MOTORSPORTS
Max Verstappen takes pole
Runaway championship leader Max Verstappen yesterday took pole position for today’s Japanese Grand Prix as he attempts to clinch his second straight world title in Suzuka. The Red Bull driver topped the timesheets in dry conditions with a time of 1 minute 29.304 seconds, just 0.010 seconds ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, his nearest championship rival. Carlos Sainz was third in the other Ferrari. Verstappen was handed a reprimand after an incident involving the Dutchman and McLaren’s Lando Norris. Norris was forced onto the grass to avoid hitting Verstappen, with the Red Bull driver muttering “unbelievable” over his team radio, but later apologizing. Verstappen can clinch the title today if he wins the race with the fastest lap, no matter what his rivals do. The Dutchman would also retain his crown if he wins and Leclerc is third or lower. “It was incredible to drive here again and of course very happy to be on pole, but just super happy to be back here,” said Verstappen, whose car lost a chunk of bodywork on his last lap after he ran wide on a section of the track. “I lost a bit of my duct on that last lap which is why I didn’t improve. Tomorrow [today] will be interesting with the weather.” Showers are forecast for today.
TENNIS
Frances Tiafoe reaches final
Frances Tiafoe yesterday battled past unseeded Kwon Soon-woo of South Korea in three sets to reach the Japan Open final, but the American said that it had not made pretty viewing. The fourth-seeded Tiafoe won 6-2, 0-6, 6-4 and faces compatriot Taylor Fritz in today’s final in Tokyo after Fritz beat Canada’s Denis Shapovalov 6-3, 6-7 (5/7), 6-3. “It was a weird match, but I’m happy to get through,” Tiafoe said. “I wasn’t expecting him [Kwon] to play like that. He played really fast and really aggressive. He was playing really well, obviously, but a win’s a win, and you take it,” the 24-year-old said. “It’s not always going to be pretty, it’s not always going to be the best stuff, but a win is what matters.”
SOCCER
Mbappe to earn US$128m
French superstar striker Kylian Mbappe is expected to earn a record US$128 million in annual earnings to top the list of the world’s highest-paid soccer players, Forbes magazine reported on Friday. The magazine said that Mbappe crossed the US$100 million milestone at age 23, while such legends as Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo were in their 30s and at the peak of their careers when crossing that money mark for the first time. Mbappe in May signed a three-year contract extension to remain with Ligue 1 side Paris-Saint Germain. Forbes reported that the deal would bring Mbappe about US$110 million for his salary and season share of a signing bonus, plus an estimated US$18 million in annual endorsement income from such companies as Nike, Dior, Hublot and Oakley. Mbappe was on the cover of the EA Sports FIFA video game, founded the production company Zebra Valley and is an investor in fantasy NFT platform Sorare. “He’s a global icon already,” Sorare cofounder Nicolas Julia told Forbes. “He wants to aid the world and show, also, that huge things can be built out of France.” PSG teammate Messi, 35, ranks second at US$120 million, with Manchester United’s Ronaldo, 37, third on US$100 million.
SS Lazio on Monday fired the far-right sympathizer who handles their eagle mascot after he posted online a series of videos and pictures of his erect penis. Falconer Juan Bernabe, who has been present at Lazio home matches with Olimpia the eagle since the 2010-2011 season, posted the footage on social media after having surgery on Saturday to implant a penile prosthesis to improve his sexual performance. Lazio said that they had “terminated, with immediate effect” their relationship with Bernabe “due to the seriousness of his conduct,” adding that they were “shocked” by the images. The Serie A club added that Bernabe’s dismissal
Doping fears prevented former US Open champion Emma Raducanu from treating insect bites on the eve of the Australian Open, she said, with players increasingly wary about ingesting contaminated substances. The British player was speaking in the wake of high-profile doping cases involving Iga Swiatak and Jannik Sinner. “I would say all of us are probably quite sensitive to what we take on board, what we use,” the 22-year-old said, recalling an incident on Friday. “I got really badly bitten by, I don’t know what, like ants, mosquitoes, something. I’m allergic, I guess,” she added. The bites “flared up and swelled up really a
TWO IN A WEEK: Despite an undefeated start to the year playing alongside Jiang Xinyu of China, Wu Fang-hsien is to play the Australian Open with a Russian partner Taiwan’s Wu Fang-hsien yesterday triumphed at the Hobart International, winning the women’s doubles title at the US$275,094 outdoor hard-court tournament, while McCartney Kessler lifted the trophy in the women’s singles. Fourth-ranked Wu and partner Jiang Xinyu of China took 1 hour, 15 minutes to defeat Romania’s Monica Niculescu and Fanny Stollar of Hungary, 6-1, 7-6 (8/6) at the Hobart International Tennis Centre, their second title in a week. Wu and Jiang on Sunday won the women’s doubles title at the ASB Classic in Auckland, beating Serbia’s Aleksandra Krunic and Sabrina Santamaria of the US. Their winning ways continued in Australia as they stretched
Dubbed a “motorway for cyclists” where avid amateurs can chase Tadej Pogacar up mountains teeming with the highest concentration of professional cyclists per square kilometer in the world, Spain’s Costa Blanca has forged a new reputation for itself in the past few years. Long known as the ideal summer destination for those in search of sun, sea and sand, the stretch of coast between Valencia and Alicante now has a winter vocation too. During the season break in December and January, the region experiences an invasion of cyclists. Star names such as three-time Tour de France winner Pogacar, Remco Evenepoel and Julian Alaphilippe
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