Maria Kirilenko Swims With Dolphins

Sania Mirza, Zheng Jie, Maria Kirilenko and Elena Dementieva were at the Dolphins and Sea Lions Show at Sunway Pyramid last weekend.

But looks likes Kirilenko is the only tennis babe who gets into the water.

By the way, these are some rare photos I stole from the organiser's Facebook photo page *evil grin* (credit to Mr Blackberry).

At the end of their trip, they were each given a cuddly dolphin plush stuffed toy as souvenir.

Glam Slam: Great showdown but pathetic turnout

Thanks to Astro SuperSport CH811, I get to watch The Glam Slam - Showdown of Champions in the comfort of my home. It would be great if it's shown on HD though.

Although I did not watch the two-day event from the stadium, I'm glad I attended the meet-the-fans session on Friday.

The Russian babes Elena Dementieva and Maria Kirilenko defeated Asian girls Sania Mirza and Zheng Jie in a 3-0 win at the Melawati Stadium yesterday.

Dementieva/Kirilenko had won the doubles on Saturday beating Mirza/Zheng 6-4, 5-7, 10-8 to give Russia the lead in the exho match.

In the first singles yesterday, Kirilenko was stretched to three sets before defeating Zheng Jie 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 in two hours and 10 minutes!

Dementieva completed Russian domination by downing Mirza 6-4, 7-6 (7-0).

Overall, I think the exho match is worth watching because the players took their games seriously. It was like watching a real tournament.

However, the attendance was pathetic (lack of publicity, the organiser failed to use social media to promote the event) and so was the official website (it was down during matches and not up to date).

If the organiser is serious in having another event next year, please stop syiok sendiri or might as well just scrap the event and stop wasting the people's money.

Showdown of Champions: Zheng Jie, Sania Mirza, Elena Dementieva, Maria Kirilenko in KL

To those of you who would like to catch a glimpse of tennis chicks Zheng Jie, Sania Mirza, Elena Dementieva and Maria Kirilenko, please find the itinerary below:

Meet-the-fans session:
Time: 2.30 pm - 3.30 pm
Date: Friday 18th Dec 2009
Venue: Level 2 Concourse, Pavilion, Kuala Lumpur
To enjoy the Firefly Speed Lane privilege, please book yourself at:
http://www.facebook.com/#/Firefly?ref=ts

Showdown of Champions Day 1
Time: 7.30 pm - 11 pm
Date: Saturday 19th Dec 2009
Venue: Stadium Malawati, Shah Alam, Selangor
Doubles’ Match – Sania Mirza / Zheng Jie (Asia) v Elena Dementieva / Maria Kirilenko (Russia)

Showdown of Champions Day 2
Time: 7.30 pm - 11 pm
Date: Saturday 19th Dec 2009
Venue: Stadium Malawati, Shah Alam, Selangor
First Singles’ Match – Zheng Jie (Asia) v Maria Kirilenko (Russia)
followed by
Second Singles’ Match – Elena Dementieva (Russia) v Sania Mirza (India)
followed by
Prize Presentation & Awards Ceremony

For ticketing info, click here.

Sania Mirza getting all-tanned up for Triumph Lingerie Show

Bollywood celebrities including Sania Mirza attended last weekend's Triumph Lingerie Show.

Not only that her black lace corset dress stole the limelight, so did her tanned legs and hands! She must be practicing hard during this off season.

Coming this weekend, Mirza along with Zheng Jie will take on the Russian girls, Elena Dementieva and Maria Kirilenko at the Kuala Lumpur exho. For more info go to: Showdown of Champions 2009.

Anna Kournikova super late for launch in KL and 'left with no fans'?

This photo was twitpic-ed by Noradzliyana, who asked me if the Showdown of Champions 2009 launch was confirmed this morning.

Anna Kournikova was super late for the launch. She was scheduled to launch the exho event together with the Tourism Minister Dato' Dr. Ng Yen Yen at 10.15AM but only to arrive at 2.30PM.

I guess the Tourism Minister didn't wait for her.

So when Kournikova arrived, she had coffee (or maybe tea) with the officials, gimmick launch without the Tourism Minister and then photo shooting.

