Author: robin24

France: Four-time winners Germany cruised past 10-man Luxembourg and Kylian Mbappe helped France see off Azerbaijan in World Cup qualifying on Friday. Captain Joshua Kimmich’s double inspired Germany to a 4-0 win over Luxembourg and to the top of Group A on goal difference with Slovakia and Northern Ireland, who await them in Belfast on Monday. Germany showed the poise and swagger that had abandoned them so far in their World Cup qualifying campaign, losing away in Slovakia for the first time and edging past Northern Ireland at home. Germany captain Kimmich converted a first-half penalty and tapped in…

Series leader Oscar Piastri outpaced defending champion Max Verstappen of Red Bull to top the times for McLaren in Friday’s opening free practice at the Belgian Grand Prix. The 24-year-old Australian, reacting positively to his disappointment at Silverstone where he was handed a controversial penalty, clocked a best lap in one minute and 42.022 seconds to beat the four-time champion by four-tenths of a second in a keenly-contested session. Verstappen was driving for the first time since Red Bull dismissed former boss Christian Horner two weeks earlier. Frenchman Laurent Mekies took his place on the pit wall.  Piastri’s McLaren…

Germany, France, Argentina and Austria all edged closer to the Davis Cup finals on Friday taking 2-0 leads in their second round qualifiers. The seven winners of the best-of-five matches in this weekend’s qualifiers advance to November’s ‘Final 8’ hosted by defending champions Italy in Bologna. In Tokyo, Jan-Lennard Struff and Yannick Hanfmann got former three-time winners Germany off the mark against Japan. Struff battled past Yoshihito Nishioka 6-4, 6-7 (4/7), 6-4 with Hanfmann seeing off Shintaro Mochizuki 6-3, 6-3. In Groningen, Argentina’s Tomas Martin Etcheverry beat Jesper De Jong 6-4, 6-4 and Francisco Cerundolo dispatched Botic Van…

Bangladesh vs West Indies, 1st ODI Live Score: West Indies captain Shai Hope won the toss and chose to field against Bangladesh on Saturday. Mehidy Hasan Miraz said, “Yes, we love to bat first as well. It’s a new day, the players need to understand their role and I hope everybody does better. We have two fast bowlers, three spinners and seven batters.” Shai Hope added, “We are gonna bowl first, unfamiliar conditions so we will let the bowlers take the first strike. Very quick turnaround, it’s been hectic in the last two months, we need to adapt quickly and…

Argentina football team in action© AFP Argentina shrugged off the absence of Lionel Messi to ease to 1-0 victory over Venezuela in a friendly international in Miami on Friday. A well-worked 31st-minute goal from Giovani Lo Celso secured the win for the reigning world champions in a match played before just 15,000 fans at the 65,000 capacity Hard Rock Stadium. Inter Miami star Messi looked on from the stands as the Albiceleste eased to victory without ever being seriously tested by Venezuela. Argentina forwards Julian Alvarez and Lautaro Martinez looked threatening throughout, while fullback Nahuel Molina also impressed.Alvarez…

Series leader Oscar Piastri secured pole position for Saturday’s sprint race at the Belgian Grand Prix when he beat Red Bull’s Max Verstappen by 0.477 seconds with a devastating record lap in his McLaren. The 24-year-old Australian, who leads the drivers’ championship by eight points ahead of McLaren team-mate Lando Norris, clocked a fastest lap in 1min 40.510sec on Friday to seize the prime starting position.  He was six-tenths of a second faster than Norris who was third ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, Esteban Ocon of Haas, Carlos Sainz of Williams and Oliver Bearman in the second Haas. …

India’s N Sriram Balaji and Rithvik Bollipalli lost a tight doubles rubber to Jakub Paul and Dominic Stricker in the World Group I tie against Switzerland as the hosts kept themselves afloat in the race for Davis Cup Qualifiers at Biel, Switzerland on Saturday. Balaji and Bollipalli lost 7-6 (3) 4-6 5-7 in two hours and 26 minutes, and India now need to win one of the two reverse singles. Dhakshineshwar Suresh and Sumit Nagal had given India a handsome 2-0 advantage on Friday by winning their singles matches against Jerome Kym and Marc-Andrea Huesler respectively. Nagal will…

As India prepare to begin a new chapter in ODIs under Shubman Gill, the young captain spoke about his relationship with Rohit Sharma (BCCI Photo) NEW DELHI: As India prepare to begin a new chapter in ODIs under Shubman Gill, the young captain spoke about his relationship with Rohit Sharma after taking over the ODI leadership ahead of the three-match series against Australia. The first ODI of the series is scheduled for Sunday at Perth’s Optus Stadium.“Whatever the narrative might be outside, there has been no such thing between us. It is just like old times. He is very helpful,…

Injured Kylian Mbappe set to return to Real Madrid© AFP France captain Kylian Mbappé will miss his team’s World Cup qualifier against Iceland on Monday because of a right ankle injury, the French soccer federation said Saturday. The Real Madrid star scored in France’s 3-0 victory over Azerbaijan on Friday but limped off the field in the 83rd minute. Just before the international break, he had hurt the same ankle while playing against Villarreal.France confirmed that its star forward would not make the trip to Reykjavik, and that he would return to Real Madrid.France, runner-up at the 2022…

Four-time champion Max Verstappen maintained the pressure on McLaren’s nerve-wracked title duellists on Friday when he beat them both to claim pole position for Saturday’s sprint race at the United States Grand Prix. The 28-year-old Dutchman left his best lap to the last seconds of a closely contested session when he outpaced Lando Norris by 0.071 seconds, consigning the Briton to second on the grid alongside him. Series leader Oscar Piastri was third in the second McLaren, three-tenths adrift of the pole lap, as he continued to struggle to recreate the form that has carried him 22 points…