Rahul Dravid and Mary Kom to be awarded Padma Bhushan

Sources have indicated that former India cricketer Rahul Dravid and London Olympics bronze medalist boxer MC Mary Kom are likely to get Padma Bhushan, India's third highest civilian honour.

Reports from New Delhi say that these illuminating sportspersons are being considered for the Padma Bhushan awards.

Both the sportsperson have an illustrious career and "The Wall" retired last year.

In recognising the innumerable achievements and accomplishments of this star cricketer, the Indian Government is considering to honor him with Padma Bhushan awards. He played 164 Tests and 344 ODIs scoring over 24,000 runs in international cricket. He was conferred Padma Shree award in 2004.

Five-time world champion Mary Kom added to the Olympics medals tally for India winning a bronze at the London's Olympics.

Other recommendations for the Padma Awards:

Padma Bhushan: Sushil Kumar (wrestling).

Padma Shri: Vijay Kumar (shooting), Yogeshwar Dutt (wrestling), HN Girisha (para sports), Gautam Gambhir (cricket), Dingko Singh (boxing), Alok Kumar (cue sports).

Novak Djokovic blast disgraced Cyclist Lance Armstrong on Doping Confession

World number one Novak Djokovic led fellow Serbian Janko Tipsarevic into the second week of the Australian Open with a 6-4, 6-3, 7-5 defeat of Radek Stepanek and went on to blast disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong who on Thursday confessed to doping.

Tipsarevic, the eighth seed, came through his second consecutive five-set test, defeating Frenchman Julien Benneteau 3-6, 6-4, 2-6, 6-4, 6-3 for a place in the last 16.

Djokovic then exploded when asked about Lance Armstrong and his confession to doping in every one of his seven Tour de France wins.

"He cheated the sport, he cheated many people around the world with his career, with his life story. I think he should suffer for his lies all these years," Djokovic said.

The holder said that he had not been blood tested for half a year, but was still giving urine samples when anti-doping teams came calling.

"Anti-doping regulations a little bit maybe more strict (in tennis) in the sense that you have to fill the whereabouts documents and you have to basically give an hour or two in every day of your life in a whole year, where you are."

"On the other hand, it gives them an opportunity to test you. And you know it is the same for the other players. At least from that point of view, it's fair.

"I have nothing against the anti-doping federation, association, testing me 10, 20, 30 times a year."

AL Vijay and Ilayathalapthy Vijay’s upcoming film titled 'Thalaiva'

Ilayathalapthy Vijay and Director AL Vijay's romantic-thriller finally has now been titled 'Thalaiva' with the tag line - "Time to Lead". A statement from the production house has said Vijay, Director A.L Vijay, and the producer have unanimously zeroed in on the title.

Actress Amala Paul who plays the lead opposite Vijay in the film, confirmed the news on her micro blogging page. The film’s music is scored by GV Prakash cinematography is handled by Nirav Shah and editing by Anthony. The film is produced by Chandra Prakash Jain under the banner Mishri Productions.

The first schedule of shooting was completed recently. The second schedule will start March onwards in Spain. The cast and crew will be heading to Spain after 50 days of non-stop shoot in Mumbai, which included two songs and three fight sequences.

Recently AL Vijay crooned for a song under GV Prakash’s composition. The film has Santhanam for comedy relief, and Sathyaraj plays an important role while Suresh, Mano Bala and Abhimanyu make the rest of the crew.

The title song "Thalaivaa Thalaivaa" was recently shot in Mumbai in the presence of 500 junior artists. With Thalaiva as its title, Vijay's fans must be thrilled for its mass appeal! The film is likely to hit theatres in May.

Lionel Messi wins the FIFA Ballon d'Or for the fourth successive year

Lionel Messi added yet another record to his stellar list of achievements over the past one year on Monday when he won an unprecedented fourth, consecutive, Ballon d'Or at a FIFA gala in Zurich.

The accolade seals Messi's status as the greatest player of his generation after he saw off Real Madrid rival Cristiano Ronaldo and Barcelona teammate Andres Iniesta for the prize.

Messi received a vote share of 41.60 percent to 23.68 for Ronaldo and 10.91 for Iniesta.

Messi and former French star, UEFA president Michel Platini, had prior to Monday been the only players to win three straight Ballon d'Or awards while Dutch greats Johan Cruyff and Marco Van Basten both won the accolade on three occasions.

Spain's Vicente del Bosque was named coach of the year for 2012, seeing off competition from Real Madrid's Jose Mourinho and former Barcelona coach Josep Guardiola.

Messi's success crowned another landmark year for the Argentine who is already the top scorer in La Liga for the ongoing season with 25 goals, having also broken Gerd Mueller's 40-year record for the most goals in a calendar year.

He finished 2012 with an astonishing 91 goals in all competitions.

But Messi has insisted his scoring records will mean nothing if Barcelona do not go on to take the La Liga title off Real or fail to win the Champions League.

"It is incredible to receive this prize once again and it's impressive it makes it four in a row. I would like to share this with my Barca teammates - particularly with Andres, who is here with me," said the ever unassuming Messi.

"I am proud to be able to train alongside him every day. I am also thinking of my teammates in the Argentina squad," he went on.

"Thank you to all those who voted for me, skippers, coaches and national coaches.

"Thank you too to my family, my friends and of course my wife and son, who is the best thing that ever happened to me," said the 25-year-old from Rosario, who in November became a father to son Thiago.

Beforehand he had said winning for Barcelona outweighed any personal glory.

"It's nice to beat records but the win for the team is what is important. My goals are to win titles with the team, the Spanish league, Spanish Cup or Champions League is more important than any personal records."

Barca coach Tito Vilanova had already eulogised his player in advance of Messi's win.

"Leo's great quality is that he plays as if he is still a child," Vilanova opined.

"He was always good as a youngster and you didn't need to be a coach to say that. It was a joy to see him play as a 15-year-old and that continues now."

Portugal captain Ronaldo at least has the consolation of having won in 2008 before Messi's hegemony began while Iniesta can for his part bask in the knowledge that he has won a World Cup and two Euros - including Euro 2012 - whereas Messi still has to replicate such achievements at international level.

Until he can lift top honours with Argentina, some observers will insist he cannot be classed as the greatest player ever, moving ahead of Pele and Diego Maradona.