Lewis Hamilton wins German Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton extended his championship lead to 19 points heading into the summer break with dominant victory in Germany, as team mate Nico Rosberg was beaten into fourth place by the Red Bulls of Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen.

He may have lost out on pole position, but from the moment the lights went out at the start Hamilton was in complete command at Hockenheim. As polesitter Nico Rosberg was slow away, Hamilton went straight into the lead as the German also fell behind the Red Bulls of Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo, the Dutchman going round the outside of his Team mate in Turn 1 to claim second.

Under Pressure, Rosberg clung to fourth place, just fending off the Ferraris of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen. It was soon clear that this was Hamilton race to lose, but his pit stops went perfectly and he never lost the head. Hamilton now has 217 points to Rosberg 198 with Ricciardo keeping third place with 133 from Raikkonen on 122, Vettel on 120 and Verstappen on 115.

In the constructor stakes, Mercedes increase their lead with 415 points as Red Bull overtakes Ferrari 256 to 242. Williams have 96, Force India 80, Toro Rosso 45 and McLaren 42.

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.

Punjab Warriors clinch HIL Title

Jaypee Punjab Warriors were today crowned Hockey India League champions as they clinched their maiden title after thrashing Kalinga Lancers 6-1 in a lop-sided summit clash here today. The Punjab based side was third time lucky as they had finished runners-up in the last two editions. They lost to Delhi Waveriders in 2014 and to Ranchi Rays Last year.

The Warriors, who had finished second in the round robin league phase, totally dominated the final match of the fourth edition of the tournament at the Astroturf Hockey Stadium. They lead 2-1 at the end of the second quarter but pumped in the two field strikes with each field goal counting as two in the final two quarters to take the game away from the reach of Kalinga Lancers.

Armaan Qureshi (4^th Minute), Matt Gohdes (39^th) and Satbir Singh (42^nd) found the target for Punjab Warriors while Captain Mortiz Fuerste scored the consolation goal for Kalinga Lancers in the 24^th minute. The Warriors forward line was too good to handle for the Lancers who had to defend their citadel for most part of the final two quarters. The match started on an attacking note as Kalinga Lancers were straightaway put under pressure by a series of attacks from Jaypee Punjab Warriors.

Earlier in the day, Delhi Waveriders got the better of defending champions Ranchi Rays 2-0 in the bronze medal play off match to finish third. The Warriors walked away with a winner’s cheque of Rs 2.50 crore along with the winner’s trophy. Kalinga Lancers pocketed a cheque of Rs 1.25 crore for finishing as runners up. The player of the tournament Award of Rs 50 lakh was awarded to Rupinder Pal Singh of Delhi Waveriders.

Mark Knowles of the Warriors walked away with the Man of the Match Award, which carried Rs 50,000. The goal of the match award of Rs 50,000 was awarded to Armaan Qureshi of the Warriors. The Emerging player of the Award of Rs 25,000 was awarded also to Armaan Qureshi. The Dhruv Batra Maximum Goals award of Rs 20 Lakh was awarded to Kalinga Lancers Glenn Turner. The Ponty Chadha Upcoming Player of the Tournament award of Rs 20 Lakh went to Sumit of Ranchi Rays.