Monaco: Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc took pole position at his home Monaco Grand Prix, with rivals unable to better his time after red flags halted qualifying for Formula One’s showcase race. The 23-year-old smashed into the barriers with 18 seconds of the session remaining and faced an anxious wait to see if the damaged car can be repaired without incurring any grid penalties. Red Bull’s Max Verstappen stands to inherit pole if the Ferrari needs a new gearbox, triggering a grid drop.

Batra re-elected as FIH president for second term

New Delhi: India’s Narinder Batra has been re-elected as the International Hockey Federation president for a second consecutive term after beating Marc Coudron of Belgium by two votes during the world body’s 47th Congress, held online. Batra, also the president of the Indian Olympic Association, barely managed to pip Coudron, securing 63 votes against Coudron’s 61.

Saha says UAE would have been better option for IPL

Kolkata: Indian wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha has indicated that the bio-secure bubble for IPL-14 in India was not as foolproof as the one in the UAE last year. Saha, who was among the players who contracted the virus before the IPL was halted, said: “It’s the job of the stakeholders to assess it, but the only thing I would say is that there was not a single individual during our training in UAE, not even ground staff. Here there would be people, kids peeping from nearby walls. I don’t want to comment much but we saw how the IPL went off smoothly in UAE in 2020.”

Indian football team Covid negative, begins training

New Delhi: All 28 players and support staff of the Indian football team have tested negative for Covid-19 after arrival in Qatar and have started training ahead of the joint qualifiers for the 2022 World Cup and 2023 Asian Cup next month. The team, which arrived in Doha on Wednesday, was under compulsory quarantine before the results. Agencies