Category: 6. Sports

ISLAMABAD (AP) — The United Arab Emirates will host a Twenty20 tri-series including Afghanistan and Pakistan later this month as part of the teams’ buildup for next year’s T20 World Cup.

Sharjah will host all seven games of the tri-series, starting Aug. 29. Teams play against each other twice before the top two qualify for the final.

Pakistan and Afghanistan have already secured direct qualification for the T20 World Cup to be jointly hosted by India and Sri Lanka. UAE could also qualify but it has to play ICC’s Asia-East Asia and Pacific qualifiers in Oman in October.

Afghanistan, which finished seventh in the last T20 World Cup, hasn’t played a T20 since a bilateral series against Zimbabwe late last year. Pakistan is currently playing a T20 series against West Indies in the United States.

The tri-series will be followed by the Asia Cup, also scheduled to be held in the UAE, from Sept. 9 when Afghanistan takes on Hong Kong in the opening game.

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Lando Norris continued to set the pace for the 2025 FIA Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix going two tenths of a second quicker than team-mate Oscar Piastri in the second practice session at the Hungaroring, with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc in P3, just under 0.4s off top spot. 

At the start of the session Nico Hülkenberg was the first man out on track, returning to the cockpit after sitting out FP1 in favour of test driver Paul Aron. The Estonian had a troubled session that ended in mechanical failure but Sauber were able to get the car back up and running for Hulkenberg and FP2. 

Red Bull driver Yuki Tsunoda set the early pace with a lap of 1:17.645 set on Medium tyres, but the Japanese was soon eclipsed by George Russell who took P1 with a 1:17.442.

FP1’s fastest man Lando Norris was soon into P1, however, with the McLaren driver setting a new benchmark of 1:16.916. Oscar Piastri moved to P1 with a 1:16.697 but Norris was quickly back in control, posting a 1:16.525 to return to P1 as the opening session’s third quickest driver Charles Leclerc took up the same spot in FP2, 0.478 off the lead. 

Behind the top three during the Medium tyre phase, Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli slotted into fourth place, six tenths off top spot, with Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar fifth. Further back, the Red Bulls of Yuki Tsunoda and Max Verstappen sat in 10th and 11th respectively, with the latter complaining that steering the RB21 around the Hungaroring was like “driving on ice”. 

With half an hour gone, Lance Stroll bolted on a set of Soft tyres and the Aston Martin driver jumped to top spot with a lap of 1:16.221. 

Piastri then emerged on the red-banded C5 compound tyres and the Australian moved to P1 on 1:15.915, three tenths clear of the Canadian. Norris was lapping quicker, however, and the Briton’s qualifying simulations netted him a time of 1:15.624 and P1, 0.291s clear of Piastri. 

The change of compound brought little joy to Verstappen, however. The defending champion could only manage a lap of 1:17.791 to sit in 12th place. The Dutchman was also seen throwing an object that had been left in the cockpit of his car onto the track in Turn 3, which compromised his lap and led to Race Control saying they would investigate the incident after the session. Tsunoda fared better, taking P9, though he was still eight tenths of a second adrift of P1. 

Stroll improved to a time of 1:16.119 but he eventually lost P3 to Leclerc who posted a lap of 1:16.023 to go just under a tenth clear of the Aston Martin driver. Fernando Alonso, who sat out FP1 due to a back complaint, rose to fifth with a lap of 1:16.329, which he then improved by a tenth. 

Behind the Spaniard Hamilton took sixth for Ferrari ahead of Mercedes’ George Russell and Hadjar. Tsunoda held on to ninth place ahead of Antonelli, Haas’ Oliver Bearman, Kick Sauber’s Nico Hülkenberg and the second Haas of Esteban Ocon. 

The field then moved back to harder compound tyres, and there were no further improvements. Verstappen, now on Medium tyres again, was no happier and late in the session the Dutchman got on the radio to tell his race engineer that his car was “basically undriveable” and he ended the session in P14. 

