sport

India's growing middle class is being targeted in a campaign to bring more of the country's golfers to Ireland. Arjun Atwal's win in the US last weekend has focused attention on a market that is potentially one of the biggest in the world.

The 2011 Rugby World Cup will be the biggest sporting event ever held in New Zealand. More than 100,000 fans are expected to travel to the Southern Hemisphere for the games and the parties that start on 10 September and end on 22 October next year.

Muscle Beach is just south of the Santa Monica Pier. Its role in the culture of bodybuilding dates back to the 1930's. If offers a free gymnastics training area equipped with chinning bars, parallel bars and a small jungle gym for children.

The first recorded use of roller skates was in 1743 in London. Since then, roller skating has become a fitness hobby, a sport and a way of getting around cities. Today, skates come in two basic varieties: quad rollers and inline blades.

The broadcasting and marketing revenues from the 2010 World Cup in South Africa include a record $1 billion in sponsorship deals — 80 per cent more than in 2006, according to market analyst Sportcal. And that during a worldwide recession.