MotoGP 2016: Qatar Grand Prix

All the changes in MotoGP off season, tyres, electronics, couldn’t stop the man who won the last race of 2015 from claiming victory in the opening race of 2016. Yamaha reigning world champion fought past a pair of fast starting Ducatis to comfortably head home Andrea Dovizioso, who won a last lap tussle with Marc Marquez and Valentino Rossi to finish second.

Honda Dani Pedrosa came home fifth from Suzuki Maverick Vinales with Australia Jack Miller coming home inside the world championship points in 14^th. Lorenzo kissed his rear tyre after he rolled into parc ferme at the end of the race, admitting his choice of Michelin soft rear tyre had been a gamble. Lorenzo surged into the lead from pole position as his fellow front raw starters Marquez and Vinales were swallowed up by a pair of fast starting Ducatis.

The two red machines used their formidable horsepower to blast into the lead at the end of the first lap, lannone and Dovizioso surging past Lorenzo as they charged down the front straight. The leading group of five pulled away from Pedrosa and Vinales, holding their order until Dovizioso began to challenge lannone for the lead. The two red bikes swapped places several times until lannone suddenly crashed out on Lap 5.

Australian Jack Miller made his traditional roaring gateway from 18^th on the grid to be 14^th by the end of opening lap. While Lorenzo leaves Qatar with 25 points and a clear psychological edge over his rivals, he was not the biggest winner at Losail. That honor goes to MotoGP new tyre manufacturer Michelin, whose tyres were strong enough to allow the Spaniard to set the fastest lap of the race on the third to last tour. The next round of the MotoGP world Championship is at the Termas do Rio Hondo circuit in Argentina on April 3.

Nico Rosberg won Australian Grand Prix 2016

Ferrari seized control at the start of Sunday 2016 Formula 1 Rolex Australian Grand Prix, but a mid-race stoppage after a huge accident involving Fernando Alonso turned the race on its head, helping Mercedes Nico Rosberg to what had looked an unlikely victory. Team mate Lewis Hamilton recovered from a nightmare start to finish second, while Sebastian Vettel who led into Turn 1 and looked very much in charge prior to the red flags had to settle for third after 57 laps of Albert Park.

Local hero Daniel Ricciardo took a popular fourth place for Red Bull, well clear of the Williams of Felipe Massa, while Romain Grosjean gave the all new Haas team points on their debut with sixth. Force India Nico Hulkenberg, Williams Valtteri Bottas, and the Toro Rosso duo of Carlos Sainz and Max Verstappen completed the top ten, with Renault Jolyon Palmer narrowly missing out on a point in his Maiden Grand Prix.

McLaren Alonso and Haas Esteban Gutierrez meanwhile were thankfully able to walk away from a huge crash at Turn 3 which caused the red flags to fly on lap 19. Up until that moment it was Ferrari who held the cards, Vettel and Raikkonen having burst between the two Silver Arrows to snatch a one two away from the start.

Massa was an uneventful fifth, while behind Grosjean sprang a sensation in sixth, giving Haas points in their debut race. Sergio Perez was 13^th for Force India, while Jenson Button looked good early on but faded to 14^th for McLaren. Felipe Nasr could not repeat 2015 fifth place for Sauber and finished 15^th as team mate Marcus Ericsson retired with transmission problems. Red Bull Daniel Kvyat hit problems and retired even before getting to the grid. 

Asia Cup T20

A thunderstorm and a Mahmudullah squall came in India’s way but a calm chase from Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli helped India make light work of their chase of 121 that brought them their sixth Asia Cup Title.

Dhawan and Kohli added 94 runs for the second wicket before MS Dhoni who walked in bat with India needing 22 off 14 balls, quite fittingly, polished off the chase with an unbeaten six ball 20 as India won with seven balls to spare. Kohli credentials in run chases received another fillip as finished unbeaten on 41. Halfway through the protracted game, India were left with scoring at eight runs per over.

They were denied in the second over as Rohit Sharma was snaffled by Soumya Sarkar at slip off Amin Hossain as Bangladesh kept things tight upfront. Dhawan and Kohli took stock of the situation till the fourth over, before wading into new comer Abu Hider for three fours to kickstart the chase. Shakib gave away 15 runs in the next over. Dhawan helped himself to a half century, even as the Bangladesh bowlers at times tried to do too much, and paid the price.

Shikhar Dhawan was named as the man of the match and Sabbir Rahman was names as the man of the tournament for maximum runs. Virat Kohli was names as the coolest player of the match. This was India’s sixth Asia cup title and overall 10^th win in T20s this year out of 11 matches. India also ranked No 1 in T20s. With World Cup going to start after a week time, this is right time for India as they got right combination in team.

Patna Pirates won Pro Kabaddi 2016 Title

Patna Pirates recorded a maiden title triumph as they once again stamped their authority in the tournament with a 31-28 victory over U Mumba in the final of Star Sports Pro Kabaddi. The third season of the tournament ended on a high note and Patna Pirates continued on their winning sequence.

Rohit Kumar of Patna Pirates was awarded Best Raider and Mohit Chillar of U Mumba the Best Defender of the match. Rishank Devadiga of U Mumba finished a dream season as the most successful raider with 106 points. Earlier in the evening, Puneri Paltan beat Bengal Warriors in the battle for the third place, raider Deepak Niwas Hooda top scoring for the Puneri Paltan with 9 points.

The Final in the Capital, attended by over 10,000 spectators was a fitting tribute to over a month of enthralling action of Pro Kabaddi. With the players, franchises and audiences hungry for more of the indigenous sport, the wait until June 2016 will be a long one. Led ably by Manpreet Singh with Rohit Kumar and Sandeep Narwal at the forefront of attack and defense, Patna Pirates dashed the hopes of defending champions and three times finalist U Mumba in a pulsating final.

Patna Pirates had established a 19-11 lead at the break which in the final analysis set U Mumba back. A do-or-die raid by substitute Deepak Narwal with the scores at 29-28 in favor of U Mumba titled the scales for the last time in Patna Pirates favor. Anup Kumar, the U Mumba Captain, still had the last opportunity to redeem the situation but his desperate lunge to get D Suresh Kumar for a touch saw him go off the court and the Patna Pirates captured the title and a cash award of Rupees 1 Crore.