2025 FIA Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix – Free Practice 2
1 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 1:15.624 27 208.552
2 Oscar Piastri McLaren/Mercedes 1:15.915 0.291 30 207.753
3 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:16.023 0.399 28 207.458
4 Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:16.119 0.495 28 207.196
5 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:16.233 0.609 25 206.886
6 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 1:16.329 0.705 28 206.626
7 George Russell Mercedes 1:16.417 0.793 27 206.388
8 Isack Hadjar Racing Bulls/Honda RBPT 1:16.427 0.803 30 206.361
9 Yuki Tsunoda Red Bull/Honda RBPT 1:16.485 0.861 30 206.205
10 Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 1:16.520 0.896 26 206.110
11 Oliver Bearman Haas/Ferrari 1:16.567 0.943 27 205.984
12 Nico Hülkenberg Sauber/Ferrari 1:16.680 1.056 31 205.680
13 Esteban Ocon Haas/Ferrari 1:16.704 1.080 29 205.616
14 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda RBPT 1:16.791 1.167 25 205.383
15 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls/Honda RBPT 1:16.812 1.188 29 205.327
16 Carlos Sainz Williams/Mercedes 1:16.874 1.250 32 205.161
17 Gabriel Bortoleto Sauber/Ferrari 1:16.946 1.322 29 204.969
18 Alexander Albon Williams/Mercedes 1:17.021 1.397 30 204.770
19 Pierre Gasly Alpine/Renault 1:17.043 1.419 25 204.711
20 Franco Colapinto Alpine/Renault 1:17.159 1.535 29 204.403

 

 

 

The County Championship match between Division Two leaders Leicestershire and Kent at Canterbury ended in a draw, after the hosts reached 445-8 on day four, trailing by 24 when bad light stopped play.

Ben Compton hit a career-best 221 and Harry Finch made 54 not out, while Rehan Ahmed took 3-134, but the chances of a positive result were effectively neutered on day three, when a mere 9.5 overs were bowled.

Leicestershire remain top of the table, while Kent stay bottom.

Conditions were significantly better on Friday but as soon as Kent passed the follow on target of 321 a draw seemed inevitable.

The nightwatchman, George Garrett, survived 67 balls spread across days two, three and four but he was the first man out when he edged Logan van Beek to Louis Kimber for 10.

The first shot of Ben Dawkins’ first-class career was a stylish drive that might have gone for four but for the slope, but he was out for seven, inside-edging Ben Green behind.

Compton, 111 not out overnight, reached 150 in the penultimate over of the session when he cut Tom Scriven for four and Kent eased to 307-4 at lunch.

Scriven subsequently had Joey Evison caught behind for 38, but an elegant sweep off Rehan saw Compton to 200. He took a single off Patel to pass his previous highest score of 217 and was finally out when he came down the wicket to Rehan and was stumped.

Rehan then had Matt Parkinson lbw for two and Kent were 429-8 at tea, after which Finch cover-drove Rishi Patel to bring up his half-century, but play was suspended at 16:40 BST and both sides looked as eager as the umpires to shake hands on the draw.

ECB Reporters’ Network supported by Rothesay.

A dozen years after a two-handed team first won the Rolex Fastnet Race, doublehanded boats dominated the top of the IRC Overall leaderboard this year, filling the podium with three different designs of yacht.

Winning margins, even in races as long as this, are typically counted in a handful of minutes. The scale of Jean-Pierre Kelbert and Alexis Loison’s overall win in the centenary edition of the race, with a margin of almost two hours, therefore represents a remarkable achievement, especially as this was only the fourth race for the JPK 1050 Léon.

The JPK 1050 Léon’s wonderful result in only her fourth race has drawn yet more attention to this highly successful brand © Nicolas Touze/Rolex Fastnet Race

“Lann Ael 3 – a one-off design – validated this radical concept with a very powerful shape and very light construction,” says Kelbert. “We already had a design, because Jacques (Valeur) produced two options when he introduced the 1030.

“There’s a lot of sail area and that means a high rating for the size of the boat, but it works really well. And adds so much pleasure. Reaching is just amazing because with the very powerful hull you can sail higher with the big kite with 25 knots. It’s like a rocket.”

Nevertheless, to simply credit the boat’s design would undermine the level of preparation and skill exhibited by Kelbert and Loison. They have an enviable track record, with Loison having competed in 17 Solitaire du Figaros, as well as becoming the first doublehanded winner of the Rolex Fastnet Race, sailing with his father Pascal on the JPK 1010 Night and Day. Kelbert is founder of the JPK yard, responsible for six podium finishers in the IRC classes, as well as 20 per cent of the entries in the Admiral’s Cup 2 fleet.

