several questions regarding his preparation and readiness for the French Open, the Grand Slam he missed last year due to a knee injury.

Here are the questions:

Q1: After missing from Monte Carlo and Barcelona, you started your clay season rather late, in less than a month before Roland Garros. Why did you take so long to switch from hard court to clay?

JWT: The first part of the season was relatively long for me and I needed a good break, hence I took some time off and decided to train instead of playing Monte Carlo.

Q2: You withdrew from Barcelona due to precaution against your knee problem. Is your knee okay now?

JWT: All is well now. I felt something will training and due to my injury from last year and preferred not to take any risks.

Q3: You have an attacking game on hard court. So are you going to play it differently on clay?

JWT: I am not about to change my style of play, rather try to get more spin on the ball but altogether I will try to move forward and attack the ball.

Q4: Is clay the most difficult and your least favorite surface?

JWT: I’ve had good results on clay during my junior years and I enjoy playing on clay to the opposite of what many media can say.

Q5: You have won doubles titles partnering Gasquet and Gicquel before. So are you going to play in the men’s doubles at Roland Garros with one of them?

JWT: As of today, May 12, I do not know with whom I will play double at the French Open.

Q6: Do you think you can beat clay court specialist like Nadal and Djokovic?

JWT: I step on the court with the feeling that I can beat anyone so of course I believe in my chances.

Q7: You are featured in the EA Sports Grand Slam Tennis scheduled to be out in June. Are you excited to be included in this new game? Do you play video games with the other players?

JWT: It is a great honor for me to be featured on the cover of the game and to have my ‘double’ in the game. It was always something that was exciting for me to have my own video game. I used to play a lot with my brother and I look forward to playing against the virtual Tsonga.

As you all know, Richard Gasquet has been suspended after a positive cocaine test result and he will miss the French Open.

For Jo Willy's fans, he will be playing in the ARAG ATP World Team Championship teaming up with fellow compatriots Gilles Simon and Jeremy Chardy next week.

Astro SuperSports+ (channel 816) will be showing the tournament from Monday onwards (May 18) until the final match on May 23.

This additional channel will also air French Open 2009 from May 24 to June 7.

Check out the schedule here or log on to Astro website for more information.

For those who wants to catch these tournaments on live stream, there are always a few trusted sources, TennisTV.com and Atdhe.net.

(Image by Javier Soriano/AFP/Getty Images)

Astro SuperSport+: LIVE ARAG World Team Cup & French Open

Few weeks back, I wrote to a local paper expressing my disappointment with Astro (a subscription-based TV) for not showing the live telecast of the Monte Carlo Masters semifinal and final matches, although they showed the earlier rounds.

There were also no live coverage for the semifinal and final matches from Rome Masters and I presume this will happen again for the Madrid Masters.

However, thankfully, there will be an additional sports channel - Astro SuperSport+, which will broadcast 2 LIVE tennis events: the ARAG World Team Cup and the French Open 2009.

Astro SuperSport+ (channel 816) will be available to all Sports Package Customers from 11 May - 9 June 2009.

Here are the event highlights:

Tennis: ARAG World Team Cup
Mon, 18 May, 8am - Day 1 (Delayed)
Mon, 18 May, 7pm - Day 2 (Live)
Tue, 19 May, 7pm - Day 3 (Live)
Wed, 20 May, 7pm - Day 4 (Live)
Thu, 21 May, 6pm - Day 5 (Live)
Fri, 22 May, 7pm - Day 6 (Live)
Sat, 23 May, 6pm - Day 7 Finals (Live)

Tennis: French Open 2009
Sun, 24 May, 5pm - Day 1: Men’s & Women’s Singles 1st Round (Live)
Mon, 25 May, 5pm - Day 2: Men’s & Women’s Singles 1st Round (Live)
Tue, 26 May, 5pm - Day 3: Men’s & Women’s Singles 1st Round (Live)
Wed, 27 May, 5pm - Day 4: Men’s & Women’s Singles 2nd Round (Live)
Thu, 28 May, 5pm - Day 5: Men’s & Women’s Singles 2nd Round (Live)
Fri, 29 May, 5pm - Day 6: Men’s & Women’s Singles 3rd Round (Live)
Sat, 30 May, 5pm - Day 7: Men’s & Women’s Singles 3rd Round (Live)
Sun, 31 May, 5pm - Day 8: Men’s & Women’s Singles 4th Round (Live)
Mon, 1 Jun, 5pm - Day 9: Men’s & Women’s Singles 4th Round (Live)
Tue, 2 Jun, 8pm - Day 10: Men’s & Women’s Singles Qtrfinals Round (Live)
Wed, 3 Jun, 8pm - Day 11: Men’s & Women’s Singles Qrtfinals Round (Live)
Thu, 4 Jun, 8pm - Day 12: Men’s & Women’s Singles Semi Finals (Live)
Fri, 5 Jun, 7pm - Day 13: Men’s & Women’s Singles Semi Finals (Live)
Sat, 6 Jun, 9pm - Day 14: Women’s Singles Finals (Live)
Sun, 7 Jun, 9pm - Day 15: Men’s Singles Final (Live)
(Schedule is correct at time of Press Release. Schedule is subject to change)

Through this exclusive channel, tennis fans will have the opportunity to watch their favourite tennis players in action at their convenience through multiple screenings of each match and events, both LIVE and repeat.

So, unlike previous years, this year we won't miss Rafael Nadal creating another history at the French Open again. *Fingers crossed*

Thanks to Astro for the press release.

Stephen Chow and Gary Chaw: Separated at birth?

It seems that Gary Chaw has changed his image for his new album, Super Sunshine. And he has becoming the next guy who looks like Stephen Chow.


