Armaan scores points at Brands
Brands Hatch: India’s Armaan Ebrahim ended his points drought with a ninth place finish in the ninth round of the FIA Formula 2 Championship here today. Starting 15th on the grid, the 22-year old Armaan quickly gained places to move to ninth where he stayed to score two points and take his tally to eight in the championship. Armaan, who had picked up six points by finishing seventh in the second round at Silverstone in April, said, “I am pleased that I picked up some points. We had an issue with the turbo which we changed last evening after the free practice session and it made some difference to my straight-line speed that I didn’t have in the previous rounds. “Going into the qualifying, we made a mistake of running the new tyres on low pressure, something we won’t repeat tomorrow for the second qualifying. I started in a funny position on the grid because of the slope. I lost a couple of places at the start but made places thereafter.” (PTI)
Chelsea to sign Spain’s Romeu
BANGKOK: Chelsea have agreed terms with Barcelona to sign Spanish defensive midfielder Oriol Romeu but the Premier League club is unlikely to formalise the deal for some time, manager Andre Villas-Boas said on Saturday. Romeu is currently on national team duty with Spain at the Under 20 World Cup in Colombia, which runs from July 29-Aug. 20, and would need to pass a medical and agree personal terms with the London club. Villas-Boas said the 19-year-old would be ideal in bolstering the midfield with Ghanian Michael Essien ruled out for as long as six months to recover from knee surgery after he sustained a cruciate ligament injury. “It’s a sector in which we’re struggling with numbers, not only after Michael’s injury,” Villas-Boas told a news conference in Bangkok during Chelsea’s pre-season Asian tour. (Agencies)
Norway cancels matches after attack
OSLO: All top-flight Norwegian soccer matches this weekend have been cancelled after gun and bomb attacks that killed at least 91 people, the Norwegian FA (NFF) said in a statement on Saturday. Seven people were killed in a bomb explosion in the Norwegian capital, and at least 84 more died when a gunman opened fire during a political summer camp held by the Labour party on the island of Utoeya on Friday. “As a mark of respect for all who are affected by the disaster the NFF has decided to postpone the scheduled matches,” the statement said. The statement added that regional authorities and organisers could choose whether or not to go ahead with amateur matches, and that the cancelled matches will be rescheduled next week. (Agencies)