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Oscar Piastri celebrates 50th race with win from pole in Bahrain

SAKHIR: McLaren’s Oscar Piastri celebrated his 50th Formula One race with a pole-to-flag win in Bahrain on Sunday that sent him second overall and three points behind championship leading teammate Lando Norris. The Australian also became the season’s first repeat winner in four races and ended reigning champions McLaren’s long wait for victory at their Bahraini owners’ home Sakhir circuit. Norris finished third, after lining up sixth on the grid and then having to fight back from a five-second penalty for a jumped start under the floodlights. Mercedes’ George Russell held off his fellow Briton for second in a tense battle over the closing laps but faced a stewards’ enquiry for allegedly using the drag reduction system outside the defined zone. “It’s been an incredible weekend starting with qualifying yesterday and finishing the job today in style is nice,” said Piastri, who won by 15.499 seconds despite a safety car period wiping out his initial lead. “It’s very important given our owners.

Canada fails to qualify for Billie Jean King Cup Finals with loss to Japan

Ena Shibahara and Shuko Aoyama defeated Kayla Cross and Rebecca Marino 6-3, 5-7 6-2 in the decisive doubles match to secure Japan a spot in the Billie Jean King Cup Finals on Sunday in Tokyo.

Japan book BJK Cup finals spot with win over Canada

Japan secured a second consecutive Billie Jean King Cup finals appearance with their 2-1 win over 2023 champions Canada thanks to Ena Shibahara and Shuko Aoyama's 6-3 5-7 6-2 win over Kayla Cross and Rebecca Marino in the qualifying doubles decider on Sunday.

UAE’s National MMA Championship 3 underway in Dubai

DUBAI: The UAE’s National MMA Championship 3, organized by the UAE’s Jiu-Jitsu and Mixed Martial Arts Federation, began on Saturday at Shabab Al-Ahli Club in Dubai in front of a large crowd, and featured young talent representing clubs and academies nationwide.

India Bag Crucial Win Against Hong Kong, China At Billie Jean King Cup Asia-Oceania Group 1

The Indian team carried on their winning run at the Billie Jean King Cup Asia-Oceania Group 1, delivering a strong performance to secure a 2-1 victory against Hong Kong, China on Thursday evening. The tournament, organized by MSLTA in association with ITF, AITA, and PMDTA, is taking place at the Mahalunge Balewadi Tennis Complex in Pune, as per a release from Billie Jean King Cup. India got off to the ideal start on day three, courtesy of Vaidehi Chaudhari's splendid performance against Ho Ching Wu in the Indian's first game of the tournament. The youngster, hailing from Ahmedabad, fought tooth and nail in a tightly contested first set, winning the tiebreak 10-8.

SEF arena inauguration heralds exciting new era for Saudi esports

RIYADH: Esports in Saudi Arabia is set for an exciting new era following the official opening of the new SEF Arena.

Norris turns on the heat at sweltering Bahrain practice

SAKHIR: World championship leader Lando Norris topped the timesheets in a baking hot opening practice ahead of Alpine’s Pierre Gasly at the Bahrain Grand Prix on Friday. It was hunt-some-shade time on a sweltering afternoon in the Gulf kingdom — 35 degrees celsius and track temperature nudging 50 degrees. As a consequence the relevance of the opening session on the rest of the weekend will be minimal, with second practice later Friday, Saturday’s qualifying and the race itself all staged at sunset and in cooler temperatures. That was one main factor in teams using ‘FP1’ to give a half dozen rookies a shot as a ‘Friday driver’ as per the governing body’s guidelines. As a result, four-time world champion Max Verstappen, one point adrift of Norris in the driver’s standings after his win in Japan last weekend, had some down time with Ayumua Iwasa taking the wheel of his Red Bull. Dino Beganovic was handed the keys to Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari. Other new faces were Fred Vesti (in for Mercedes’ George Russell), Luke Browning (Williams/Carlos Sainz), Felipe Drugovich (Aston Martin/Fernando Alonso) and Ryo Hirakawa, in for Ollie Bearman at Haas. Williams team principal James Vowles explained the reasoning behind running Browning rather than Sainz, third to Verstappen in last year’s race for Ferrari. “It’s much, much warmer than it will be so it is unrepresentative, and (Sainz) has done many hundreds of kilometers around here.

Salah signs new contract to stay at Liverpool

Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah has signed a new contract to extend his eight-year stay at Anfield, the Premier League club said on Friday. “Of course I’m very excited. We have a great team now. Before also we had a great team. But I signed because I think we have a chance to win other trophies and enjoy my football,” Salah said in a statement. “It’s great, I had my best years here. I played eight years, hopefully it’s going to be 10. Enjoying my life here, enjoying my football. I had the best years in my career. “I would like to say to [the fans], I am very, very happy to be here. I signed here because I believe we can win a lot of big trophies together. Keep supporting us and we’ll give it our best, and hopefully in the future we’re going to win more trophies.”

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Billie Jean Sport News

Oscar Piastri celebrates 50th race with win from pole in Bahrain

Canada fails to qualify for Billie Jean King Cup Finals with loss to Japan

Japan book BJK Cup finals spot with win over Canada

UAE’s National MMA Championship 3 underway in Dubai

India Bag Crucial Win Against Hong Kong, China At Billie Jean King Cup Asia-Oceania Group 1

SEF arena inauguration heralds exciting new era for Saudi esports

Norris turns on the heat at sweltering Bahrain practice

Salah signs new contract to stay at Liverpool