Big Shots for December 14, 2011

This week Big Shots travels to Doha for the Arab Games, Oahu for the Billabong Pipe Masters surfing competition, and Fremantle for the World Sailing Championships. Shanghai hosts the World Short Track Speed Skating Championships, Whistler hosts a luge World Cup event, and Las Vegas hosts the National Finals Rodeo. And after a long lockout, basketball players are back in camp preparing for the upcoming NBA season. ( 34 photos total)

Kalani Chapman walks her surf board on its leash at the Billabong Pipe Masters on December 9, 2011 in Oahu. (Kirstin Scholtz/The Association of Surfing Professionals/AP)

Germany's Richard Freitag soars in the air during the ski jumping World Cup event in Harrachov, Czech Republic on December 11, 2011. (David W Cerny/Reuters) #

Qatar's Rouza Khalfan scores against Jordan during their handball match at the Arab Games in Doha on December 12, 2011. (Karim Jaafar/AFP/Getty Images) #

Constantinos Phillippou celebrates his win over Jared Hamman during UFC 140 in Toronto on December 10, 2011. (Chris Young/The Canadian Press/AP) #

Oklahoma's Whitney Hand shoots in front of Milwaukee's Courtney Lindfors in the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in Norman, Okla. on December 11, 2011. (Sue Ogrocki/AP) #

Dancers perform during the 2011 Federation Internationale de l'Automobile Gala awards ceremony in Gurgaon, India on December 9, 2011. (Parivartan Sharma/Pool/AP) #

Zhang Dan (right) and Zhang Hao of China perform their short program in the pairs competition at the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating final on December 9, 2011 in Quebec City. (Paul Chiasson/The Canadian Press/AP) #

Competitors head to the windward mark during a 470 class race at the ISAF World Sailing Championships off Fremantle, Australia on December 9, 2011. (Greg Wood/AFP/Getty Images) #

North Florida's Jimmy Williams Jr. (left) and Kansas State's Martavious Irving chase a loose ball during an NCAA college basketball game on December 11, 2011 in Manhattan, Kan. (Charlie Riedel/AP) #

Wisconsin's Brad Navin and Minnesota-Duluth's Kenny Reiter watch the puck sail right of the goal in an NCAA college hockey game in Madison, Wis. on December 9, 2011. (M.P. King/Wisconsin State Journal/AP) #

Jorge Xavier Murrieta surfaces after being narrowly missed by another boat after capsizing during racing in the 49er class at the ISAF World Sailing Championships off Fremantle, Australia on December 12, 2011. (Greg Wood/AFP/Getty Images) #

Christiaan Bokkerink of the Netherlands leads Levgen Gutenov of Ukraine and Daisuke Uemura of Japan in the 1000m at the World Short Track Speed Skating Championships in Shanghai on December 9, 2011. (Peter Parks/AFP/Getty Images) #

A spectator's dog barks as the Russian doubles Ivan Nevmerzhitskiey and Vladimir Prokhorov go by during World Cup Luge in Whistler, Canada on December 9, 2011. (Andy Clark/Reuters) #

Competitors practice during a media visit before the Olympic wrestling venue test event in London on December 9, 2011. (Stefan Wermuth/Reuters) #

France's Jason Lamy Chappuis leads two racers during the World Cup Nordic combined Gundersen competition in Ramsau, Austria on December 11, 2011. (Lisi Niesner/Reuters) #

The Sheikh Khalifa stadium hosts the opening ceremony of the Arab Games in Doha on December 9, 2011. More than 5,000 Arab athletes are participating. (Fayez Nureldine/AFP/Getty Images) #

Will Lowe rides in the bareback competition during the eighth go-round of the National Finals Rodeo on December 8, 2011 in Las Vegas. (Julie Jacobson/AP) #

Stuart Pennicook (top) surfs at dusk during a windstorm in Newquay, England on December 8, 2011. (Chris Helgren/Reuters) #

Jonathon Lobert of France (right) avoids Caleb Paine of the US during a race in the Finn class at the ISAF World Sailing Championships off Fremantle, Australia on December 9, 2011. (Greg Wood/AFP/Getty Images) #

Real Madrid's Fabio Coentrao (left) duels with Barcelona's Alexis Sanchez during their Spanish La Liga soccer match at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium in Madrid on December 10, 2011. (Daniel Ochoa de Olza/AP) #

Emelia Gorecka (right) of Great Britain crosses the finish line during the junior women's race during the European Cross Country Championships in Velenje, Slovenia on December 11, 2011. (Jure Makovec/AFP/Getty Images) #

Actors perform during the opening ceremony of the Arab Games at Sheikh Khalifa stadium in Doha on December 9, 2011. (Fayez Nureldine/AFP/Getty Images) #

Athletes train on December 2, 2011 in the high-altitude town of Iten in Kenya's north-rift. Kenya has too many top athletes chasing the final spot on its men's Olympic marathon team, with their marathon runners making an unprecedented clean sweep of all six major races in 2011. (Tony Karumba/AFP/Getty Images) #

Afghan boys play cricket in a field on a foggy morning in Kabul on November 4, 2011. (Muhammed Muheisen/AP) #

Tigres' Lucas Lobos holds up the Mexican League soccer championship trophy as he celebrates with teammates after beating Santos de Torreon in Monterrey, Mexico on December 11, 2011. (Daniel Jayo/AP) #

Pakistani boys play in a Christian neighborhood in Islamabad on November 30, 2011. (Muhammed Muheisen/AP) #

Iraqi Rafal Al-Anbagi prepares her rifle during the 50m rifle prone individual competition at the Lusail Shooting Complex during the Arab Games in Doha on December 13, 2011. (Fayez Nureldine/AFP/Getty Images) #

Liverpool's Dirk Kuyt (right) vies with Queens Park Rangers' Danny Gabbidon during their English Premier League football match at Anfield in Liverpool on December 10, 2011. (Paul Ellis/AFP/Getty Images) #

Ibrahem Al-Hasan of Kuwait keeps his eye not the ball during the table tennis event at the Arab Games in Doha December 11, 2011. (Suhaib Salem/Reuters) #

Three-month old Henry Hirschey wears headphones while attending an NCAA college basketball game between Duke and South Carolina Upstate in Durham, N.C. on December 11, 2011. (Gerry Broome/AP) #

A mahout feeds his pachyderm before an elephant polo match on the banks of the Rapati river at Chitwan, Nepal on December 1, 2011. (Prakash Mathema/AFP/Getty Images) #

The Dallas Mavericks' Dirk Nowitzki gets serious about defending the NBA Larry O'Brien Championship Trophy during media day at the team's headquarters in Dallas on December 13, 2011. (Tim Sharp/Reuters) #

Bahrain's Fahad Hardan celebrates after scoring the first goal for his team during their soccer match against Iraq at the Arab Games in Doha December 13, 2011. (Fadi Al-Assaad/Reuters) #

The Boston Celtics' E'Twaun Moore fills in the blank during media day in Waltham, Mass. on December 13, 2011. (Bill Greene/Globe Staff) #

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Big Shots for December 14, 2011