Seasoned IRC Two competitor, Ross Applebey, whose Lightwave 48 has scored a podium result in his division in every Rolex Fastnet Race over the past 20 years, paid tribute to their performance: “They’re obviously very clever designs, but we all have to acknowledge they’re very well sailed.

“You’ve got some of the best shorthanded sailors in the world on those boats and they’ve really gone to town on preparation. So credit where credit’s due: they beat us because they ultimately sailed their kit better than we sailed ours.”

Didier Gaudoux and Erwan Tabarly’s Lann Ael 3 finished second in both IRC Overall and IRC Two-Handed © Paul Wyeth/RORC

Didier Gaudoux, racing Lann Ael 3 with Erwan Tabarly, Eric’s nephew and another leading Figaro sailor, took second place overall on IRC. “As usual, the race was not easy, but was a lot of fun and a bit easier than two years ago,” he says. “The end was quite difficult for us because we had a blackout of electricity” and as a result they had no autopilot or AIS.

“It was really challenging coming back from the Rock. We were expecting 18-20 knots, but had 25-28 and at one time 29 knots. We started with the big spinnaker, and it was a big challenge with a lot of adrenalin because the pilot wasn’t working – there was a lot of water on the deck too. It was a lot of fun!”

Amarris, a Pogo RC sailed by Tanguy Bouroullec and Achille Nebout, took third overall in IRC. This is another new design for this season and a direct development of the thinking behind Lann Ael 3 by the same designers, Sam Manuard and Bernard Nivelt.

Amarris, sailed by Tanguy Bouroullec and Achille Nebout, took third overall in IRC © Paul Wyeth/RORC 

This is another top team – Nebout is a Figaro and Class 40 sailor with a string of podium results in both classes, including a win in last year’s Transat Quebec-Saint Malo, while Bouroullec took third place in the 2021 Mini Transt, racing a foiling Mini 650.

An oft-quoted saying in offshore racing is the key aim is to win your class. But who wins overall depends on which class the conditions for the race favour the most.

Romain Gibon and Alban Mesnil on the JPK 1010 Abracadabra2 took a decisive win in IRC Four, beating all the fully crewed boats and were fifth in the two-handed fleet. How did they achieve a class win, when success depends on spending time on strategy and weather routing, as well as optimising boat speed?

Abracadabra2, sailed by Romain Gibon and Alban Mesnil, finished 5th in IRC Two-Handed © Arthur Daniel/RORC 

“I spend most of the time working on the computer and strategy while Alban is always pushing the boat to 100% of its potential,” says Romain. “We have the polar percentages on display and if it’s less than 100% we know we have to do something.

“We are also tracking the other boats on AIS and display their polar percentage performance on a tablet in the cockpit. So we know when they are faster than us – it’s a way to keep the pressure on us and to keep pushing hard.”

RORC Commodore Deb Fish and Rob Craigie took second place in IRC Three, and seventh overall in IRC Two-Handed, racing the Sun Fast 3600 Bellino. “Mzungu! [Sam White and Sam North / JPK 1080] have been pushing us all the way, just like in the Sevenstar Round Britain and Ireland Race three years ago. We were duelling all the way round the course and it’s great to have such high calibre opposition to race against.”

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Erik Cardoso and Caio Bonfim kicked off the Brazilian Championships by breaking South American records on the first day of action in São Paulo on Thursday (31).

At the start of a busy national championships weekend, Cardoso clocked 9.93 (1.5m/s) to take 0.03 off the area 100m record and win the national title ahead of Felipe Bardi (10.06), who jointly held the previous South American record with Colombia’s Ronal Longa. Vitor dos Santos finished third (10.14).

Cardoso had become the first Brazilian athlete to break 10 seconds for 100m when he ran 9.97 in 2023 and the 25-year-old improved his PB by 0.04 to add his name to the record book again.

Olympic 20km race walk silver medallist Bonfim moved to fourth on the world all-time list for the 20,000m race walk with his South American record of 1:18:37.9. Viviane Lyra, who teamed up with Bonfim in the marathon race walk mixed relay at the Paris Olympics, also clocked a world lead of 1:30:52.7 to win the women’s title.

