Lewis Hamilton gate crashes Sebastian Vettel's title party

November 19, 2012

GP_party

Austin (Texas), November 19: Lewis Hamilton gate-crashed Sebastian Vettel's title party on Sunday when he produced a dazzling drive for McLaren to win a thrilling United States Grand Prix.

The 27-year-old Briton, who started second on the grid alongside the defending champion, made the most of his superior outright speed to pass Vettel on lap 42 and claim the 21st victory of his career.

For Vettel, it was a personal disappointment, but not enough to prevent his Red Bull team from winning the constructors title for the third successive season.

Fernando Alonso of Ferrari finished third after starting seventh on the grid -- thanks to his team's pragmatic decision to break the gearbox seal on Felipe Massa's car -- and his podium finish ensured that the title battle will go down to the wire at next weekend's Brazilian Grand Prix in Sao Paulo.

Vettel goes to Interlagos with a lead of 13 points, on 273 points compared to Alonso on 260.

Hamilton, who leaves McLaren for Mercedes next year, was intent on delivering another win for the team before his departure and did so with elan as he seized his fourth win this year.

Amazingly, it was the first time F1's best three drivers of the current crop had shared a podium and, to mark the Texan location, all three wore Stetson cowboy hats as they celebrated.

Interviewed by the 1978 world champion, American Mario Andretti, Hamilton said: "First-time winner! I'm so happy. The fans were amazing, thank you. It was such a warm welcome and one of the best, if not the best, race of the year - especially for me and the team.

"It's been a long time since we had a win. I'm so proud of the team and grateful for the support we've had."

Vettel said: "I did my first race, five years ago, in the United States. It's nice to come back for my 100th GP.

"I'm happy for the team -- we won the constructors' championship, so thanks to all of you.

"Now we have another step to make in Brazil. In terms of the championship, it's looking a bit better after today."

Alonso, greeted by chants of 'Alonso, Alonso' from a raucous crowd that included many Mexicans and Latin Americans, said: "The circuit is fantastic and the fans were fantastic all weekend."

In front of a sellout crowd of 135,000 at the new Circuit of the Americas and under a solid blue sky, Vettel made a near-perfect start to pull clear from his 36th pole position and into the lead with Red Bull team-mate Webber advancing to second behind him.

Hamilton, starting second, struggled with lack of grip on the slippery side of the track and could not defend against Webber, but stayed third up the hill and into the sweeping left-hander turn one as the field hustled together in the pack.

Alonso, starting seventh thanks to Ferrari's strategic decision to break the seal on Massa's gearbox and take a five-place penalty for the Brazilian, had a clean start and went round the outside of turn one and into fourth, taking full advantage of a poor start by Raikkonen.

It was a thrilling vision as the cars stretched out and began to heat their tyres to optimim levels, but the focus was clearly at the front of the field where Vettel was unable to shake off his pursuers.

Webber, racing in third, had the task of defending Vettel's position, but his part in the race ended after 17 laps when he was forced to retire due to a grearbox failure.

By lap 34, after a series of pit stops for tyre changes, Hamilton had closed to within two car lengths of Vettel.

This created a sequence of dramatic laps during which Hamilton tantalised Vettel and the crowd by setting up a passing move, using his power advantage and Drag Reduction System (DRS) on the back straight, but without executing it until lap 42 when, after being held up by a back marker, Vettel could not resist him and Hamilton dummied one way and then passed him on the outside.

Alonso, driving steadily and quickly, knew his podium position was enough to heep his title dream alive and, thanks to a superb drive from Massa, knew also that he had a Ferrari in fourth behind him to protect him in the closing laps.




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News Network
May 25,2020

Karachi, May 25: Pakistan head coach and chief selector Misbah-ul-Haq believes Babar Azam is destined to be a world-class player and is very close to being in the same league as India skipper Virat Kohli and Australia's Steve Smith.

"I don't like comparisons but Babar is currently very close to being in the same class as Virat Kohli, Steve Smith or Joe Root," Misbah said in an interview to Youtube channel, Cricket Baaz.

"He believes in the work ethic that if you want to better Kohli you have to work harder than him at your skills, fitness and game awareness."

The 25-year-old, who was named captain of the Pakistan T20 team ahead of the Australia series in October last year, was recently handed the reins of ODI team as well.

"Making him the T20 captain was a tester. We wanted to see how he will respond to this challenge. All of us agree that he has done a very good job and his biggest plus is that being among the worlds top players he leads by example," Misbah said.

"If you are a performer like Babar then it becomes easier for you to motivate the rest of the team and get things done.

"Even when I was made captain in 2010 my performances were here and there and I was in and out. But captaincy changed my game and mindset and I became a more hard-working and motivated cricketer."

Misbah said Babar always challenges himself and would get better as a captain with experience.

"He is in a zone of his own. He just doesn't want to be in the team. He just doesn't want to play for money. He wants to be the top performer for Pakistan. He is always pitting himself against other top batsmen like Kohli or Smith," he said.

"He loves challenges in the nets and on the field. He has really matured as a player and in time he will get better as a captain with experience."

