21/09/2025

theSun on Sunday SEPT 21, 2025

SPORTS 11

Mr Nice guy

SHORTS

my doubles partner.”

PAOLINI SPARKLES FOR ITALY HOLDERS Italy fought back from the brink to beat Ukraine 2-1 and return to the Billie Jean King Cup final yesterday, with Jasmine bat tling past Elina Svitolina to level the tie before partnering Sara Errani to seal a decisive doubles win. Victory at the Shenzhen Bay Sports Centre Arena in China helped the Italians become the first team to reach three succes sive finals in the elite women’s team competition since the Czech Republic won three straight titles from 2014-16. Paolini and Errani secured the tie by beating the Ukrainian pair of Marta Kostyuk and Lyudmyla Kichenok 6-2, 6-3 to draw loud applause from the sizeable crowd of Italian fans who remained in their seats until close to midnight in southeastern China. “Today the crowd was amaz ing. We had the support of all these guys, the Italian fans. We enjoyed a lot playing in this com petition,” said Errani, who joined the fans in chanting the traditional rallying cry of Jia You – literally “add oil”. “It was a tough day for Jasmine. She’s doing an incredi ble job. It’s not easy to play dou bles after a tough singles match but she’s so strong. “I’m really happy to have her as

INDIA BEAT VALIANT OMAN WORLD champions India over came a gutsy Oman team to win the last group match of the Asia Cup by 21 runs yesterday and stay unbeaten in the T20 tournament. India had already qualified for the Super Four stage and posted 188-8 after they elected to bat first at Abu Dhabi. Oman – ranked 20th in world T20 rankings – put up a spirited batting show and finished on 167 4 after top knocks from Aamir Kaleem, who made 64, and Hammad Mirza, who hit 51. The left-right batting pair of Aamir and Hammad put on 93 runs for the second wicket and attempted to pull off the chase with some late boundaries that gave India the scare. Hardik Pandya broke the stand with a stunning outfield catch to dismiss Aamir off Harshit Rana and then sent back Hammad with his pace bowling in the next over. Left-arm quick Arshdeep Singh snared the fourth wicket of the innings and his 100th in T20 internationals – the first Indian bowler to reach the century mark. Earlier, wicketkeeper-batsman Sanju Samson top-scored with 56 and his second-wicket partner ship with explosive opener Abhishek Sharma, who made 38 off 14 balls, lay the platform for India’s total.

Norris wants to be liked despite tension of title battle

are more selfish drivers out there who would disagree with it, which is completely fine for them.” Norris arrives in Baku for this weekend’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix 31 points adrift of Piastri in the title race. The 25-year-old took the opportunity between races to play alongside Ryder Cup star Matt Fitzpatrick in the BMW PGA Championship pro am event at Wentworth. Norris relished the opportunity to dive into a different sporting environment and enjoyed handling a few hecklers. “It was good fun. I think I played well for myself considering I don’t know the course that well,” he added. “I was a bit nervous, I didn’t have a lot of time to warm up, I had like five minutes and I could not hit my driver off the tee.

BY SCOTT HUNT

LANDO NORRIS admits he wants to be seen as a “good guy” amid the tension of his battle for the world championship. The British driver has been locked in a head to-head tussle with McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri for the entire season, yet the pair have managed to keep their relationship civil – a rar ity in Formula One. Norris was booed by a small section of sup porters on the podium at Monza last time out, after Piastri was ordered to allow his rival through following a slow pit stop. “I mean, it’s never the nicest thing, but not something I really was bothered by,” Norris said of the boos. “Normally the Italian fans have always been very good to me.” Norris was jokingly asked if he was relishing a bad-boy image and also whether being liked is something that matters to him. “It’s not bad-boy image, it’s not like I did something, it wasn’t even my deci sion!” Norris laughed. “Certainly I would say I don’t like to be disliked. I want to come across as a good guy and a nice guy.

“I’m like ‘all I want is to hit the driver off the tee because that’s all any one’s really going to

see’! A lot of hecklers, just the whole day always heckling! “Actually I found it good fun that peo ple are like giving you a bit of chat every now and then. “When I went to

“You’re never going to be liked by everyone, so I think I’ve come more to terms with that fact. “Yeah, certainly, I always want to give a good impression, that’s something that I care about.” F1 is littered with examples of teammates falling out when com peting for the title, with the likes Ayrton Senna-Alain Prost and Lewis Hamilton-Nico Rosberg clashing fiercely.

the range and you have all the pros hit ting, it’s the same as I’m sure if a sports per son comes to F1, it’s admiration for something like that. “Not many people get to really try the level of an F1 car. In golf I think what’s quite cool is I can have the same clubs as this person, he’s just a lot better, which is why golf’s great.” – The Independent

Jobs

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“I think it takes a combina tion of drivers to understand and be on board with it, and it also takes a team to be well run,” Norris added on how McLaren have bucked that trend. “For sure there

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Lando Norris. – REUTERSPIC

McLaren will race the same: Stella MCLAREN will not change their approach to the Formula One drivers’ championship once they have secured the constructors’ crown for the second year in a row, team boss Andrea Stella said yesterday. change of approach once the constructors’ was in the bag, Stella said the situation would stay the same.

of Ferrari and it is inconceivable that they will not retain their title, probably today. Stella recognised that the feeling this year was dif ferent to last season. “Last year, the championship came as a surprise, much earlier than expected in terms of the tra jectory of the team,” he said. “Actually, it was here in Baku that we took the lead in the championship. And at the end, it was a great surprise and a great joy. “This year, we realised rela tively soon that the car was very competitive, that we were in con dition to win races. So it was more about keeping the concentration, keeping the focus, maximising the potential available.” – Reuters

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“The approach to the drivers’ title will not change, this is not dependent on the constructors’,” the Italian told reporters in Baku. “The way we go racing is dependent on the racing princi ples, on the value that we embody as McLaren Racing and also its a reflection of the fact that we want to protect the unity of the team,” he added. The constructors’ title is the championship that determines a team’s share of the revenues and prize money, as well as any employee bonuses. McLaren are 337 points clear

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McLaren can seal the team title in Azerbaijan with seven rounds to spare this weekend, leaving Australian Oscar Piastri and Britain’s Lando Norris to bat tle for the individual champion ship. Piastri leads Norris by 31 points with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, the reigning champion, a hefty 94 points off the pace in third place. McLaren last won a drivers’ title with Lewis Hamilton in 2008. Asked about a possible

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