Max Verstappen demands journo leave media session
SUZUKA (Japan), March 26: Max Verstappen ordered a journalist to “get out” of a scheduled media session at Formula 1’s Japanese Grand Prix on Thursday after objecting to a question he asked last year.“I’m not speaking before he’s leaving,” Verstappen said, indicating reporter Giles Richards of British newspaper The Guardian, as the question-and-answer session was due to begin in Red Bull’s hospitality area.Richards approached the table where Verstappen was sitting and tried to plead his case. Verstappen told him to “get out” and Richards left.Verstappen indicated he objected to a question Richards asked in December after the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.Richards asked Verstappen whether losing out to Lando Norris by two points for the title might lead him to regret an incident earlier in the year when he collided with George Russell at the Spanish Grand Prix. That earned Verstappen a time penalty which cost the Dutch driver valuable points.“You forget all the other stuff that happened in my season. The only thing you mention is Barcelona. I knew that would come,” Verstappen answered.“You’re giving me a stupid grin now. I don’t know. Yeah, it’s part of racing at the end. You live and learn. The championship is one of 24 rounds. I’ve also had a lot of early Christmas presents given to me in the second half, so you can also question that.” Four-time champion Verstappen heads into Sunday’s race at Suzuka, the third of the season, after a difficult start to the year. (AP)
KITG: Swimmer Manikanta completes golden hat-trick
RAIPUR, March 26: Karnataka swimmer Manikanta L completed a hat-trick of gold medals, dominating the 200m individual medley while Odisha’s Anjali Munda clinched her second consecutive yellow metal in the women’s event on day two of the Khelo India Tribal Games here on Thursday.Hosts Chhattisgarh also had a reason to rejoice as local hope Anushka Bhagat added a second silver to her tally, finishing second in the women’s 200m IM race.Manikanta, who had won the 100m breaststroke and 50m butterfly gold on the opening day, continued to dominate the field as he won the 200m IM race with a time of 2:25.93s.Tripura’s Riyaj Tripura finished second with a time of 2:34.04s while Kanhu Soren (Odisha) won the bronze with a time of 2:36.21s.Anjali, who had won the 200m freestyle gold on Wednesday, clinched the women’s 200m IM gold with a time of 2:53.82s with Anushka clinching the silver with a time of 2:59.33s. The bronze medal went to Anjali Mallick of Odisha (3:06.13s).Karnataka lead the medals tally with six gold and two silver while Odisha are second with three gold, one silver and four bronze medals.In the weightlifting competition, Assam’s Monikha Sonowal and Mizoram’s Isak Malsawmtluanga braved through injury concerns to come up with a solid performance to clinch gold medals in the women’s 48kg and men’s 60 category, respectively. Monikha came to the KITG carrying a knee injury while Malsawmtlunga had to fight through a niggling back injury to put their respective states on the medals table.Monikha dominated the women’s 48kg event by lifting 57kg in snatch and 75kg in clean & jerk to clinch the gold medal with a total of 132 kg.Deepa Rani Mallik of Odisha (120kg) and Alaaska Aleena of Andaman and Nicobar Islands (1116kg) bagged the silver and bronze respectively. (PTI)