Babar was the leading run-scorer of the T20I series against Australia last year. He also scored 210 runs, which included a hundred, at 52.50 in the Test series against the same opponents.

In the two-Test home series against Sri Lanka, Babar ended the series with 262 runs with an average of exactly 262.

Misbah feels Babar had changed as a batsman when he got runs in the Tests in Australia.

"Before that he was getting runs in tests but not consistently. In Australia and in the following tests against Sri Lanka and Bangladesh he changed," he said.

Talking about his experience as a head coach, Misbah said: "Having captained, it has helped me a lot. As captain I had to manage everything and also having played under top coaches ... I have seen closely their work ethics and how they managed things.

"It is a learning process. Having remained captain it is a big advantage for coaching because you know the players and their mood swings. You know which player will respond in a given situation,which player is feeling pressure in a scenario.

Misbah said it is not easy juggling between different roles.

"Most important thing as a coach is mentally and psychologically how you handle a group of players," the former skipper said.

"Sometimes captain and coach is different as you have to take tough decisions. Being chief selector makes it it a bit difficult but I had experience of creating and managing teams, I have been building teams since 2003. Till now it is going well."

Misbah feels in Pakistan cricket there were different parameters for judging foreign and local coaches.

"I don't know why it is like this why do we have different eye for locals and foreigners. Maybe we feel they have something special. It looks like every decision by a foreign coach is right. In contrast we tend to be very critical of local coaches no matter what decision they take," he said.

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News Network
February 21,2020

New Delhi, Feb 21: Vinesh Phogat yet again fell to Japanese nemesis Mayu Muakida to go out of the gold medal race but Sakshi Malik will fight for the title after winning her semifinal bout at the Asian Wrestling Championship, here on Friday.

Vinesh had lost twice to Mukaida in 2019 – at World Championship and Asian Championships —and the trend continued as the gritty Indian yet again struggled to break the strong defence of the Japanese.

In a tough opening round, Vinesh tried single leg attacks a number of times but every time Mukaida blocked her move and eventually got the upper body lock to subdue the home favourite.

In her last two meetings, Vinesh had not scored a single point against the 2019 world silver medallist. She managed a takedown this time before eventually losing 2-6.

The hard-working Vinesh will now fight for bronze against Vietnam's Thi Ly Kieu but even a medal won't suffice to lift her mood as she and the fans have high expectations from her.

Rio Olympic bronze medallist Sakshi Malik, who has been struggling of late, lost her opening round 1-2 to Naomi Ruike from Japan but later overcame two weak opponents to eventually reach the final of the non-Olympic 65kg category.

She could hardly attack Naomi but outplayed Korea's Ohyoung Ha in the next round, winning by technical superiority.

In her semifinal against Uzbekistan's Nabira Esenbaeva, Sakshi led 5-0 but her rival pulled off consecutive two-point moves to make it 5-4.

Sakshi has been losing in closing stages of late but this time she managed to hold on to her narrow lead, surviving anxious last two seconds.

Also in medal contention are India's brightest youngsters Sonam Malik (62kg) and Anshu Malik (57kg).

Sonam, who had defeated Sakshi in the trials, showed good tactical mind in her resounding win against Korea's Hanbit Lee and also in the 2-5 defeat against world bronze medallist Yukako Kawai.

She pulled off a superb point-scoring move from a disadvantageous position and resisted the 2018 U-23 world champion Yukako in a good fashion.

She will now fight for bronze against Aisuluu Tynbekova.

Anshu Malik opened up her campaign against Kyrgyzstan's Nuraida Anarkulova, winning by technical superiority but was outplayed by reigning world champion from Japan Riskao Kawai.

She will have to beat Sevara Eshmuratova from Uzbekistan to grab a bronze.

In the non-olympic 72kg, Gursharanpreet Kaur is in bronze medal contention. She beat Uzbekistan's Svetlana Oknazarova but lost to Kazakhstan's Zhamila Bakberzenova.

She still made it to the semifinal in which she lost to Japan's Mei Shindo.

She is now up against Mongloia's Tsevegmed Enkhbayar.

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Agencies
January 9,2020

Kuala Lumpur, Jan 9: BWF World Championships defending champion PV Sindhu on Thursday cruised to the quarterfinals of the ongoing Malaysia Masters after winning a second-round match.

The 24-year-old had the upper hand in the clash and thrashed Japan's Aya Ohori in straight games 21-10, 21-15 that lasted for 34-minute. The world number six will now play in her quarterfinal match on January 10.

Earlier in the day, Saina Nehwal defeated South Korea's An Se Young 25-23, 21-12 in 38 minutes. The first game saw back and forth action between both shuttlers. In the end, Nehwal kept her cool to win the match.

On Wednesday, the 29-year-old had outclassed Belgium's Lianne Tan 21-15, 21-17 to progress to the pre-quarterfinals.

Shuttlers Parupalli Kashyap and Kidambi Srikanth crashed out of the tournament after losing their matches to Japan's Kento Momota and Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei respectively. 

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