Author: AFP

Bottas pips Hamilton for Mercedes one-two

SHANGHAI: Valtteri Bottas yesterday pipped Lewis Hamilton to pole position for the milestone Chinese Grand Prix today in a dominant Mercedes front-row lockout. Sebastian Vettel was third-fastest for Mercedes’ arch-rivals Ferrari for the race in Shanghai, the 1,000th grand prix in Formula One. Bottas, who leads the world championship and

Nadal, Djokovic facing major tests in clay

MONTE CARLO (Principality of Monaco): Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic will face key physical and mental tests as the European clay-court season kicks off today at the Monte Carlo Masters. For 11-time tournament champion Nadal, it’s all about his troublesome left knee. For Djokovic, the major goal will be to

Lomachenko destroys Crolla with fourth round KO

LOS ANGELES: Southpaw Vasiliy Lomachenko brutally knocked out former title holder Anthony Crolla in the fourth round Friday to retain his World Boxing Association and World Boxing Organisation lightweight titles. The 31-year-old Lomachenko delivered a devastating right hook to the temple that sent the Englishman crashing face first to the

Tiger shares sixth place to rock Augusta National

AUGUSTA (United States): Tiger Woods thrilled Augusta National by leaping into contention in Friday’s second round of the Masters, firmly putting himself in the hunt for a historic 15th major title and fifth green jacket. The 43-year-old American superstar fired a dramatic four-under par 68 to share sixth place on

Indian election parties hit by clampdown

NEW DELHI: India’s Supreme Court on Friday ordered parties to name anonymous donors behind tens of millions of dollars in funding as hostilities intensified in the country’s mega-election. The order came ahead of the second round of voting and after the election watchdog called for a clampdown on Prime Minister

China to add ‘eco-friendly’ toilet on Mount Everest

BEIJING: Climbers with pressing needs on Mount Everest will soon find an “eco-friendly” toilet at a Chinese campsite 7,028 metres above sea level in an ongoing campaign to deal with the peak’s waste problem. Decades of commercial mountaineering have turned Mount Everest into the world’s highest rubbish dump as an

Kim gains more power in N. Korea leadership shuffle

SEOUL: North Korea has replaced its long-serving head of state with a close aide to leader Kim Jong Un, promoting a man who was placed on a US sanctions list last year for alleged human rights abuses, state media said Friday. The move came as part of a top-ranking reshuffle

Assange held in jail ahead of long legal fight

LONDON: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange woke up in a British jail yesterday at the start of a likely lengthy extradition battle after a dramatic end to his seven-year stay in Ecuador’s London embassy. Within hours of police hauling him out of the embassy, the 47-year-old Australia appeared in court for

Sagan leads trio into cycling’s cobbled ‘Hell’

PARIS: Known as the Hell of the North, and widely regarded as cycling’s toughest one-day race, the Paris-Roubaix will be hotly contested on Sunday with Slovak superstar Peter Sagan heading a trio of former champions in contention. Mud, dust, treacherous patches of moss and 54 kilometres of roughly cobbled former