YEONGAM (South Korea): Unsmiling assassin Lewis Hamilton killed off Red Bull’s run of 16 pole positions in a row with the fastest lap in qualifying for McLaren at the Korean Formula One Grand Prix on Saturday.

The pole was the first for McLaren since Hamilton took the top slot in Canada in June last year, 27 races ago, and came in the team’s 700th Grand Prix.

Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel, who became the sport’s youngest double world champion in Japan last weekend at the age of 24, qualified second and 0.222 slower.

McLaren’s Jenson Button was third and Mark Webber fourth in the other Red Bull.

Hamilton’s feat ended Red Bull’s hopes of beating the record of 24 successive poles set by Williams in 1992/93. It also provided an immediate reply to those increasingly vocal critics questioning his state of mind in a nightmare season.

“It’s probably one of the first positives I’ve had in a while,” said a muted Hamilton, who has been absent from the podium in the past five races in a season full of crashes and controversies.

The 2008 world champion professed himself happy, even if he scarcely smiled and his voice reflected no great joy, in the post-qualifying news conference.

“I am very proud of what the team have been able to achieve in the last few races,” said the Briton who has been out-performed by Japanese GP winner Button in the latter half of the season. Vettel had been on pole for 12 of the previous 15 races and, despite the rare setback, can still beat Nigel Mansell’s 1992 record of 14 in a single season.

The German had beaten Button by nine thousandths of a second to pole at Suzuka. (Reuters)

YEONGAM: Sahara Force India drivers put up a strong show in the qualifying session today as Paul di Resta secured ninth place on the grid and Adrian Sutil 10th for Sunday’s Korean Grand Prix here.

Resta’s single untimed lap in Q3 moved him to ninth ahead team mate Sutil, who did not venture out as a strategy to save tyres for the race.

“It’s good to make Q3 and it puts me in a strong position tomorrow, especially starting from the clean side of the grid. For the race the important thing is to be aggressive with our strategy because there are some fast cars behind us, including a Mercedes, and we need to work hard to keep them at bay. That won’t be easy because I expect the DRS zone to be quite effective here,” Resta said.

Sutil defended his decision of not doing any lap in Q3. (PTI)

LONDON: Former Pakistan captain Salman Butt insisted that he never asked bowlers Mohammad Asif or Mohammad Aamer to cheat during a Test match against England last year, a British court heard on Friday during a trial for alleged spot-fixing.

Butt and Asif, who arrived two hours late for court due to illness, are facing charges of conspiracy to cheat, and conspiracy to obtain and accept corrupt payments.

“There’s no way I could tell Aamer or Asif (to cheat),” the court heard Butt saying in the police interview.

“They are the two players that most teams would want to have. When we pick our team those are the first two names that we have to write.”

In the first police interview, in which Butt described Majeed’s subsequently accurate predictions of the three no-balls as “a freak occurrence”, he said he never took money corruptly and insisted his former agent Majeed had no influence over him, contrary to what Majeed said on the News of the World’s secret tapes.

“I don’t think anybody could influence me to cheat my country,” Butt said. “I play this game for the love of the game and for the love of my country.

Kaneria rubbishes

Butt’s claims

Pakistan’s Danish Kaneria has taken exception to the statement given by banned skipper Salman Butt during the spot-fixing trial in London that he was introduced to agent Mazhar Majeed by the leg-spinner.

“I don’t know what sort of rubbish Salman Butt is talking about. I don’t know this fellow Mazhar Majeed and have had no sort of contact with him. I have instructed my lawyer in London to initiate proceedings to file damages against Butt,” Kaneria said on Saturday.

He made it clear that he was flabbergasted by Butt’s claims about him introducing Majeed to other players.

“It is all rubbish… I don’t know what sort of game this fellow (Butt) is trying to play but he is under oath in the trial and he is telling white lies. He has already been exposed for his activities and apparently he has not learnt his lesson,” Kaneria said.

The leggie, who is also facing issues with the Pakistan Cricket Board over clearance for national selection, insisted that he will not allow Butt to taint his image. (Agencies)

New Delhi: Former Pakistan skipper Wasim Akram feels that Gautam Gambhir should get back to opening the innings for India instead of batting at the number three position.

With the Indian team management preferring to go with Ajinkya Rahane and Parthiv Patel up the order after their decent outings in England, regular opener Gambhir was left with no option but to bat at number three in the first ODI against England in Hyderabad on Friday, but Akram firmly believed that the Delhi left-hander should return to his usual position.

“I think the team management sees that Gambhir’s future in the playing XI is at number three, but I would have definitely played him as an opener.

“As a bowler you would enjoy bowling to a hit-and-miss kind of batsman because you know sooner rather than later you will be able to get the better of him. But Gambhir is one player who plays proper strokes and with his ability he can win you matches on his own if he bats the 50 overs,” Akram said.

Despite fielding a rookie attack, India managed a thumping 126-run win over England, leaving the legendary bowler impressed.

“Although the wicket was helpful, the inexperienced India bowlers bowled really well. (Ravichandran) Ashwin is hard to hit in such conditions. I do not see him lose his ODI spot in the days to come. Umesh (Yadav), I have said repeatedly, the guy has got pace and he runs in well. He has a very good yorker too. He has got a bright future for India,” Akram said.

