Big Shots for April 28, 2009

I'm back from vacation, and I'd like to thank fellow Globe picture editor Lloyd Young for filing the last two entries of Big Shots. This week's global sports tour takes us to Kolkata for rickshaw racing, Portovenere, Italy for cliff diving, and China's Hunan province for a Guiness world record tightrope walk, and that's just the beginning. The NBA playoffs have already produced many memorable pictures, but I'm saving those for an upcoming special post. ( 34 photos total)

Rickshaw pullers race through Kolkata, India April 19. (REUTERS/Parth Sanyal)

Competitors speed down a street during the second German office chair racing championship in the village of Bad Koenig-Zell April 25. (REUTERS/Johannes Eisele) #

A man jumps in the water in Wadi El-Rayan, Egypt April 20. Wadi El-Rayan is located in the western desert of Egypt, about 50 miles west of the Nile River. (REUTERS/Tarek Mostafa) #

Valery Rozov glides through the air after jumping from a helicopter into the active Mutnovsky volcano on Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula April 18. Rozov opened his parachute after dropping below the rim of the crater and landed safely on a sheet of ice. (AP Photo/Predrag Vuckovic/Global-Newsroom, HO) #

Colombian Orlando Duque launches off a 78-foot cliff with the Andria Doria Castle in the background during a training session for the Cliff Diving World Series in Portovenere April 24. (DEAN TREML/AFP/Getty Images) #

A squirrel darts across Citi Field in New York at the start of a baseball game between the Washington Nationals and New York Mets on April 24. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson) #

Mexican Yahel Castillo competes in the men's 3 meters springboard semifinal of the Diving World Series in Mexico City April 24. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull) #

A snowboarder falls while pond-skimming a 78-foot long pool at the foot of a ski slope near the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk April 19 to mark the end of ski season. (REUTERS/Ilya Naymushin) #

Magnus Woxen steers Ericsson 3 in rough weather in the Atlantic Ocean during the sixth leg of the Volvo Ocean Race between Rio De Janeiro and Boston April 19. (Gustav Morin/Ericsson Racing Team via Getty Images) #

Esther Baron of France swims during the 200 meters backstroke series at the French Swimming Championships in Montpellier April 24. (REUTERS/Jean-Paul Pelissier) #

David Merlini holds his breath inside a transparent aquarium as he attempts to break the world record for holding breath underwater before the start of the Bahrain Formula One Grand Prix at the Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir, Bahrain April 26. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno) #

Workmen walk the rafters of the new roof on Centre Court at the All England Tennis Club at Wimbledon April 21. The roof will be used during bad weather at the 2009 Wimbledon grass court tennis championships, and will make the court fully air conditioned. (AP Photo/PA/Anthony Devlin) #

Mark Hollis clears the bar and goes on to win the men's invitational pole vault at the Drake Relays held inside Jordan Creek Mall in West Des Moines, Iowa April 22. (AP Photo/The Des Moines Register/Andrea Melendez) #

Samat Hasan, a 24-year-old stuntman from China's Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, walks on a tightrope in Zhangjiajie April 25. Walking on a 2,300 foot rope with a 1.2 inch diameter and set at a 39-degree gradient, Hasan broke the Guinness World Record for aerial tightrope walking. (REUTERS/Stringer) #

Fans of Ecuador's Deportivo Cuenca cheer for their team before a game with Argentina's Boca Juniors during a Copa Libertadores soccer match in Cuenca, Ecuador April 23. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara) #

Fernando Verdasco casts a long shadow during the Barcelona Open tennis tournament in Barcelona April 23. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez) #

Manchester United's Cristiano Ronaldo celebrates after scoring against Tottenham during their English Premier League soccer match at Old Trafford Stadium in Manchester, England April 25. (AP Photo/Jon Super) #

Russia's Sveltana Kuznetsova eyes the ball during the Fed Cup semi-final between Italy and Russia in Castellaneta Marina in the southern Italian region of Puglia April 25. (FILIPPO MONTEFORTE/AFP/Getty Images) #

Atlanta Braves catcher Brian McCann opens his eyes wide in the dugout during a baseball game with the Washington Nationals at Nationals Park in Washington, DC April 21. McCann visited an eye doctor and got a new contact lens to correct blurred vision in his left eye. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) #

The sprinter race horse Overdose is seen at the training grounds in Dunakeszi, Hungary April 23. Overdose is undefeated after a dozen races and is next set to take part in the Temple Stakes at England's Haydock Park May 23. (AP Photo/Bela Szandelszky) #

Villagers watch a horse fight in Kendari in Indonesia's Southeast Sulawesi province April 27. Horse fighting is held to celebrate a good harvest, a village leader said. (REUTERS/Yusuf Ahmad) #

The Anaheim Ducks' George Parros fights the San Jose Sharks' Douglas Murray during Game 3 of the NHL Western Conference hockey playoffs in Anaheim, California April 21. (REUTERS/Mike Blake) #

Matthieu Bataille of France, left, tumbles under Dimitri Peters of Germany in the men's 100kg finals in Tbilisi, Georgia April 26 during the Euro 2009 judo championships. (VANO SHLAMOV/AFP/Getty Images) #

Kiel's Nikola Karabatic, center, is sandwiched by Rhein-Neckar-Loewen's Jackson Richardson, left, and Oliver Roggisch during the EHF Champions League semifinal handball match between THW Kiel and Rhein-Neckar-Loewen in Kiel, Germany April 26. (AP Photo/Axel Heimken) #

Sergio Aguilar is tackled during a bullfight in The Maestranza bull-ring in Seville April 21. (REUTERS/Marcelo del Pozo) #

A security guard chases a cat in left field during a baseball game between the Cincinnati Reds and Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field in Chicago April 21. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast) #

The peloton rides during the Fleche Wallonne cycling race near Huy, Belgium April 22. (REUTERS/Francois Lenoir) #

Participants of the Zurich Marathon run through the new Uetliberg motorway tunnel in Zurich April 26. The Uetliberg Tunnel will open for traffic on May 4 to complete the motorway ring around Zurich. (REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann) #

A pleasure boat cruises under runners competing in the 28th Annual Seven Mile Bridge Run in the Florida Keys near Marathon, Florida April 25. (ANDY NEWMAN/AFP/Getty Images) #

Players and supporters of the Dutch football team AZ celebrate the team's championship victory in Alkmaar April 26. AZ last won the title 28 years ago. (LEX VAN LIESHOUT/AFP/Getty Images) #

Jacoby Ellsbury of the Boston Red Sox scores in the first inning on a passed ball as Joba Chamberlain of the New York Yankees fields a late throw at Fenway Park in Boston April 24. (Jim Rogash/Getty Images) #

Australia's Central Coast Mariners defender Nigel Boogaard, right, and Japan's Kawasaki Frontale forward Chong Tese from Korea battle for the ball during their AFC Champions League soccer match in Kawasaki, Japan April 21. (AP Photo/Itsuo Inouye) #

Latvia's Aleksandrs Nizivijs, left, and American Colin Wilson eye the puck during their Group C preliminary round game at the IIHF Ice Hockey World Championships in Bern, Switzerland April 25. (FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP/Getty Images) #

German fans cheer for their team prior to the game against Switzerland at the IIHF Ice Hockey World Championships in Berne, Switzerland April 26. (AP Photo/KEYSTONE/Salvatore Di Nolfi) #

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Big Shots for April 28, 2009