Mumbai

, October 01: Moto GP is set to get into top gear, after a month?s break. Fresh from the interval, the Fiat Yamaha Team regroups this weekend at the coastal town of Estoril for the GP Grande Premio De Portugal (Portuguese Grand Prix). All the scintillating action from this race can be seen live on Ten Sports on 3 and 4 October.

This race marks the start of the final phase of the season, with just 3 races remaining after this one. Team Fiat Yamaha are sitting pretty as both their riders Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo lie first and second in the championship and with just 30 points separating the two, a tense climax to this year‘s thrilling championship is expected.

The big news and encouraging for Team Ducati Marlboro, is the return of Casey Stoner who was declared fit for the Grand Prix race on the Estoril Track. Australian Stoner missed 3 GP races as he was suffering from a mystery illness that left him complaining of exhaustion. Tests were conducted but remained inconclusive. But all that matters now, is that he is ready to take up the challenge that the Grand Prix track at Portugal will pose for him. Casey started this season well winning 2 of the first 5 races. He was in third position when he was forced to take a break.

The reigning champion Valentino Rossi has an exemplary record at Estoril and is the most successful rider in Grand Prix history at the track, having stood on the podium on all of his nine visits, including five wins. Last year however, he lost out to his rookie team mate Jorge Lorenzo and finished third. This year he would look to maximize points, and edge closer to what would be his ninth World Championship title.

The Estoril track, just 7 km from the Atlantic is characterized by the dramatic changes in weather. Sunny spells are injected with cold gusty winds. The layout of the Autodromo Fernanda Pires de Silva is similarly contrasting, featuring one of the longest main straights in MotoGP and one of the slowest corners. Several other twisty sections make for the lowest average speed in the championship. This track is arguably one of the toughest in the circuit, and is tests the riders skills to the fullest.

MUMBAI: Australia bowler Mitchell Johnson was tonight named Cricketer of the Year at the prestigious LG ICC Awards, held at a glittering ceremony in Johannesburg.

Johnson was also named in the ICC World Test Team of the Year, as chosen by a panel of some of the greats of the game. The 27-year-old fast bowler has had a magnificent year with the ball and has become one the world?s most dangerous and determined players.

Johnson was joined on the winners? list by India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who took the ODI Player of the Year award for the second year in a row, while his team-mate Gautam Gambhir was named Test Player of the Year.

Meanwhile, England?s Claire Taylor followed in the footsteps of her captain Charlotte Edwards to become the Women?s Player of the Year and Ireland skipper William Porterfield left with the Associate Player of the Year gong, an award recognising the contribution that the teams below Full Member status are making to the world of cricket.

In total there were eight individual awards handed out, as well as a Spirit of Cricket Award and the two ICC Teams of the Year ? for Tests and ODIs.

Aleem Dar of the Emirates Elite Panel of ICC Umpires won the Umpire of the Year award for the first time, while New Zealand took the Spirit of Cricket Award as it did in 2004.

The Twenty20 International Performance of the Year was won by Sri Lanka?s Tillakaratne Dilshan who became the second-ever recipient of the honour. Dilshan took the trophy following his impressive 96 not out off 57 balls against the West Indies during the ICC World Twenty20 2009 in England.

ICC President David Morgan said: ?This past year of cricket has been another exciting one for players and supporters around the world in a time that included the ICC Women?s World Cup, the ICC Men?s and Women?s World Twenty20 and plenty of competitive Test and ODI cricket. These players have contributed hugely to our enjoyment and this night is all about recognising that excellence. This is the sixth annual LG ICC Awards night and each year it gains in prestige and importance.?

The full list of winners is:

Cricketer of the Year Award ? Mitchell Johnson (Aus)

Test Player of the Year Award ? Gautam Gambhir (Ind)

ODI Player of the Year ? Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Ind)

Women‘s Cricketer of the Year ? Claire Taylor (Eng)

Emerging Player of the Year ? Peter Siddle (Aus)

Associate and Affiliate Player of the Year ? William Porterfield (Ire)

Twenty20 International Performance of the Year ? Tillakaratne Dilshan (SL)

Spirit of Cricket Award ? New Zealand

Umpire of the Year Award ? Aleem Dar

Test Team of the Year is as follows (in batting order):
Gautam Gambhir (Ind)
Andrew Strauss (Eng)
AB de Villiers (SA)
Sachin Tendulkar (Ind)
Thilan Samaraweera (SL)
Michael Clarke (Aus)
MS Dhoni (Ind, WK and captain)
Shakib Al Hasan (Ban)
Mitchell Johnson (Aus)
Stuart Broad (Eng)
Dale Steyn (SA)
12th man: Harbhajan Singh (Ind)

ODI Team of the Year is as follows (in batting order):
Virender Sehwag (Ind)
Chris Gayle (WI)
Kevin Pietersen (Eng)
Tillakaratne Dilshan (SL)
Yuvraj Singh (Ind)
Martin Guptill (NZ)
MS Dhoni (Ind, WK and captain)
Andrew Flintoff (Eng)
Nuwan Kulasekara (SL)
Ajantha Mendis (SL)
Umar Gul (Pak)
12th man: Thilan Thushara (SL)

MUMBAI: The Sonepur cattle fair in rural Bihar comes alive every evening when more than fifty girls take to the stage and dance for an all male audience. The girls dance, make eye contact, beckon, gesticulate and even abuse a highly responsive all male audience. A barbed wire fence separates the performers from the spectators.

