SOCHI, Russia: Lewis Hamilton won a dramatic Russian Formula One Grand Prix on Sunday to take a huge step toward his third world championship after Mercedes team mate Nico Rosberg retired early on with throttle failure.
The win was Hamilton’s ninth of the season, and the 42nd of his career, and the Briton’s untroubled afternoon was a stark contrast to his German team mate’s woes.
Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel finished runner-up at the Olympic Park circuit to overtake Rosberg as Hamilton’s closest rival, 66 points adrift of the Briton with four races and a maximum 100 points remaining.
If results go Hamilton’s way, he can secure his second successive title in Austin, Texas, in two weeks’ time.
Hamilton, who also won the inaugural Russian Grand Prix last year and has now surpassed the tally of victories racked up by the late triple champion Ayrton Senna, now has 302 points to Vettel’s 236 and Rosberg on 229.
“It looked like we were going to have a race and I was thinking this is great and we were going to put on a good show,” said Hamilton, after collecting the winners’ trophy from Russian president Vladimir Putin.
“Nico made a mistake at turn one and went wide. I overtook him and after that, or maybe even before, he started to have some problems. It is very unfortunate for the team.”
“Those last five laps I was just taking it in. I don’t know how many times I’ll be in this position again,” added the champion.
Mexican Sergio Perez finished third for Force India, in a race with two safety car interludes following crashes, after Finnish drivers Valtteri Bottas and Kimi Raikkonen collided while battling for the final podium place.
Raikkonen finished fifth for Ferrari, a result that kept Mercedes waiting for their second successive constructors’ championship.
However, the Finn faced a stewards enquiry into the collision, with the possibility of a penalty for ramming the rear of Bottas’s Williams.
The safety car was deployed after Perez’s team mate Nico Hulkenberg spun on the opening lap and was hit by the Sauber of Marcus Ericsson with Max Verstappen’s Toro Rosso also caught up in the action.
Rosberg had led from pole, holding off Hamilton through the opening corners, but was forced to retire in the pits on the seventh of 53 laps.
“F1 is pretty incredible sometimes how tough it is,” the German told the BBC.
“After a great start, leading the race and feeling confident. Straight after the safety car the pedal broke. It was quite dangerous. Definitely not a nice way to end the day.”
Hamilton had already taken over the lead as Rosberg wrestled with the problem but his advantage was whittled away when Frenchman Romain Grosjean crashed heavily on lap 12 and brought out the safety car again.
Perez had thought his podium hopes had gone when Bottas and Raikkonen, on fresher tires, passed him in the closing laps but the collision put him right back for his first top three finish of the season.
Hamilton wins dramatic Russian Grand Prix
Hamilton wins dramatic Russian Grand Prix
Hyderabad steal one-run win as Rajasthan falter
- Needing two off the final ball, Rajasthan’s Rovman Powell missed a full toss and was trapped in front of the wicket by Bhuvneshwar Kumar
- Kumar earlier undermined Rajasthan’s innings by removing star England batter Jos Butler and captain Sanju Samson for nought
HYDERABAD, India: Sunrisers Hyderabad stole an unlikely one-run victory over table-toppers Rajasthan Royals in a tense Indian Premier League encounter on Thursday.
Needing two off the final ball, Rajasthan’s Rovman Powell missed a full toss and was trapped in front of the wicket by India international Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
The right-arm swing bowler, who finished with figures of 41-3, earlier undermined Rajasthan’s innings by removing star England batter Jos Butler and captain Sanju Samson for nought in the first over of the chase.
“I wasn’t thinking much about the result in the last over,” said Kumar.
“There was no discussion in the last over, was just focussed on the process.”
After the early setbacks, young Indian batters Yashasvi Jaiswal and Rayan Parag scored counter-attacking half-centuries to rebuild the innings and Rajasthan seemed on course for a comfortable victory.
But Jaiswal (67 off 40 balls) and Parag (77 off 49) fell in quick succession to left-arm pacer T Natrajan, setting off a collapse.
Hyderabad captain Pat Cummins conceded only seven runs in a miserly penultimate to tilt the match in the home team’s favor.
“Knowing the nature of the IPL, you never win the game until you actually win the game,” said Samson.
In their innings, Rajasthan Royals made an uncharacteristically slow and shaky start with in-form opener Abhishek Sharma falling for 12 off 10 balls.
Anmolpreet Singh, who followed at number three, also failed to make an impact scoring a run-a-ball five.
