Sports

MONACO: Max Verstappen won the Monaco Grand Prix for the first time to take the Formula One championship lead from Lewis Hamilton on Sunday, while pole-sitter Charles Leclerc pulled out just before the race started. The 23-year-old Dutch driver started the day 14 points behind Mercedes’ seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton and ended it four clear. Hamilton finished seventh on …

MILAN: Claudio Ranieri brought the curtain down on his coaching career with Sampdoria on Saturday with a 3-0 win over Parma. Italian forward Fabio Quagliarella marked his 500th Serie A appearance with the opening goal against relegated Parma who will finish the season bottom of the table. Ranieri, 69, announced on Friday that this will be his final match with …

GENEVA: Third seed Casper Ruud warmed up for the French Open by claiming his second career title on the ATP Tour after beating Denis Shapovalov 7-6 (8-6), 6-4 in the final of the claycourt Geneva Open on Saturday. Norwegian Ruud did not concede a single break point to the Canadian second seed to prevail in the battle of the 22-year-olds …

LOS ANGELES: Four-time Olympic gymnastics champion Simone Biles became the first woman to land a Yurchenko double pike vault in competition at the US Classic in Indianapolis on Saturday, while winning the all-around title in her first meet since October 2019. Biles, who last competed at the 2019 World Championships, had an all-around score of 58.4 points and finished ahead …

COLOMBO: A pay battle between Sri Lankan players and the national board has hurt team morale ahead of the One-day International series in Bangladesh starting from Sunday, skipper Kusal Perera said. Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) have cut fees for 24 national players by up to 40 percent in new contracts which have been rejected by the players. Perera said no …

LONDON: As one world-class centre forward prepares for his Premier League finale with Manchester City, another has outlined the reason why playing for Pep Guardiola’s team would be a striker’s dream. Sergio Aguero, City’s all-time leading scorer, will be among the players and coaches saying their goodbyes when the league season reaches its climax on Sunday with only a couple …

LAHORE: A worthy vote of the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) to the traditional rival candidate of India, Dr Narinder Batra, helped him again win the election as president of the International Hockey Federation (FIH) on Saturday. The election was held during the 47th FIH Congress held virtually. Batra retained the seat for the second consecutive time as he gained 63 …

LAHORE: West Indian famed T20 batting duo of Shimron Hetmyer and Johnson Charles were submitted as replacement picks by Multan Sultans in an online session held with the representatives of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) franchises on Saturday. The replacements were made after some foreign cricketers were not available for the league, suspended midway in March this year during its …

MUNICH: Bayern Munich striker Robert Lewandowski broke Gerd Mueller’s 49-year-old Bundesliga goal-scoring record for a single season on Saturday when he scored in the last minute of their last match, a 5-2 win over Augsburg, taking his tally to 41 goals, one more than the former Bayern great. The Poland striker is already second on the all-time scorers list in …

NEW DELHI: Senior batsman Cheteshwar Pujara still feels the sting of last year’s drubbing in New Zealand but the batsman says India will be a different proposition when the sides clash again at the neutral venue of Southampton in next month’s World Test Championship (WTC) final. India were blanked 2-0 in New Zealand, who are already quarantining in Southampton and …