Brazilian Felipe Massa and his Ferrari team-mate Kimi Raikkonen of Finland dominated yesterday’s opening practice session ahead of tomorrow’s Belgian Grand Prix.
Massa set a best time of one minute and 47.284 seconds round the majestic Spa-Francorchamps circuit to finish up three-tenths of a second quicker than his partner, who has won the last three Grands Prix.
But defending drivers world champion Raikkonen, like tennis star Roger Federer of Switzerland, appears to be a champion in slow decline who is grappling to maintain his dominance — and may face a struggle to extend his winning streak to four races this weekend.
PHOTO: AP
Championship leading Briton Lewis Hamilton was third fastest for the McLaren Mercedes team ahead of his team-mate Finn Heikki Kovalainen.
With the 23-year-old Englishman leading the title race by six points from Massa, Ferrari are desperate for a Belgian victory and are seeking to repeat their dominant one-two triumph in last year’s race, won by Raikkonen.
Massa was fastest for the majority of the morning in overcast but dry conditions after delivering the first flying lap of the weekend and then repeatedly improving his time as his first run progressed.
Raikkonen had a more leisurely start to his Spa weekend and then spoiled his first effort with a mistake at La Source, but he eventually got down to a 1:48.075 to usurp Massa at the top of the times as the session approached its halfway point.
But Raikkonen’s period in front was brief, as Massa lapped in 1:47.813 six minutes later to reclaim first position, where he would stay despite improvements by both his team-mate and Hamilton.
Spaniard Fernando Alonso of Renault was the nearest challenger to the title contenders throughout the session and ended up fifth behind Kovalainen ahead of Australian Mark Webber who leapt up to sixth for Red Bull with his last lap of the session.
OUT AGAINST INDONESIA: Taiwan reached the semi-finals at the tournament for the first time by defeating Denmark, with Chou Tien-chen beating Viktor Axelsen Taiwan yesterday crashed out of the Thomas Cup team competition in Chengdu, China, but achieved their best result at the top-tier badminton event by reaching the semi-finals. Indonesia were too good in the semis, winning 3-0 to advance to today’s final against China, who eliminated Malaysia 3-1. In the opening singles of the men’s team clash at the Hi-Tech Zone Sports Center Gymnasium 2, Anthony Ginting defeated Taiwan’s Chou Tien-chen 21-18, 21-19 in 51 minutes, which put a huge hole in Taiwan’s aspirations to perhaps even make the final. In the men’s doubles, Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Ardianto downed Lee Yang and Wang
NO DOUBT: Spurs star Wembanyama was unanimously selected as NBA Rookie of the Year, winning all 99 votes to become the first Frenchman to capture the honor The Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday night produced a dominant defensive display to seize a commanding 2-0 lead in their best-of-seven playoff series against the Denver Nuggets with a 106-80 road victory. The third-seeded Timberwolves harassed Denver relentlessly to claim a second straight win over the NBA champions as the series heads back to Minneapolis for Game 3 on Friday. Karl-Anthony Towns and Anthony Edwards scored 27 points apiece, but the star of the show was Minnesota’s suffocating defensive effort, which knocked Denver out of their stride almost from the tip-off. The Timberwolves finished with 11 steals and 12 blocks, in sharp contrast to
Top-ranked Iga Swiatek on Saturday came through “the most intense and crazy final” she has ever contested to avenge her loss to Aryna Sabalenka in last year’s Madrid Open final with a grueling three hour, 11 minute victory in the Spanish capital. Coming back from 1-3 down in the decider and saving three match points in total, Swiatek claimed a 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (9/7) victory to secure the Madrid Open trophy for the first time. “Well, who is going to say now that women’s tennis is boring, right?” Swiatek said. Swiatek, who picked up the 20th title of her career, and ninth at
Playing soccer and competing for trophies is the best way that many transplanted Hong Kongers and Macanese have found to stay in touch, and to interact with Taiwanese society, said officials at the Taiwan-Hong Kong-Macau Football Friendship Cup, which was held on April 13. Twelve clubs, mostly of players and coaches originally from Hong Kong and Macau, took part in the tournament in New Taipei City. The event is sponsored by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) and the Taiwan-Hong Kong Economic and Cultural Co-operation Council. Participating teams were from the wider Taipei area, Hsinchu, Taichung, Kaohsiung and other areas. They divided into two