Sania Mirza ranked No.1 in Asia

India's Sania Mirza on Monday climbed three places to 29 on the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) Tour and now she is Asia Number One for the first time.

The WTA website shows Sania, ranked 32nd before the Australian Open, has 931 points. This is, however, not the 21-year-old player's career-best ranking as she was 27th in August.

Na Li of China at 32nd is the second best Asian on the WTA ranking list with 882 points.

Sania, who was seeded No. 31 at the just-concluded Australian Open, lost to eighth seed Venus Williams in the third round of the singles competition in Melbourne. Venus Williams won 7-6 (0), 6-4, but not before Sania led 5-3 in the first set.

Sania, who has a forceful forehand, and Mahesh Bhupathi then reached the mixed doubles final. The Indians lost to Tiantian Sun of China and Nenad Zimonjic of Serbia 6-7, 4-6 in the final Sunday.

The Hyderabad-based Sania, who is also a member of the Indian Fed Cup team, turned professional in 2003 and has earned $1,045,416 in prize money so far.

Sania reached quarter-finals of the Hobart tournament this month, going into the Australian Open.

In 2006, Sania won the WTA Newcomer of the Year Award.

Indian Premier League (IPL) Teams Auction Results

BCCI vice-president and chairman of the Indian Premier League (IPL) Governing Council Lalit Modi disclosed the names of the winning bidders of IPL Teams

Mukesh Ambani wins the bid for the Mumbai team for $111.9 million.

Vijay Mallya gets Bangalore team, for US $111.6 million.

Shah Rukh Khan, joining hands with Juhi Chawla and Jay Mehta, won the bid for the Kolkata team, for US $75.09 million.

Preity Zinta and her boy friend Ness Wadia won the bid for the Mohali team for $76 million.

Deccan Chronicle won the bid for the Hyderabad team for US $107.01 million

GMR Holdings was successful in bidding for the Delhi team 4 US $84 million

India Cements gets the Chennai team for US $91 million

Emerging Media won the bid for the Jaipur team for $67 million.

TATA Motors One Lakh Car - "NANO"

India's Tata Motors on Thursday unveiled its much anticipated Rs. 100,000 ( US$2,500) car, an ultracheap price tag that suddenly brings car ownership into the reach of tens of millions of people across the world. While the price has created a buzz, critics say the vehicle, called the Tata Nano, will lead to possibly.

While critics had been skeptical throughout about the car meeting safety and emission norms, coming as it is at that price, Mr Tata said he was happy to announce that Nano meets all norms, as would a modern car....Dispelling myths that the car was not safe enough Tata said, 'The car has passed the full-frontal crash and the side impact crash''. He also side stepped emission concerns and said the car will meet Euro IV norms

The car is eight per cent shorter than Maruti 800 on bumper-to-bumper length, but is 21 per cent more spacious, claimed Mr Tata.

The Nano is spare, with many features shaved off: there's no radio, no air conditioning, no passenger-side mirror, and only one windshield wiper.

The company has said they expect the car to revolutionize the auto industry, and analysts believe the Nano may force other auto manufacturers to lower their own pricing.

The TATA Nano will come in three variants -- standard and two deluxe models with AC. The standard car would be available for Rs 1 lakh (ex-showroom), while VAT and transportation costs are extra.

Steve Bucknor removed as umpire for Perth Test

West Indies umpire Steve Bucknor has been replaced for next week's third Test between Australia and India, the International Cricket Council (ICC) said on Tuesday.

The Indian Cricket Board (BCCI) had requested that the Jamaican umpire be replaced after a series of poor decisions in the controversial second Test in Sydney.

ICC president Mal Speed told a news conference that New Zealand umpire Billy Bowden would stand in his place.

Earlier too there were reports that the controversial umpire is most likely to sit out of the third Test at Perth after a livid Indian team went public with their grouse against the veteran West Indian.

It is learnt that ICC is favorably inclined to agree with the request of the Indian team that Bucknor does not stand in any other match of the ongoing series.

SWIFT SEDAN coming soon

Bye, Bye Esteem - Welcome Swift Sedan - Maruti Udyog is all set to launch a new sedan based on the Swift platform shortly - "Swift Sedan", to replace one of its most successful models - Esteem.

The company has already halted production of the car model - Esteem, and will be shortly replacing it with a sedan version of its run away success, the Swift.

The new Swift sedan would most probably be seen on Indian roads by March 2008, powered by a 1.3 litre petrol engine just as the Esteem was. Later in the year, the diesel version will also come to market.

With the increasing dieselisation of the Indian small cars, Suzuki is already witnessing a demand for its Swift diesel far outstrip what it can supply. Reasonably, the company would not like to cannibalise its sales pipeline for the diesel Swift by bringing out a diesel Swift sedan at this time, industry sources said.

The company would initially launch a petrol variant of the Swift sedan sporting a 1.3 litre engine and is likely to introduce a diesel version later in the year.