Yeltsin dies

Boris Yeltsin, Russia's first president died on 23 April 2007, aged, 76. To people who don't know who he is, just read the first sentence....haha! Interestingly, why did I include him in my blog? Well, besides what most people have read about him from the news; the person who did away with Soviet Communism and lost a war in 1994 against Chechnya, he was a great patron of tennis in Russia. After resigning in in 1999, he began actively supporting Russian players. He was often seen in major tournaments rooting for Marat Safin, Anatasia Myskina and the likes. He shuttled between courts whenever any Russian players played. In a small way, I believed he died a happy man since he witnessed Anatasia Myskina becoming the first Russian female player to win a Grand Slam in 2004 at the French Open, beating another Russian! Also, Russian won the Federation Cup and Davis Cup when he was still around.

Interject :

Today's examination was much like LSM1401 ( Introduction to Biochemistry ). It was almost like a game of luck. In a different way LSM 1401 had 40questions and CN2116 had 25 ! The stakes were even higher ! I just pray that I can scrape through with at least a respectable grade.

More explanations :

The Federation Cup and Davis Cup are international tennis tournaments. Much like the World Cup, players represent their countries rather than for themselves. The men play in the Davis Cup while the women play in the Federation Cup. There is a smaller tournament where both the guys and girls are involved in the same tournament representing their nations as well. That's the Hoffman Cup that is played from 31st Dec to the 1st week of January each year.

The format of the tournament is quite similar to that of Uber Cup or Thomas Cup of badminton. There are 5 ties; 4 singles and 1 doubles. 2 singles are played on the first day of competition and the only doubles played on the second while the last day of the competition sees the 2 reversed singles being played. The players can be reused for any of the singles and doubles. In fact, only 2 players are required. Each play the singles on the 1st day, team up on the 2nd and play singles on the last day. However, most countries then to use more than 2 players.

Many players have been criticised about the representation of their nations in these 2 tournaments. This is so since the monetary reward is far lesser than if they had participated in individual tournaments. Also, they run the risk of injuring themselves and possibly unable to play in Grand Slam tournaments and other major events. Davis Cup and Federation Cup competitions do not get players any ranking points and if one was injured while playing these events, they have so much to lose ! Ranking points, money and health. Most players play for the pride and honour of their countries !

Like the World Cup, each nation must qualify for a berth in the final spot. Equivalently, it's called the World Group. The lower tiers are Group 1 , 2 and so on. If I am not mistakened, Singapore is in Group 4 and was routed by Hong Kong.