THE WORLD PORTAL

LIONEL MESSI

Argentina and Barcelona club football player Lionel Messi won the ‘Golden Ball award’ which is awarded to the ‘European Footballer of the Year’. He became the sixth Barcelona player who gained this award. He beat last year’s winner Cristiano Ronaldo into second place. Messi is considered to be one of the best football players of the world.

BIOGRAPHY

Lionel Messi was born on 24th June 1987 in Rosario, Argentina as the younger son of Jorge Messi and Celia. At the age of five, he showed interest in football and played for the local club ‘Grandoli’. From the age of 11, he suffered from a hormone deficiency and as his parents were unable to pay for the treatment in Argentina, they decided to move to Barcelona, Spain. Messi’s club career started with Barcelona club in 2003. He scored six goals in seventeen league appearances and scored one Champions League goal for this club during 2005-2006 season.His goals are always similar to the Maradona’s famous goals and the Spanish press labeled Messi as “Messidona”. Under the performance of Messi, Barcelona club won many tournaments. His International career started in 2004 playing in under-20 friendly match against Paraguay. In ‘2005 FIFA World Youth Championship’ in Netherlands, he showed wonderful performance. His team won the championship and he won the Golden Ball for the best player of the tournament and the Golden Shoe for the top scorer with 6 goals. In ‘2006 FIFA World Cup’, he was the youngest player of the Argentina, and he gained one goal against Serbia. Gaining this goal, he became the youngest scorer in the tournament and the sixth youngest goal scorer in the history of the World Cup. He scored goals in ‘2007 Copa America’ but his team was defeated by Brazil in the final. ‘2008 Summer Olympics’ was good for him. In that Olympics, he scored one goal against Ivory Coast and Netherlands. In addition, he assisted his teammate Di Maria for the victory goal against Nigeria in the final match and his team won the gold medal in that Olympics. Messi is always comparing to the football legend Diego Maradona due to his playing style and ability. Maradona himself declared Messi as his successor. German sportswear company Adidas is the sponsor of him, and he appeared in many of their advertisements. He is dating with Antonella Roccuzzo, and they plan to wed on at the end of 2010.

MADHU KODA

At last, Former Jharkhand chief minister Madhu Koda was kept behind the jail bars. On Monday, he and his cabinet colleague Kamlesh Kumar Singh was arrested by the state police’s vigilance wing in connection with a case of disproportionate assets and money laundering. Now he has been remanded to 14-day judicial custody.

BIOGRAPHY

Former Chief Minister of Jharkhand, Madhu Koda was born on 6th January, 1971 in Jharkhand. He gained his school education from ‘zilla school’, Chaibasa and graduation from ‘Utkal University’ in Orissa through a correspondence course. He started his political career as an active member of ‘All Jharkhand Students Union’. In 2000 Assembly elections, he was elected from Jaganathpur constituency as a BJP candidate, and he became the Panchayati Raj Minister under the government headed by Chief Minister Babulal Marandi. In 2005 Assembly Elections, he was again elected from Jaganathpur constituency as an independent candidate. However, he supported BJP government led by Arjun Munda and took the charge of Mines and Geology minister. Madhu Koda and three other independent legislators withdrew support to the Munda government in September 2006 and bring the Munda government in trouble. After that, with the help of United Progressive Alliance, Madhu Koda became the chief minister of Jharkhand. He resigned from his chief minister post on 23th August 2008 due to the withdrawal of support by Jharkhand Mukti Morcha. On 10th October, 2009, he was charged with laundering money worth over Rs. 4000 crores by Enforcement Directorate(ED) during his administration as Chief minister in Jharkhand. ED investigated his money laundering operation, which is spread from Singapore to Thailand and from Dubai to Liberia. Koda has been charged with having business interests of diverse kinds including in cement, steel, auto, power, agriculture and tourism. On 30th November, 2009, Madhu Koda was arrested by Enforcement Directorate, and he has been remanded to 14-day judicial custody.