Ana Carolina Azevedo narrowly won the women’s 100m title, clinching the crown ahead of Gabriela Mourão as both athletes clocked 11.14 (1.1m/s).

Results

England’s opening pair of Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley continued their dominance over India, smashing their way into the record books with yet another 50‑plus stand on day 2 of The Oval Test. Their opening partnership in the fifth and final match of the Anderson–Tendulkar Trophy was their eighth 50‑plus stand against India—the joint most by any opening pair in Test cricket against the visitors.

They went past the previous best of seven fifty-plus shared by England’s Alastair Cook and Andrew Strauss. Other notable partnerships in this elite list include Gordon Greenidge and Desmond Haynes (8) from the West Indies, Matthew Hayden and Justin Langer (7) from Australia and Bill Lawry and Bob Simpson (7) from Australia.

In 18 innings against India, Duckett and Crawley have now added 984 runs together, overtaking Cook and Strauss’s tally of 932 runs in 20 innings. Duckett has been in stellar touch this series, scoring 408 runs in eight innings at an average of 51.00 with two fifties and a century. Crawley has been solid at the top too, with 264 runs in eight innings, including three fifties.

In this match, they gave England yet another rapid start, racing to 92 for no loss before Duckett fell for a quick 43 off 38 balls. Crawley continued to dominate, reaching his fifty off just 43 deliveries.

But India struck back hard after lunch. From a strong position of 109/1, England reeled to 215/7. Mohammed Siraj led the fightback with three wickets, while Prasidh Krishna delivered a double‑wicket over before both sides went for tea. India needs only two wickets to wrap up the innings, with India gaining a big advantage as Chris Woakes is not expected to bat, citing his left-shoulder injury.

New Zealand made light work of Zimbabwe in the first Test at Queens Sports Club, wrapping up a nine-wicket win inside three days on Friday. The visitors were set a target of just eight runs after bowling out Zimbabwe for 165 in their second innings, and despite losing Devon Conway, they got the job done without fuss. It marked a dominant return to red-ball cricket between the two nations, who hadn’t met in the format since 2016. That Test too had ended in a heavy defeat for Zimbabwe, and little had changed nearly a decade later. Zimbabwe managed to avoid an innings loss thanks to some fight from their lower order. But their second innings effort still wasn’t enough to push New Zealand past tea, with the result sealed shortly after the break. New Zealand’s bowlers were once again the difference. Matt Henry, who took 6 for 39 in the first innings, picked up three more to finish with match figures of 9 for 90. He could have had a 10-wicket haul had his teammates held on to a couple of chances. Mitchell Santner, leading the side, stepped up with 4 for 27 in the second innings, striking at key moments to dent Zimbabwe’s brief resistance. Will O’Rourke chipped in with three wickets as well, including a double strike in one over. Zimbabwe resumed the day on 31 for 2 but slipped to 114 for 6 by lunch. Sean Williams top-scored with 49, while Craig Ervine made 22. Their partnership briefly lifted hopes, but both fell before the session ended. Sikandar Raza, returning to the Test side, couldn’t make an impact and was dismissed for just 5.

With this result, New Zealand take a 1-0 lead in the two-match series. The second Test will also be played in Bulawayo, starting Thursday.

The third round of the 2025 FIM Endurance World Championship takes place in Japan with the 46th edition of the Coca-Cola Suzuka 8 Hours from 1–3 August. Known as one of the most physically demanding races on the calendar, the Suzuka Circuit challenges riders with its technical 5.821 km layout, high temperatures, and intense humidity.

This year, 21 Honda-powered teams will compete out of a total of 55 entries, including the permanent Formula EWC teams F.C.C. TSR Honda France and Tati Team AVA6 Racing, as well as the permanent EWC Superstock teams National Motos Honda FMA, Wójcik Racing Team #777 SST, Kaedear-Dafy-Rac41-Honda, and Honda No Limits.

Free practice kicked off on Friday from 08:30 to 10:30, followed by the first set of 20-minute qualifying sessions for the blue, yellow, and red rider groups starting at 12:00 (local time).

