Why dimpled or unsmooth balls used in golf game?

The reason why golf balls have dimples is a story of natural selection. Dimples maximize the distance golf balls travel. Dimpled balls travel up to four times farther than smooth-surfaced golf balls.

In the early days of golf, smooth-surfaced balls were used until golfers discovered that old, bumpy balls traveled longer distances. The science of aerodynamics

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What is cliff diving?

Cliff diving is the act of diving from a high cliff into a river, lake or ocean below the cliff. It has been practised as an unorganized activity both for recreation and other purposes. It is an organized sport, with large-scale competitions held in several places of the world. Cliff diving is classified as an extreme sport because of the inherent dangers.

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Words of the week : Cricket Test

Words of the week : Cricket Test

Meaning: Bloodied by a fearsome terrorist attack and badly hit by economic fraud, cricket is being tested like never before. This is a cricket test rather than Test cricket

Origin: Test cricket has had a remarkably smooth run for a 132-year-old game. But two disparate events appear to have plunged it into a crisis - the sudden disappearance in disgrace of Texan billionaire Robert Allen Stanford and the terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team touring Pakistan. Stanford's abrupt exit - without paying the bills - has arguably left world cricket without too many options about how to create a new order that would reconcile the various forms of the game and its warring parties. Just a few months ago, in the West Indies, Stanford had played benefactor to an English version of the Twenty20. It was meant to compete with the new and, until now, hugely successful Indian Premier League (IPL). Then Stanford disappeared. And now, there are fears over security in the sub-continent, which means South Asian cricket can never really be the same again, at least for the foreseeable future. Already, insurance premiums for cricket matches are spiralling. It may become impossibly expensive for organizers, broadcasters and cricket boards to buy the special contingent policies they take out to cover loss of revenue when a match is cancelled because of adverse weather or terrorist attack

Etymology: Before Stanford and Lahore, Test cricket was already in a crisis. Even fanatical fans of Test cricket admitted the five-day game was, well, a bit too long. Many reluctantly agreed it was the sporting equivalent of an epic novel. Twenty20, cricket's 21st-century avatar, was meant to let the game chime with an age that demanded instant gratification. It's thought that there simply aren't enough days in the year and dollars in Test cricket to preserve Test calendars

Current significance: The cricket test is hard-going because Test cricket is in the doldrums and it's getting harder even to conduct an IPL Twenty20 match. Till Saturday, it was feared that security concerns would force the IPL to be postponed or not held at all this year. But it's going ahead, albeit with a revised gameplan.
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What is the Calcutta Cup?

On Christmas Day in 1872, a game of rugby between 20 players representing England on one side and 20 representing Scotland, Ireland and Wales on the other, was played in Calcutta. The match was such a success that it was repeated a week later. These matches led to the formation of the Calcutta Football Club in January 1873. The Calcutta Club joined the Rugby Football Union in 1874, and since then it is called the Calcutta Cup.

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How did the term 'yorker' originate?

Yorker’ is a cricketing term for a straight ball that passes underneath the striker’s bat, especially by pitching it right up to or just inside the popping crease. To ‘york’ means to cheat, trick or over-reach a person. It is also called so because its aim is to ‘entice’ the batsman, who, in moving forward to play it as a full toss, may be yorked as the ball passes under the bat. This style originated in Yorkshire, and was already being perfected in 1988.

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What is the Superman seat-grab?

In freestyle motocross, when the rider is in the air, it is termed 'Big Air'. Superman seat-grab is considered a regular trick in which, when the rider is in the air (18 m is the minimum suitable height for performing this trick), puts one hand on the handle bar and other grabs the seat of the bike, and extends the lower body up in the air. A few riders keep their legs closed, others curve and open them slightly in the air. It is not to be confused with the 'Hart-attack' technique, which is slightly different.

 
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What is Jeu de Paume?

Jeu de Paume is also called ‘real tennis’ or ‘court tennis’. It is the precursor of modern tennis and was a rage in Renaissance Europe. Jeu de Paume traces its history to the 11th century when French monks played the sport using their bare hands to volley cloth bags of hair or cork. Translated, it means ‘Game of palm’. It was played on an indoor court with angled walls and netted windows and involved smacking the ball. It was regarded by the upper classes as a provincial pastime initially.

In time, young nobles educated in monasteries brought the game to palaces and urban areas. By the early 1500s, the game embraced battoir (racquets) and introduced a cord (later a net) to separate players into two halves of the court, to take shape as modern tennis. Though men dominated the sport, the most celebrated player of the 15th century was Margot of Hainault, who defeated some of the best men in the game in 1427 in Paris.

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