Vettel resigned to Mercedes’ power
Manama: World champion Sebastian Vettel admitted that he was braced for another weekend of Mercedes domination at the Bahrain Grand Prix. The German driver, who has seen Nico Rosberg and lewis Hamilton sweep to opening wins in Australia and Malaysia in the dominant Mercedes, believes the Sakhir circuit will also suit his rivals. “Here the track is a quite tricky one, as you have got a lot of straights, and therefore we have got to save quite a lot of fuel on Sunday compared to Malaysia,” said four-time world champion Vettel. “And already in testing, and for sure at the first two races, we have seen that Mercedes has the strongest package. They are way quicker than us on the straights, so it will be difficult to keep up with them.”
Sandeep ignored for Europe tour New Delhi:
Experienced Gurbaj Singh and Danish Mujtaba on Friday made a comeback to India’s 21-member men’s hockey team for this month’s preparatory tour to Europe ahead of the FIH World Cup to be held at The Hague, Netherlands from May 31 to June 15. Gurbaj, one of three senior players including Sandeep Singh and Vikran Kanth who were called back to the national camp by chief coach Terry Walsh, last wore the India colours in the country’s forgettable 12th place finish at the 2012 london Olympics. Since then he was given a cold shoulder by the national selectors but right-half Gurbaj fought against all odds to regain his place in the national team with his superb passing and tireless work that played a key role in securing the Hero Hockey India league 2 crown for Delhi Waveriders this year.
Blatter says WC will be well done
San Jose: FIFA President Sepp Blatter says the World Cup will be “well done,” but he criticized Brazilian authorities for starting late on stadium projects and for not providing enough worker safety. Blatter spoke on Thursday in the Costa Rican capital, where he was attending the Under-17 Women’s World Cup. Blatter said FIFA could not take responsibility for the death of a worker last week at the stadium in Sao Paulo. “Who is responsible for thisIJ” he asked. “Is it FIFAIJ They are pointing at FIFA, and it’s not true. It’s basic to provide workers with safe conditions to do the work. We can’t go and watch at every construction site.” “Brazil will be a well-done World Cup,” he said. “Some of the delays is because there was no work for years. But we’re on the way now to finishing the stadiums.”
Seven footballers arrested
london: Seven players from Football league clubs in north-west England have been arrested in connection with alleged spot-fixing in matches. The footballers are all aged between 18 and 30, the National Crime Agency said. Six other men originally arrested in December on suspicion of involvement in spot-fixing, then later bailed, have been re-arrested, the agency added. All 13 are currently being interviewed by police over allegations of bribery and money laundering. Spot-fixing is where a player corruptly influences a specific element of a match, for example by intentionally getting a yellow card or conceding a corner, without trying to fix the final score. “Match-fixing, specifically spot-fixing, has become one of the biggest threats facing the integrity of sport,” Sallie Barker Sport and Recreation Alliance said.