Kournikova was supposed to meet the junior players at 3.00PM at National Tennis Centre at Jalan Duta. So I guess the boys and girls had to wait a bit.

Now coming back to Kournikova's picture above... guess what's missing?

Of course the FANS!!! (Check out the tourist in the background.. he rather snap a picture of the building than Kournikova!)

Nobody' f**king knew Kournikova was in Kuala Lumpur because the organisers decided to make it a national top secret.

They should learn from Malaysian GP's organiser.

Be more transparent and announce to the fans so that more people will have the chance to meet tennis celebrities like Kournikova.

Either you keep the tennis celebrities to yourself or boost ticket sales by getting more people involved.

Now here's a better view of Kournikova by Glenn Guan/The Star.

For more info regarding Showdown of Champions 2009, which will be featuring Elena Dementieva, Maria Kirilenko, Sania Mirza and Zheng Jie, in December, go to www.showdownkl.com.

Anna Kournikova to launch Showdown of Champions Kuala Lumpur

It's confirmed! Anna Kournikova will arrive in Kuala Lumpur to launch the yearly tennis exhibition 'Showdown of Champions 2009' this coming Monday.

Unfortunately, the organisers decided to keep Kournikova for themselves.

No invitation was given to HCFoo's Tennis Blog and sadly there's also no meet-the-fans session although they knew a lot of local fans would die to meet the tennis babe.

However, thanks to my involvement in politics years ago, I managed to sneak in and get some info regarding the launching by the Tourism Minister Dato' Dr. Ng Yen Yen and Kournikova.

WHO: Anna Kournikova
WHAT: Showdown of Champion 2009 Launch
WHEN: Monday, Oct. 26, 2009 (10.15 AM)
WHERE: Café Stelle (2nd floor) Couture Pavilion, Kuala Lumpur

Hope you can catch a glimpse of Kournikova!

To junior players, please contact your coach or Selvarajoo as Kournikova will be meeting you guys at the National Tennis Centre at 3 PM on the same day.

Do prepare some questions for her. Kournikova is very generous in answering questions especially from fans (as you can see from her website)

(Image via Anna Kournikova official website)

Dementieva, Kirilenko, Mirza, Zheng Jie for Showdown KL 2009

Look who spilled the beans regarding Showdown of Champions 2009!

The Tourism Minister of Malaysia herself announced recently that the yearly event will take place on December 19-20.

The exhibition match will see Elena Dementieva, Maria Kirilenko (not Sharapova as promised in Showdown of Champions last year), Sania Mirza and Zheng Jie (in sequence).

Nevertheless, it is still a good line-up as we'll be having four good looking and talented tennis players in Kuala Lumpur.

It's time for local tennis fans to get to know more women tennis players other than Sharapova.

Personally, I think this is a smart move by the organisers who made this event sort of like a "women tennis preview' as we'll be having a WTA tennis tournament in February next year.

(Via Bernama)

Ads: Are you concerned with cheap ebel watches and tudor watches, you are welcome two sites which are having cheap baume et mercier watches & thomas sabo store but we guarantee our Go Seeq Search Engine to our customers.

Showdown of Champions KL 2009 set to launch by Anna Kournikova? (Updated)

Note: I was asked to remove this post by the organiser (not the first time I was asked to do so) but I'm going to repost this anyway.

I'm a blogger. I write based on what I heard and experienced. I can write whatever I want without reporting or explaining to anyone.

Besides, I don't think there's any harm in creating a buzz about this event. It's just like spreading the buzz about Justine Henin's comeback. It was good for her publicity. The same thing applies to this event too.

I'm still thinking about last week's ATP tournament and now I heard there could be another exhibition match in Kuala Lumpur coming this December.

And let's not forget that in February next year, Kuala Lumpur will host the WTA players in the Malaysia Tennis Classic.

My source (quite a reliable one) informed me that Showdown of Champions is set to take place sometime on December 19 & 20, 2009 at the Melawati Stadium.

The launching could be sometime on October 26 by Anna Kournikova; possibly going to take place at Starhill.

My source also added that 2 Russians, 1 from China and 1 from India will take part in this classy event.

If the Showdown organisers keep their promise to the fans at the Putra Stadium last year, we could be having Maria Sharapova right here in Kuala Lumpur.

Now let's wait for the official news.