F1: Belgian Grand Prix Updates

Let’s have a look at what’s happening in the F1 world as the teams are at one of the most spectacular track of the season the Spa fancorchamps

Just as Friday rain is expected in the qualifying session.

Micheal Schumacher will be celebrating his 20^th anniversary

Nick Heidfeld has been dropped out of the team for two race and Bruno Senna will fill his place. The Brazilian who is the nephew of the Ex F1 legend Ayrton Senna is getting his second chance in F1 circuit. Meanwhile Nick Hieldfeld has launched legal proceedings against the Renault team claiming that he has a main driver contract with the team.

My verdict: Although I’m not a big fan of Nick as he’s not a delivering any strong performance since years ( I don’t remember any of his appreciable performance since 2006) and should feel very lucky to be in the Formula One circuit but still the Renault team should have taken him in confidence regarding this matter. Let’s see what happens).

Mclaren is hoping for a better qualifying session as the track has two long starights and the Mercedes engines are regarded the best as far as top speed is concerned. I think, stage is set for a Mclaren victory but lets see which driver comes on top this time.

Tennis: Murray and Sharapova wins titles in Cincinnati Masters

It was the Briton’s first title of the season where he defeated the World Number 1 Novak Djokovic who got injured and retired from match. Whereas Russia’s Maria Sharapova defeated Jelena Jankovic 4-6, 7-6, 6-3.

Murray won the first set 6-4 and was leading the second set 3-0 when the Serb called it quit who was in clear discomfort from the very first set. Later Djokovic said that he did not wanted to risk himself for the US Open which will start on 29^th August. It was the second loss of the Serb this season, he’s having a terrific season winning the Australian Open, Wimbledon and reaching the semi final of the French open where he was defeated by Roger Federer. Murray will enter the US Open with high hopes as the conditions are very similar to those in New York.

In the women event Russia’s Maria Sharapova defeated Jelena Jankovic in a thriller which saw both the player breaking each other’s serve 8 times but the Russian came on top with a 4-6, 7-6, 6-3 victory to clinch her second title of the season prior to Rome masters.

The 24 year old Russian was leading the first set 4-1 until the Serb fought back to win the next five games and the set by 6-4. The next set went to tie-breaker, in which Sharapova overcame the Serbian to win it 7-3. The first six games of the 3^rd set were all broken by both the players until Sharapova managed to to win her serve and lead the set 4-3 and eventually the set and the match y 6-3. Sharapova will now enter the Us Open as a hot favorite.

F1: BUTTON MASTERS THE CHANGING CONDITIONS IN BUDAPEST

The Briton started his 200^th grand prix from 3^rd place and took the lead on lap 47 which was a result of brilliant strategy calls.

Vettel started off from pole and led the first four laps of the race in very tricky conditions where everyone on the field was on the intermediate tyres. Vettel from the very first lap was struggling to keep position to Hamilton who was flying behind him, he made an error in lap 4 which costed him first position to Lewis. In lap 10-11 Button managed to pass Vettel in the pits for 2^nd place. On lap 36 button started applying pressure on Hamilton and started setting faster lap times than Hamilton, which prompted Hamilton to make a early pit stop in lap 40 and it was surely the right move but what happened wrong was that he once again opted for the option tyres (the super soft compound) which proved to be a disastrous decision as the conditions did not support them at all. Meanwhile Button pitted in two laps later in lap 42 and went for the prime tyres which were the soft compound tyres and once again started closing gap on his teammate and eventually on lap 47 took the lead by overtaking him, Hamilton also had a big spin in that very lap. After that, once again it started to rain in Budapest, Mclaren asked its drivers to pit in for yet another intermediates, the manufactured Hamilton pitted in where as Button opted to stay out. This move didn’t worked for Hamilton either, as the rain lasted for only one single lap, after that Hamilton’s tyres started to fade away and he had to make another stop for tyres taking his total tally of stops to five. Button knew that he had a comfortable lead and cruised to take the chaqured flag to mark his career’s 11^th victory, second of the season. Vettel came second and added 20 precious points to strengthen his championship campaign, Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso came 3^rd, Hamilton after making all those mistakes still managed to take 4^th position ahead of Mark Webber who also gambled for the intermediates in the later part of the race. Felipe Massa brought his car in 6^th place. Paul Di Resta drove a wonderful race to take 7^th place. Nico Rosberg drove a poor race and finished 9^th, his teammate Micheal Schumacher was once again faster than him in the race but was not able to show that in the position as his race came to an early end on lap 26 due to a gear box problem.

Once again Button mastered the changing conditions and what a way to finish off your 200^th grand prix. In 2006, in this very circuit Button recorded his first grand prix win ,and guess what that was also a rain damped race. He proved the saying right once again,that who needs speed when you’ve got brain.

