FORMULA 1
Verstappen takes pole
Formula 1 championship leader Max Verstappen yesterday took pole position for today’s Japanese Grand Prix as he looks to take a giant stride toward a third straight title. The Red Bull driver topped the timesheets in dry conditions at Suzuka with a fastest lap of 1 minute, 28.877 seconds — 0.581 seconds ahead of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri. Lando Norris, Piastri’s teammate, was third. Verstappen, who leads teammate and nearest rival Sergio Perez by 151 points in the championship standings, cannot clinch the title today, but a favorable result can set him up to seal it at the Qatar Grand Prix next month. “I already felt from the preparation that we had that this was going to be a good track,” Verstappen said. “You never really know how good it’s going to be, but from lap one it’s been really nice.”
MOTOGP
Bezzecchi fastest in India
Italy’s Marco Bezzecchi yesterday claimed pole position at India’s MotoGP on a hot and humid afternoon at the Buddh International Circuit. The Ducati-VR46 rider clocked a top time of 1 minute, 43.947 seconds in the second qualifying, with Jorge Martin and world champion Francesco Bagnaia completing the front row at positions two and three respectively. However, Alex Marquez was all but ruled out of today’s race when the Spaniard — ninth in the standings — crashed on his Ducati-Gresini and fractured his ribs in the first qualifying session. Bezzecchi scorched the track in extreme heat, which has forced organizers to chop today’s race by three laps to 21. “Was tough, but this morning I felt better on the bike,” Bezzecchi said. “Very happy for this pole position. Important to start the sprint and tomorrow’s [today’s] race at pole.”
CRICKET
India top in all formats
India have become only the second men’s team in the history of the sport to occupy the No. 1 spot across all three formats after defeating Australia in the first ODI of their series in India on Friday. India moved past Pakistan to take the top position in the one-day rankings as a result of their latest victory, just before they host the World Cup. They were already No. 1 in Tests and T20 internationals. Only South Africa in 2012 have previously achieved the feat. India’s five-wicket victory over Australia in Mohali took them to 116 rating points, one ahead of Pakistan, but they could slip down the table if Australia — on 111 points — win the remaining two matches in the series.
SOCCER
Guirassy scores brace
Serhou Guirassy on Friday continued his red-hot scoring form with two goals and an assist as VfB Stuttgart beat SV Darmstadt 98 3-1 to provisionally move into first place in the Bundesliga. Guirassy took his tally to 10 league goals in five games as Stuttgart staged a comeback after falling behind to an own-goal by defender Dan Zagadou in the 17th minute. The striker first set up Enzo Millot for the equalizer in the 22nd minute and then gave his team the lead when he swiveled in the area and smashed a hard shot into the net 10 minutes later. Guirassy added a cheeky lob over goalkeeper Marcel Schuhen to seal the win. He is the first player in Europe’s top five leagues to reach double figures in scoring this season. The win gave Stuttgart 12 points from five games.
TO THE TOP: After securing the international title on Saturday, Team Taiwan were to face Las Vegas to potentially win their 18th Little League World Series championship A team from Taipei’s Dong Yuan Elementary School won the Little League Baseball World Series’ international title on Saturday by defeating Aruba 1-0 in the annual baseball tournament held in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania. The Taiwan team, competing under the name Chinese Taipei, were after press time last night to face a team from Las Vegas, Nevada, which beat a team from Fairfield, Connecticut, in the US championship 8-2. Taiwan are seeking to win their first Little League Baseball World Series title since 1996. “Really haven’t taken a moment to data dump right now on Taiwan,” Nevada manager T.J. Fescher said. “They’re a
Marc Marquez continued his winning streak as he cruised to victory in the Hungarian GP sprint by two seconds on Saturday night to pad his championship lead. It was a seventh straight Sprint victory for the Spaniard, who has also won the last six longer Sunday grand prix races on his factory Ducati. Fabio Di Giannantonio, an Italian with the VR46 Ducati satellite team was a distant second at Balaton Park, followed by his team-mate and compatriot Franco Morbidelli third. Marquez, a six-time world champion, started the race from pole position. “I felt someone really close on the first corner, from there I
Former European champions Celtic exited the UEFA Champions League in the qualifiers after a 3-2 penalty shoot-out defeat at Kazakhstan’s Kairat Almaty on Tuesday, following two goalless legs in the playoff tie. Kairat are to compete in the competition proper for the first time, while Norway’s Bodo/Glimt and Cyprus’s Pafos also secured debut appearances after coming through the playoffs. Celtic’s night ended in disappointment as they missed three penalties in the shoot-out, Daizen Maeda failing with the decisive spot-kick. The slugfest of a match went into extra-time with neither side finding the net and few overall chances, echoing the first
Russian Diana Shnaider continued her impressive winning streak in tour-level finals at the Monterrey Open on Saturday, beating compatriot Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 in the WTA 500 event’s final. Shnaider had little trouble in the opening set but struggled in a topsy-turvy second, as Alexandrova clinched the set’s fifth and decisive break at 5-4 to force a decider. Third-seed Shnaider carved out an advantage early on in the third set when she broke Alexandrova in the first game and held serve to go 2-0 up, an advantage she would not relinquish. World No. 12 Shnaider is now unbeaten in her last five
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