13/03/2026

SPORTS FRIDAY | MAR 13, 2026

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Russell still favourite … as Hamilton returns to scene of first and only Ferrari win

Atalanta try to bounce back from Bayern battering REELING from their six-goal maul ing at the hands of Champions League heavyweights Bayern Munich, Atalanta take the short trip to Serie A leaders Inter Milan tomorrow (10pm Malaysian time) trying to boost their waning top four hopes. Italy’s top division has a repre sentative in Europe’s elite club com petition in name only after Atalanta were left battered and bruised by Bayern, defeated 6-1 and leaving a once powerful football nation again licking its wounds. The message from the Gazzetta Dello Sport was a brutal as Bayern’s dishcloth treatment of Atalanta: “this is who we are” said the famous pink paper, lamenting how Italy consistently fails to produce players like “the alien” France forward Michael Olise. For Atalanta, a traditionally tiny club, exiting the Champions League in the last 16 is no disgrace, but the humiliating manner of Tuesday’s drubbing left its mark ahead of a key clash at the San Siro. “Either you win or you learn, and tonight we learned something from a brilliant team, one that will probably be in this competition right until the end,” said Palladino. “We can’t let this result get us down, obviously the result hurts us because conceding six goals is upsetting and that makes tonight very difficult for us. “But this is a team that has always bounced back from difficult situations, especially after defeats. What I told the team was to keep their heads up, rest, and get their heads right for the league.” Raffaele Palladino’s team, miss ing key players Ederson and Charles De Ketelaere, are five points behind surprise top-four residents Como, another small club in Lombardy upsetting the apple cart. Inter meanwhile have to shake off derby defeat to AC Milan – at Lazio on Monday – to make sure their seven-point cushion over their local rivals doesn’t further shrink. Como are fourth and on Monday host wobbling Roma, with whom Cesc Fabregas’ ambitious side are locked on 51 points with 10 matches remaining in the league campaign. One point further back in sixth are Juventus, another club who flopped in the Champions League, who can go provisionally fourth with a win at Udinese on Sunday. – AFP

INSIDE EDGE WC hero takes train home

INDIAN cricket fans were stumped to discover that star all-rounder Shivam Dube could have been travelling incognito on a train with them, fresh from delivering a record third T20 World Cup crown. Shivam, who slammed an unbeaten 26 off just 8 balls in Sunday’s final against New Zealand, was left stranded in Ahmedabad on Monday when flights to Mumbai were booked solid. It meant he took a berth in a shared sleeper train for a seven-hour journey home – something almost unheard of in India, where top cricketers are major celebrities and often mobbed by fans when they appear in public. Shivam told the Indian Express yesterday that he went to great lengths to get back to his son, 4, and daughter, 2, cobbling together a disguise to avoid detection from fellow pas sengers. “I wore a cap, a mask, and a full-sleeved t shirt,“ the 32-year-old told the newspaper. As he snuck onto the train with his wife and a friend in tow, Dube clambered onto the top bunk of his assigned carriage and wrapped himself in a blanket to remain con cealed for the duration of the trip. As the journey finished Dube said he was escorted by police so “things were easy and the exit was smooth”. “They thought I was landing at the airport, but were surprised when I told them that I was travelling by train.” Champs RCB to host Hyderabad in IPL opener INDIAN Premier League champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru will start the season against Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Chinnaswamy Stadium on March 28 after the Indian cricket board yesterday announced the schedule for the first phase of the campaign, covering matches from March 28 to April 12. Mumbai Indians, joint record five-times champions, launch their campaign at home to the Kolkata Knight Riders on March 29. Fellow five-time winners Chennai Super Kings begin the following day when they travel to face the Rajasthan Royals in Guwahati. The Chinnaswamy Stadium has not staged any cricket with fans since a stampede killed 11 people in June while RCB supporters were celebrating the team’s maiden IPL title outside the arena. RCB are slated to play five home matches in Bengaluru and two in Raipur dur ing this year’s IPL. Nahid stars as Bangladesh crush Pakistan in first ODI BANGLADESH pace sensation Nahid Rana claimed his first five-wicket haul in one-day internationals to lead his team to a crushing eight-wicket win over Pakistan in their open ing match on Wednesday. Rana returned figures of 5-24 to skittle out Pakistan for 114, a total Bangladesh over hauled in 15.1 overs of the 50-over contest in Mirpur to take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series. Opener Tanzid Hasan hammered an unbeaten 67 off 42 balls and put on a second wicket partnership of 82 with Najmul Hossain Shanto, who made 27, in a statement win. Saif Hassan fell early for four, while Litton Das remained unbeaten on three with Tanzid. Earlier, Nahid laid the platform for victory with his outstanding spell in his seven overs to bowl out Pakistan for their lowest ODI total against Bangladesh, eclipsing the previous 161 during the 1999 World Cup. The 23-year-old Nahid ripped through Pakistan’s top order, becoming the first Bangladeshi bowler to dismiss the opposi tion’s top five batters in an ODI innings. Nahid removed Sahibzada Farhan (27), Shamyl Hussain (4), Maaz Sadaqat (18), Mohammad Rizwan (10) and Salman Agha (5) as Pakistan slumped to 69-5. He was ably supported by captain Mehidy Hasan Miraz, who took 3-29 with his off-spin.