Documentary 24x7 this week showcases Naach, a genuine documentary that brings to you Nautanki, a popular folk theatre genre of North India and its evolution to the dance based on Bollywood songs that span rural and metropolitan landscape. The documentary captures the full of life performances of the girls and their different gestures to entertain the male audience.

Catch the interesting documentary this Saturday, 3rd October at 3:00 pm and Sunday October 4th at 1:00 pm only on NDTV 24x7?s special programme ?Documentary 24x7?.

MUMBAI: HomeShop18, India?s first 24 hour home shopping channel is escalating their ?More for Consumer? strategy through a new half hour special show called ?Today?s Bumper Value?. All through this half hour segment, customers will get one branded product at a truly unbeatable price. The incredible price offer available on Today?s Bumper Value show is valid for just that day. What makes Today?s Bumper Value more exciting is that the show features products across different categories like gadgets, mobiles, home & kitchen, apparel, home appliances etc. The new show will be aired every day from Monday to Friday at 9:00am, 12:00 pm, 3:30pm & 10:00pm.

Customers can avail of super offers ranging from Kenstar?s 19 Ltr Solo Microwave at Rs.3,290/- with a free Adidas bag worth Rs.949/- & Fastrack Sunglasses worth Rs.695/- on October 5; Vox 5.1 DVD + Mobile + MP3 player on October 6 at an unbeatable price of Rs.4,999/-; Mi 5Megapixel Digital Camcorder - Model No. Mi-Cam for Rs.5,399/- on October 7 and an 84 piece Janper dinner set for Rs.2,999/- on October 8.

The popularity of the show was evident with more than 500 customers placing orders in the first show itself.

HomeShop18?s ?More for Consumer? strategy is simple and focused towards offering the best value to its customers. It has given a new definition to the way people shop by giving them unmatched value and convenience. Currently it is gaining one new customer every 12 seconds and expects this rate to accelerate further in the coming weeks. The company ascribes its increasing consumer base to its focus on offering exceptional value, its strong operational practices, including a call response within 4 seconds at its 24 hour call centre, the wide logistics footprint that reaches over 2,600 cities and the extremely positive response to the quality of the channel content.

For further details about the sale customers can call 18601800918 or they can log on to www.homeshop18.com and pick the great deals.

MUMBAI: When India?s No. 1 Radio Station Network BIG 92.7 FM hosted its RJ Marathon for the 3rd year in the row, it did so with ?lan! Year 2009?s Marathon, titled, BIG Parle G ? for Green, G for Genius, it partnership with FMCG player Parle G saw the kick off in the cities amidst full pomp and show. While the Delhi Team had none other than Hon?ble Chief Minister Sheila Dixit bless the duo of Ramit and Parikshit for the feat, the Mumbai Station had leading Bollywood Stars Bipasha Basu and Ajay Devgan visit the studio to wish the jocks Meera and Vrajesh ?All the Best?. The rest of the cities also saw local personalities and listeners come forward in large numbers to cheer the jocks and wish them luck.

The Marathon which kicked off on the morning of October 2nd will see the jocks hosting the show non-stop, till such time as the respective cities do not sms 9270 messages in support of the cause. This activity in association with Parle G is an attempt to raise social awareness over local environmental issues. Issues ranging from water conservation to power saving, air pollution, increasing city greenery etc. Te Station?s are leaving no stone un-turned as they put together a holistic offering of on air and on ground promotions around the marathon to ensure highest listener participation, not just by tuning in, but by sending in their sms in support of the cause. Through this initative the radio station is awakening a sense of awareness and responsibility in the local populace. Small steps in everyday life make the BIG Difference!

MUMBAI: If you thought that completing the Hunk-Rider task and playing football with your nose/face/mouth was hard-hitting then this episode of Dadagiri will leave you dumbfounded. The dare on Vishal?s macho zone and the task on Sonalli?s play ground on the 13th episode of DADAGIRI this Saturday, 3rd October, 7:00 to 8:00pm only on UTV Bindass will be a real fight for survival.

With every passing day, the journey to the top is only getting harder and on this 13th episode the contestants are in for a very rude shock. They are woken up and ordered to eat breakfast which is cornflakes and milk from a bowl like dogs, after which they are taken to Vishal?s Macho Zone. Here the ?Quad Drag? awaits them and this task consists of a zig-zag path with metal plates and the contestants are dragged through this track by a Quad bike for over half a kilometre. To make the dare even more nerve-racking, the fighters are given strict instructions to hold the rope with only one hand, making even the fittest fighter get nervous. The bottom three performers of this task are then sent away to Sonalli?s Playground for another daunting task.

At Sonalli?s playground this week, the bottom three contestants have an extremely difficult task awaiting them. The contestant?s hands are tied with 2 locks and they are made to hang upside down before they are introduced to their new ?friends? who will accompany them through the task. These ?friends? are big nasty crabs put in the bowl along with the keys and the bottom three fighters have to pick out the right key from this bowl to free themselves!

Watch the contestants as they struggle to survive the meanest show and face elimination in the 13th week of this journey!!!

Catch the 13th action-packed episode of the ?baap? of reality shows ? Hero Honda Hunk Bindass Dadagiri, this Saturday, 3rd October, 7:00 p.m. only on UTV Bindass!