Based on today’s qualifying results, the two fastest riders from the top 10 teams will take part to the Top 10 Trial, a shootout held on Saturday from 15:30 to 17:00. This session will determine the top 10 grid positions for Sunday’s race.

Honda HRC with Takumi Takahashi and Johann Zarco emerged as the fastest team in qualifying sessions.

Takahashi quickly set a strong lap time in the 2’06 range. He continued to improve his pace throughout his qualifying session, lowering his time with each lap. His personal best, a 2’06.038 set on lap 6 of 9, earned him secured him second place in this first run.

Before Zarco could even complete his first flying lap, the session was interrupted by a red flag. The French rider waited for the restart, and on his first attempt after the out lap, he set the fastest time of the yellow session with a time of 2’05.023.

In the second qualifying session, Takahashi set a personal best of 2’05.554, concluding today’s qualifying as the second‑fastest of the session.

In the yellow session for Zarco, in the final minutes of the run, the Frenchman set a very strong lap in 2’04.820, not only the fastest of the session.

F.C.C. TSR Honda France returns to home ground aiming for a strong result. Riding the Honda CBR1000RR-R Fireblade SP, the team’s rider lineup Alan Techer, Corentin Perolari, and Taiga Haga are looking to score valuable points at Suzuka.

F.C.C. TSR Honda France team made a strategic decision to focus on race setup during the first qualifying session. This approach allowed them to conserve new tyres for the second session, which was expected to offer more favorable track conditions.

Techer was the first rider to take to the track for F.C.C. TSR Honda France in the blue group recording a best lap of 2:07.348 with used tyres. The French rider was followed by his compatriot Perolari who posted a 2:08.134 while Hada completed his session with a 2:09.057.

During the second round of qualifying, Techer was unable to improve his time but Perolari made progress with a best lap of 2:07.713 in a session interrupted twice by red flags. Hada showed the strongest improvement of the trio, clocking a 2:06.591.

By averaging the two fastest lap times from the qualifying sessions, F.C.C. TSR Honda France secured 14^th place on the starting grid aboard the Honda #5, with an average time of 2:06.970.

Tati Team AVA6 Racing completed the combined qualifying sessions with an average lap time of 02:08.005, securing 23^rd place on the grid aboard their Honda CBR1000RR-R Fireblade SP.

For this edition of the Suzuka 8 Hours, the team participates with a revised rider lineup featuring Isaac Viñales and Sho Nishimura, who join long-term rider Hugo Clère after confirming that Randy Krummenacher and Martin Renaudin were not fully fit for this round.

A key technical update this season is the switch to Bridgestone tires, resulting in significant improvements in the bike’s performance and posting faster lap times compared to last year’s.

The trio of riders has demonstrated remarkable consistency and cohesion throughout qualifying and practice sessions. They aim to secure a finish within the top 12 or 13 positions, a realistic and achievable goal for the race ahead.

In the Superstock class, Kaedear-Dafy-Rac41-Honda delivered a strong performance in qualifying for the Suzuka 8 Hours, securing second place in their category with the #41 Honda CBR1000RR-R Fireblade SP. Riders Takeshi Ishizuka, Chris Leesh and Kevin Manfredi showed consistent front-running pace throughout the sessions.

Narrowly missing out the first place by just 0.006 seconds, the team demonstrated its capability to race on top in the Superstock class. With a well-balanced rider lineup and strong race pace, together with a very competitive Honda#41, the team is aiming to fight for a top result at Suzuka 8 Hours race.

The Honda No Limits team, riding the Fireblade #44, made an impressive debut at Suzuka. With only four free practice sessions and no prior testing at the track, the team secured a strong third qualifying result in the competitive Superstock category.

Riders Kaito Toba, Gabriele Giannini and Akito Haga demonstrated an excellent pace and teamwork, highlighting their consistency and looking forward to a competitive race.

Wójcik Racing Team #777 SST and National Motos Honda FMA qualified 7^th and 9^th respectively in the Superstock category.

A second free practice takes place tomorrow Saturday followed by the Top 10 Trial that will determine the starting grid positions.

The riders will take to the track for the 46th edition of the Coca-Cola Suzuka 8 Hours on Sunday, 3 August 2025 at 11:30 a.m. (local time).