Azerbaijan Grand Prix Today the GrandPrix of Azerbaijan will be contested at Baku, as the motor racing season movesforward, and Azerbaijan makes its debut in this space! Lewis Hamilton hasdemonstrated, with his three victories in China, Spain and Canada so far thisseason that he is fast enough to win a fourth world drivers’ title this seasonwith Mercedes-GP. What could end up costing him the championship isconsistency, or rather lack of it. Prior to his May win in Spain, he was ratherlackluster, as car racing goes. The longstart-finish straight in Baku is unlikely to suit the Red Bull Racing cars,whose Renault engine still lacks horsepower compared to Mercedes and Ferrari. That isunlikely to improve the mood of Dutch phenom Max Verstappen, who has scoredjust 10 points from his past three races. The Dutch teenager is driving well,he has out-qualified his more experienced teammate Daniel Ricciardo at thosepast three events in Spain, Monaco and Canada, but a collision with KimiRaikkonen in Barcelona, coming off worse in a strategy gamble in Monte Carlo,and then a car failure in Montreal have not given him the rewards his speeddeserves. Sergio Perez’s will want to re-establish his dominance over hisyounger teammate, and a repeat of last year’s performance would go down verynicely. Pakistan wins Cricket ChampionsTrophy with help of novice Fakhar Zaman. Fakhar Zamanwas once banned from playing cricket in his village. His older brothers didn't like that he was "toogood," and got back at him at every opportunity. Despite all of that, this Summer he hasreturned as a hometown hero after his starring role in Pakistan’s ChampionsTrophy win. The 27-year-old batsman wasfeted with flowers, and posed for selfies as a hero in Katlang, his hometown innorthwestern Pakistan. He lead scoring with 114 off 106 balls to lead Pakistanto a shock victory over arch-rivals India in the final, after making his ODIdebut earlier in the tournament. Afterhis return home, he said, the ambiance has changed, "they all are givingme love, so now I feel that I have done some great heroics." Until that win, they had been at the bottomof the ranking as the tournament began. Theyscored an incredible 338-4, in large part due to left-handed opener Fakhar’sfirst hundred, in what was just his fourth ODI. His brotherAsif said that, despite mistreatment at the hands of his brothers, "henever quit cricket, and has become a hero today." Fakhar left home topuruse his dreams of being a Navy commando, but when the Navy cricket coach sawhim playing, he urged him to leave the Navy behind. He got his start on the international levelonly in March of this year. NowPakistan’s newest star has no intention of resting on his laurels and, he saidproudly, plans to play for his country "for a long time". Meanwhile, intheir second ODI, today West Indies will combat India at Port of Spain. In USA Soccer: Rivalry Weekend But first, Midfielder Kenny Saief will be eligible to play forthe United States after FIFA approved his switch of national team allegiancefrom Israel, U.S. Soccer confirmed on Thursday. Saief, who played teen soccer for the Israeli national teams, plays hisclub soccer for Ghent in Belgium, and is now eligible to appear for the U.S. atthe CONCACAF Gold Cup. Saief is American born (Florida) but played for the Israeli youth teams as he came to prominence. Belgium, which isknown for having an excellent youth development system, is used to seeing theirstars play at the pro level abroad, so Saief will have to prove himself tocontinue to play at the USA national level. MLS in the USA is constantly trying to generate interest intheir sport, and normally not doing so well at accomplishing that goal. This weekend is another attempt publicrelations, with RIVALRY WEEKEND. Seattlevs. Portland, Houston vs. Dallas, the New York Red Bulls vs. the New York FC(who knew two teams were supported in New York?), and D.C. United vs. thePhiladelphia Union in an I 95 matchup. Almost all of these games were contestedyesterday. In the saving the best for lastdepartment: Portland and Seattle go headto head in MLS' sole game this afternoon. When it comes to rivalries in MLS, there is none better than the SeattleSounders and Portland Timbers. Although the pair didn't go head-to-head inMajor League Soccer until 2011, their meetings on the pitch date back to 1975.With history and passion unparalleled in the league, the rivals have also wonthe past two MLS Cups. This afternoon,from Mt. Ranier to Mt. Hood, the Cascades could erupt with resounding soccercheers. Check your local listings. -- Posted By Rex to SR at 6/25/2017 01:24:00 AM -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "omnisport" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/omnisport. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