Who is the other Stephen Chow lookalike? Of course Brandon 'tai jor lor!' Yuen. He is the pirated DVD seller in Astro advertisements.

Astro: you pay what you watch

Personally I'm very excited because there will be another two new channels coming up on Astro on June 15. I'm all for The History Channel which will be on channel 54. The other new channel is Crime & Investigation on channel 79.

As a history buff, there's nothing better than a history channel that stand on its own. I always never get enough of history shows on Discovery Channel or National Geographic. I'm looking forward to watching shows about The Universe, about the Roman Empire, The French Revolution (my all time favourite), political and historical figures, great scientists and many more. I just wish there will be more shows about the history of China but it's kind of hard to come by especially in English programmes.

Since there will be more channels coming up, Astro subscribers don't complain too much lar. You should pay for what you watch. It's pay television! If you do not wish to pay so much, then get cheaper package. Don't complain because there are other subscribers who are willing to pay to watch these new channels.

on akademi fantasia 5

I've been following Akademi Fantasia for years and it is one of my favourite local show. It's kind of weird because a lot of Malaysian Chinese don't actually like to watch local Malay shows. I think my interest has to do with my education background. Besides imagine growing up with only 3 television channels (RTM1, RTM2 and TV3), I'm used to watch locally produced shows.

I missed Tirai Akademi Fantasia last Saturday because I was in Malacca. And I haven't got the chance to watch it yet except for about 10 minutes of the repeat show on Monday.

Recently, I've heard a rumour about one of the pelajar Akademi Fantasia 5. If you watch American Idol, you would have heard about what had happened to Antonella Barba who was voted out last week. Antonella Barba has her semi exposed photos all over the internet. In the case of the pelajar Akademi Fantasia 5, it was said that she had once taken her own nude photo while she was drunk and posted it into the internet. Well, don't ask me the details because this is all I've got.

By the way, Roslan Aziz has migrated to Astro from 8tv and he is now the Pengetua of Akademi Fantasia 5. I guess Malaysian Idol couldn't survive for the 3rd year?

the Oscars - KL Red Carpet Live and what happen to Linda Onn

So what happen to Linda Onn? She was supposed to be at the Kodak Theatre for Star Movies' red carpet show but we only saw Dominic Lau did the hosting job alone. Sources said that Linda Onn refused to follow the dress code for reporters and insisted on wearing the black and white modern kebaya created by an Indonesian designer which she mentioned in the press last week. Hence, she was axed from the co-hosting job. (New updates: I came across this blog. Check out his posting here and here for more details.)

Have you seen the KL Red Carpet Live "Breakfast With The Stars 2007" earlier on before the Oscar awards show? Can anyone please tell the host Zainal Alam Kadir to shut up and let his co-host Joey G talk? Why must he be so annoying, dominating the show and acted as if Joey G wasn't there? Poor Joey G. Whenever he opened his mouth and about to start talking, Alam interrupted. Joey G looked embarrased and yet professional enough to remain cool.

Oh yeah, why were there so many Akademi Fantasia (AF) rejects at the KL Red Carpet show? I thought this was supposed to be attended by local 'stars'. I expected to see people like Afdlin Shauki, Saiful Apek, Rosyam Nor or Sharifah Amani since this is a movie-related show. I'm not looking down at the AF 'stars'. I'm just disappointed because most of them were not prepared and knew nothing about movies. Not only they didn't know how to speak English when asked by Joey G (again this was the reason why Joey G felt awkward) they didn't even know what were the nominated films. For example, Vince can't even named a single film in 2006. Then most of them haven't even seen a movie which was nominated for the Oscars. The worst was when a 'star' was asked which movie he thought will win the Oscar, the answer was 'Salma Hayek'. Duh. Sorry but what a hopeless show.

However I must praise a few 'real stars' like AC Mizal, Anuar Zain and Aznil Nawawi because they are really professional. They were well prepared and knew what they were doing.

Astro Fest 2007

I was at the Astro Fest on Friday. My sister got 3 guest tickets so I went there with my pal Syong. Jess was supposed to join us but couldn't make it in the last minute.

It was raining when we got there at 4.45 p.m. The registration started at 5 p.m. We queued up, submitted the lucky draw numbers and were given free magazines (I took VMag and ifeel). My sis told me to go to the main stage on the east wing as there would be Astro tours going on at 5.30 pm, 6 pm and 6.30 pm. The food and games were still not ready. While waiting at the main stage, we saw Lina Teoh. At first I didn't realised it was her because I thought she wasn't in the entertainment scene anymore.

At 5.30 p.m., it wasn't crowded yet. So my friend and I decided to try out the games available like archery, basketball-shooting, golf-putting, darts, etc. Then we quickly proceed to the building to take the Astro tour. We were taken to Studio 1 where shows like AC Di Sini, Roda Impian and Akademi Fantasia Prelude took place. Then we went to the radio stations. And that's about it.

We were quite hungry so we decided it was time to have our dinner. We had ice kacang, satay, fried kueh teow, nasi briani, etc. It was all free! :D

We continued to play games at the fun fair and won a couple of coupons for lucky draw. At 7.45 pm we went to the jazz lounge and managed to get ourselves a table. We had some fruit punch and suddenly we heard fireworks outside the lounge (which is next to the main stage). My sis told me it was the first time they had fireworks on Astro Fest. Then we continued to enjoy ourselves at the air-conditioned room at the jazz lounge. The show kicked off with the performance by the local band Jazzy Chillerz featuring Razak Rahman on the saxophone. After a couple of songs by Jeanie with the band Jazzy Chillerz, we decided to leave because it wasn't our taste of music. The jazz numbers were too old for us.

We played a few more games, won another coupon and exchanged for gifts. Syong won a can drink and I won two can fruits. We decided to go home and packed our stuff to go to Gentiing.