But Australia international Travis Head and all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy upped the pace with a partnership of 96 runs off 47 balls.
The duo were particularly harsh on wrist spinner Yuzvendra Chahal who leaked 62 runs in his four overs.
Head’s crucial knock of 57 off 44 balls finally ended when he chopped one onto his stumps as he tried to scoop pacer Avesh Khan.
South Africa’s power hitter Heinrich Klaasen then joined Reddy who remained unbeaten on 76 off 42 balls to take Hyderabad past 200 for the fifth time this season.
Champions League is being expanded, but Italy and Germany will benefit over England next season
- It had largely been assumed England would secure a bonus spot, given its recent success in Europe
- Dortmund’s win means Germany can’t be caught in UEFA’s ranking system by England, which has only Aston Villa still playing
MANCHESTER, England: Germany has beaten the English Premier League to a bonus fifth Champions League place in next season’s revamped and expanded competition.
Borussia Dortmund’s 1-0 win over Paris Saint-Germain in their semifinal first leg on Wednesday confirmed Germany would join Italy in being granted an extra berth.
It had largely been assumed England would secure a bonus spot, given its recent success in Europe, including having Champions League winners in three of the last five seasons.
But Dortmund’s win means Germany can’t be caught in UEFA’s ranking system by England, which has only Aston Villa still playing.
The fifth spots were based on performances from each country this season in the Champions League, Europa League and Europa Conference League.
It means three-time European Cup winner Manchester United will miss out on next season’s Champions League.
Villa and Tottenham — competing for fourth place in the Premier League — also know there will be no back door entry to the biggest stage in Europe.
Villa, England’s only remaining team in Europe, have advanced to the semifinals of the Conference League. But even if Villa go on to win the third-tier competition, they cannot amass enough points for England to overtake Germany, which still has two teams in the Champions League and one in the Europa League.
UEFA’s ranking system gives points for each game a team wins or draws in European competition, with bonuses attached to advancing to different stages.
Since 2005, England would have qualified for a fifth place in the Champions League in 14 of 19 seasons. And despite having finalists in five of the past six editions, English teams’ disappointing performances this season have wrecked their chances of an extra place.
Man United and Newcastle failed to advance from the group stage, and Manchester City’s quarterfinal loss to Real Madrid was the defending champion’s earliest exit from the competition in four years.
In the Europa League, Liverpool were surprisingly eliminated by Atalanta in the quarterfinals.
In contrast, German teams have excelled. Bayern Munich and Dortmund have reached the semifinals of the Champions League and Bayer Leverkusen is into the last four of the Europa League.
Dortmund, fifth in the Bundesliga, guaranteed a place in next season’s Champions League by beating PSG.
Roma are currently fifth in Italy.
The Champions League is expanding from 32 to 36 teams next season to allow for a new league phase that will replace the existing group stage.
Via a seeding system, teams will be drawn to play against eight opponents, home and away in one league format.
The top eight teams will advance to the round of 16. Teams that finish from ninth to 24th will face a two-leg playoff in order to advance.
Top Pakistan medical official resigns for mishandling fast bowler’s elbow injury
- Dr. Sohail Saleem was the director of the Pakistan Cricket Board medical and sports sciences
- Medical committee said Saleem recommended an “inappropriate surgeon” to handle Ihsanullah’s injury
ISLAMABAD: A top medical official with the Pakistan Cricket Board resigned on Thursday after an independent investigation reported fast bowler Ihsanullah’s elbow injury was badly handled.
Dr. Sohail Saleem was the director of the PCB medical and sports sciences.
A three-member medical committee said in its report that Saleem recommended an “inappropriate surgeon, lacking the academics and experience in the field” to look after Ihsanullah’s injury.
Ihsanullah’s right elbow was hurt during the white-ball home series against New Zealand in April last year. The PCB initially believed Ihsanullah’s injury was not severe but the fast bowler was sidelined for almost a year.
The committee said Ihsanullah’s elbow pain was not addressed, treated and operated on appropriately, and there was also delay in reaching the clinical diagnoses.
“He (Ihsanullah) did not receive a formal rehabilitation process as required by his condition,” the committee said. “His surgery was planned hurriedly without any specialist review and preoperative assessment.”
The committee also highlighted “inappropriate prescription of treatment, as well as non-compliance by the fast bowler with the prescribed rehabilitation plan.”
Last month, Ihsanullah was sent to the UK where he met with an orthopaedic surgeon specializing in sports injuries.