F ERRARI have won nothing in Formula One since Lewis Hamilton’s Saturday sprint victory in Shanghai a year ago and this weekend’s return to China is a chance for both to close a circle. Ferrari, who last won a grand prix in 2024, were Mercedes’ closest rivals in the Australian season-opener last weekend with Charles Leclerc third and Hamilton fourth behind the one-two of George Russell and Kimi Antonelli. “For me, the prevailing feeling is now we have a fight on our hands with Ferrari,” said Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff after Melbourne. Mercedes will still be the team to beat, with Russell again the hot favourite, but after the worst season of his stellar career – without even a grand prix podium in 2025 – seven-times world cham pion Hamilton is sounding more optimistic ahead of round two. Could a first Hamilton podium for Ferrari be on the cards? The team have a loyal following in China, where the colour red symbolises happiness and good fortune, and Hamilton is also the most suc cessful driver there with six wins from previous stints at McLaren and Mercedes. That only went so far last year, with Hamilton winning on Saturday before both cars were disqualified on Sunday. “Of course, we’re not as fast as Mercedes, we’ve got work to do, but we’re right in the fight,” said Hamilton after last Sunday’s race in Melbourne. “I do believe we can close the gap.”

son like this will be a huge challenge for every body.” The sprint format means only one hour-long practice session today, at a time when every lap counts for teams getting to grips with their new cars, but also more points on offer with eight for tomorrow’s winner. The Australian Grand Prix had 120 overtakes compared to 45 a year earlier, with the lead changing hands repeatedly early on as Russell and Leclerc charged and deployed energy from the increased electrical component. The Shanghai circuit has two long straights and Russell, leading the championship for the first time but with the jury still out on Formula One’s new way of racing, suggested China would be very different. “You’ve got one big, long straight, so the majority of drivers will be using their energy on that one straight,” he said. “You don’t need to divide it up between four like... in Melbourne.” Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur agreed: “Conditions will be probably much colder in China. And we’ll have the Sprint format - it means much less time to adapt the strategy. It will be a completely dif ferent exercise.” McLaren looked the third fastest team in Australia with champion Lando Norris, after teammate Oscar Piastri crashed before the start. Piastri won the main race from pole in China last year, with Norris second for the second year in a row. Red Bull, who had only four-times world champion Max Verstappen finish last Sunday after Isack Hadjar retired during the race, also hope for better.

Leclerc said he had been posi tively surprised with the race pace in Melbourne but Shanghai, the first sprint weekend of the sport’s new

Aston Martin face a far tougher weekend after struggling with powertrain problems and unable to do many laps. The chances of them even finishing in Shanghai look remote. “That will be optimistic but we can try,” said Fernando Alonso, a two times winner in Shanghai. – Reuters

engine and chassis revolu tion, represented another big challenge. “I think it’s going to be super crucial to be straight on top of every thing, which will be extremely difficult,” said the Monegasque. “To have a Sprint race so early on in a sea

Mercedes’ George Russell. – REUTERSPIC

McIlroy to make ‘game-time decision’ at Players

RORY MCILROY, recovering from a back injury, said yesterday he will be a “game-time decision” when it comes to defending his title this week at The Players Championship. The 36-year-old from Northern Ireland arrived at TPC Sawgrass near Jacksonville on the eve of the event after withdrawing from last week’s Arnold Palmer Championship at Bay Hill with only a month until he seeks a repeat crown at the Masters. “It’s better than it was,” McIlroy said. “I hit up until a 6-iron on the range and it felt OK. We’ll see. I’m taking it sort of hour by hour but it feels better. “I couldn’t stand to address the ball on

around the area just getting a little bit, like, fatigued. “Right adductor started to cramp a little bit. But it’s fine. It’s expected. I’d like to think that the sensitivity will go down as time goes on.” McIlroy, a five-time major winner who com pleted a career Grand Slam with last year’s win at Augusta National, is not worried about adding to his woes by playing this week. “What I’ve been told, obviously I’ll listen to the professionals, but there’s nothing that I can do that’s going to harm that,“ he said. “I don’t think it’s something where if I play I’m at risk of doing any damage.” – AFP

Saturday morning on the range at Bay Hill, and it’s obviously better than that. So, yeah, probably a game-time decision, but all indications are point ing in the right direction. So, hopefully good night tonight, the drugs are working wonders and then just keep it going from there.” Second-ranked McIlroy saw a physio in West Palm Beach last Saturday after pulling out at Bay Hill and said he has improved ever since. He plans to test himself with a driver in the opening round but said he is not in pain. “I wouldn’t even call it pain. I would say just more like sensitivity,” he said. “Just hitting balls there for a little bit, just feel like my muscles