MY OPINION:

Button is a underrated driver. And once again it was proved that the manufactured guy (Hamilton) needs a lot more to become a complete driver. The team can help you become fast but they can’t give you BRAINS. . . Red bull all of a sudden looks off colour and Mclaren has made a clear step forward with their developments. Ferrari has been a big disappointment Alonso took 3^rd position but he was not able to fight with the front runners. Now it’s a break for a month and let’s see which team comes on top after the break in one of the most beautiful circuit of the calendar which is Spa Francorchamp on 28^th of August till then Byeeeee. . . . . . . . . . . . .

CRICKET: THE RETURN OF MALIK

Shoaib Maiik, the former Pakistan cricket team captain has been given green signal to play cricket for his country after the integral committee cleared him of the charges made against him.

The 29 year old all-rounder from Sialkot, who represented his country in 32 tests and 192 One day Internationals, will now be the part of the Pakistan cricket team for the forth coming series against Zimbabwe which will start on 1^st September. It would be good for Malik to make a return against a relatively weaker team in order to build confidence and to get into groove.

The newly appointed captain Misbah ul Haq, is also believed to be a supporter of the former captain and is also one of the reasons for his return.

MY PRIDICTION:

Being a big supporter of Shoaib Malik, I think this decision will prove to be a good one for the team. The middle order batting will get strengthened through Mailk’s inclusion of the former world number 1 all-rounder, so will be the bowling and fielding. My prediction (that I made 3-4 months ago) that Malik will return as a captain soon, didn’t came true but still I think Malik will be appointed the captain of Pakistan Cricket team for the limited over formats in the coming days.

BOXING: KHAN OVERPOWERS JUDAH TO UNIFY THE TITLES

The eyes of every boxing fan was on the event that was to take place on the 23rd of July 2011 at the Mandley Bay in Las vagas and it was the fight between the WBA Light Welterweight Champion Amir "King" Khan and the IBF light Welterweight Champion Zeb Judah. The fight was made in an attempt to unify both the titles.

Khan, 24, overwhelmingly defeated the 33 year old veteran Zeb Judah. Amir Khan was in control all through the fight and didn't made a foot wrong in the 5 round fight and eventually knocked Judah out in the 5th round with a body punch.

Khan who was fighting his third fight in the United States lashed hi speedy attack on Judah from the very first round and in the 2nd round gave Judah a strong left hander under his opponent's right eye. From there Judah got on the back foot. Khan won all the rounds convincingly by the points. in the 5th round khan gave Judah a strong right hander which made Judah bowed down a bit, Khan saw an opportunity a gave a strong right hander on the waist of the American boxer which proved to be the decisive one. That was Khan's 18th KO in 28 matches.

After the fight Khan said that he open the attact early on and was able to give some good punches in the first two rounds but after the that left hander that landed below his (Judah) eye he could clearly see that the confidence in Judah's eyes vanished away and knew that it would be over anytime. A controversy began that the the punch that KO'd judah was a low one, to that Amir said that its clear in the reply that it was right on the waist belt. talking about his future fights Amir said that he wants to fight Tim Bradly and he also offered him to split the money50-50 but still he's not willing to fight means that he's just simply scared of him(Amir) and also said that it will not be long enough when he will move into the next weight category. Judah said that he was not able to listen the count and just listened the referee say OVER!!!

In a TV show "Lopez Tonight" Amir said that he thinks that Judah was wearing the belt a bit higher and if he thinks that, that was a lower blow then he must have hihg b*lls!!!!!!

The fight clearly showed that Amir Khan is in a league of his own and that Zeb Judah was just not that good enough to handle the british sensation. Amir Khan the British boxer who belongs to Pakistani decent was successful in unifying the WBA & IBF Light Welterweight belts and is now the unified WBA & IBF Light Welterweight Champion.

Amir fought a very nice fight and didn't went that hard, sticked to his game plan which shows that he is getting matured fight by fight. In every fight we witness an improved Amir Khan. My opinion is that Amir should fight Timothy Bradley or someone else before getting his hands on Floyd Mayweather Jr.

Congratulations to Amir and wish him all the best for the future.

SAADI IS BACK. . . . . . .

After a much anticipated wait Saad Iqbal is back with his masterful comments and analysis of the things going around the World of Sports. Saad Iqbal was not able to update his blog because of his studies, but now he's on vactions and will give time to the blog. Saadiz World Of Sport (saadiz-worldofsports.blogspot.com) will soon upload some of the spectacular events that took place in past couple of weeks and which will happen in the future. So stay tuned to get the latest news and views from the expert analyst.