The committee has recommended Ihsanullah should continue with aggressive physiotherapy and “surgery may be the last option if he does not recover in six-12 months.”
Ihsanullah has played four Twenty20s and one one-day international, all last year.
Cristiano Ronaldo’s sister describes Saudi Arabia as ‘safest place on earth’
- Katia Aviero posts message on Instagram in which she says of the Kingdom: ‘If there is a safe place to walk alone, it is here’
- Aviero, who joined her brother’s partner, Georgina Rodriguez, to watch him play in the King’s Cup semifinal on Wednesday adds: ‘Nobody disrespects you here and there are no thefts’
RIYADH: While Al-Nassr star Cristiano Ronaldo was busy scoring a brace on Wednesday in a 3-1 victory over Al-Khaleej that earned his team a place in the King’s Cup final, his sister was praising Saudi Arabia and describing it as the “safest place on earth.”
Asked whether it was safe to walk alone in the Kingdom, Katia Aviero posted a message on Instagram in Portuguese in which she said of the Kingdom: “If there is a safe place to walk alone, it is here.”
She said: “Saudi Arabia is one of the best in the world in terms of safety. You can leave your phone on the table and go and come back without anything happening.”
She added that “nobody disrespects you here and there are no thefts,” and she feels secure at all times.
A Saudi sports website quoted Aviero as saying: “You can also leave your keys and wallet in the car.”
She also posted a photo of herself with Ronaldo’s partner, Georgina Rodriguez, and another women watching the game on Wednesday from a VIP lounge at Al-Awwal Park stadium. She added a note, saying: “We came to give good luck for our king (Cristiano).”
Aviero, who has more than 1.4 million followers on Instagram, also added several posts to her Instagram Story on Wednesday featuring videos of Riyadh streets filmed from inside a car.
Ronaldo scored the first and third goals for Al-Nassr on Wednesday night, with Sadio Mane netting the second from the penalty spot.
The Portuguese star celebrated the semifinal victory with brief message on social media platform X in which he wrote: “The King’s Cup … let’s go.”
Al-Nassr will face fierce rivals Al-Hilal in the final on May 31.
Soccer jersey dispute between Algeria and Morocco clubs over Western Sahara goes to sports court
- The court said Thursday the two sides “are currently exchanging written submissions”
- The dispute already affected the teams’ semifinal of the CAF Confederation Cup
GENEVA: A soccer politics dispute between Algeria and Morocco over a map of disputed Western Sahara territory on a team jersey will go to a full appeal hearing at the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
The court said Thursday the two sides “are currently exchanging written submissions” and set no timetable for appointing a panel of judges and setting a date for a hearing.
The Algerian soccer federation and the USM Alger club from Algiers are challenging a decision by the Confederation of African Football to let Moroccan club RS Berkane wear a team jersey that includes disputed territory on a map of Morocco.
The dispute already affected the teams’ semifinal of the CAF Confederation Cup, in which USM Alger are the defending champion. Neither semifinal game scheduled on April 21 and 28 was played and both were awarded by CAF as 3-0 wins to Berkane.
Berkane are scheduled to play the two-leg final on May 12 and 19 — against Zamalek of Egypt — and the court did not indicate Thursday if the Algerian appeal will be judged before those games.
Western Sahara is a former Spanish colony annexed by Morocco in 1975. The United Nations brokered a ceasefire between Morocco and the pro-independence Polisario Front, which is supported by Algeria, that held until four years ago.
Algeria cut diplomatic ties with Morocco in 2021.
The laws of soccer state that “equipment must not have any political, religious or personal slogans, statements or images.”
Berkane arrived for the April 21 game in Algiers and had their team uniforms seized at the airport by Algerian authorities.
CAF refused an Algerian request to prohibit the shirts and, after Berkane refused to wear replacement shirts provided by USM Alger, the game did not go ahead.
CAF ruled the Algerian club were in breach of competition rules and Berkane were awarded a 3-0 win by default.
An urgent appeal by the Algerians to suspend CAF’s ruling on the shirt was denied last week by the sports court in Lausanne, Switzerland.
On April 28, USM Alger went to Berkane’s stadium for the second leg but refused to play if the hosts wore the jerseys with the map. CAF awarded a second default win to Berkane.
The full appeal in the case has now been brought against CAF, the Moroccan soccer federation and Berkane. One of the African soccer body’s most influential officials, FIFA Council member Fouzi Lekjaa, is president of the Moroccan federation and a former president of the Berkane club.