“It is now time India uses this set of bowlers with Varun Aaron in the mix as well. We saw the combination in England got thrashed so the selectors have made the correct decision to play this bunch of bowlers now,” the 45-year old told ESPN Mobile.

Impressed with India’s massive win, their second biggest over England in terms of runs, Akram said the home team is only going to get better.

“India will only get better and better with each game. They have announced a strong comeback with this win. Even though the big players were missing, they looked like a team that gels well. Everything was working for them, they looked very good,” he observed. (PTI)

SHANGHAI:In-form Andy Murray is just one win away from a third straight title after crushing Japan’s Kei Nishikori to seal a place in the Shanghai Masters final where he will face comeback king David Ferrer.

The British second seed and defending champion was overwhelming favourite going into the clash Saturday against 47th-ranked Nishikori and showed his superior class, coasting to a 6-3, 6-0 win under lights at the Qi Zhong stadium.

Earlier, Ferrer battled back from a set down for the third consecutive match to beat Feliciano Lopez 6-7 (5/7), 6-3, 6-3 in an all-Spanish semi-final.

Ferrer, who came into the match with a 1-6 losing record in hard court head-to-heads against 28th-ranked Lopez, said he had refocused after losing the opening set.

“When I lost the first set, I tried to forget the tiebreak and I tried to focus again. I played better in the second and the third. I served better,” Ferrer said.

World number four Murray, who will replace Roger Federer as number three if he wins Sunday’s final, broke twice in the first set, winning 100 percent of points on his first serve.

Kei Nishikori returns a shot against Andy Murray in their semi-final match in the Shanghai Rolex Masters today

In the second set the 24-year-old Briton, coming into the tie on a 13-match winning streak, including titles in Bangkok and Tokyo, broke in the second game and demolished his opponent.

Murray said that leapfrogging Federer to reach number three in the rankings would be a step in the right direction but was not his ultimate goal.

It would mean the Swiss great would slump to his lowest ranking in more than eight years.

Federer is missing from Shanghai and will therefore garner no points, at the same time losing all his 600 points earned for finishing as runner-up last year in the 12-month rolling rankings.

Murray on the other hand would earn 1,000 points should he defend his Shanghai Masters crown on Sunday, meaning he would leapfrog Federer into third place in Monday’s new weekly rankings.

“It would be nice to finish the year off as number three if I can because that would be the highest ranking I finished at. It’s not the ultimate goal, but it’s a step in the right direction.”

The Scot has been ranked as high as number two but his highest year-end ranking is number four. (Agencies)

New Delhi: Churchill Brothers on Saturday regained the Durand Cup after a gap of one year by defeating Prayag United 5-4 via tie-breaker, here.

Having dominated the proceedings for the better part of the match, the defending champions were let down when their key player Yusif Yakubu’s final shot failed to find the net. It was then left for Denzel Franco to coolly slot home the final shot to win the 124th edition of the tournament.

In the tie-breaker Kayne Vincent, Mohammed Rafique, Bello Rasaq, Malsawntluanga found the target for Prayag while Laalrindika Ralte, MP Zakeer, Bineesh Balan, Anton and Franco were all on target.

Prayag coach Sanjay Sen tried to gamble with Somnath Khanra for the tie-breakers, replacing regular keeper Abhijit Mondal, but the reserve goalie showed poor anticipation as his dives were never on correct side.

Prayag should have won the match in regulation time but for the inept performance of their frontline players, especially Joshimar Martins, who spurned chances like a millionaire.

The first half was dominated by Prayag United who, on three occasions, had a clear sight of goal, but an alert Churchill goalkeeper Felix D’Souza thwarted all the attempts.

The first one was in the opening minute when Lukaram James Singh kept an accurate low centre which Denson Devadas headed. Felix was equal to the task foiling the attempt.

The best chance, however, came in the 18th minute when James’s corner found an unmarked Arnab with an open sight of goal, but his nod wasn’t powerful enough and it also lacked the required angle that would have got United their lead.

The absence of skipper Beto had an adverse effect on Churchill’s performance as they failed to conjure moves and the supply line was cut off as a result.

On one occasion Ndibuisi Opara entered the box with United custodian Abhijit Mondal at his mercy. But Mondal showed nice anticipation as he came out of his charge to save his team.

The profligacy of Josimar Martins upfront was another reason for United not getting the lead. (PTI)

Kolkata: Beleaguered Mohun Bagan chief football coach Stephen David Darby resigned on Saturday, protesting the constitution of a three-member technical committee by the club management to monitor practice and give inputs on team building.

“Yes, I have received his resignation letter,” club general secretary Anjan Mitra told IANS.

Darby, who was appointed coach four months ago replacing Subhas Bhowmick, said he found the presence of the technical committee unacceptable.

“I have resigned form the position of coach as I am unable to work with the technical committee,” Darby said in an SMS to the media.

The Bagan management, which was cut up with the coach after the club’s disastrous showing in the recent Federation Cup, appointed the three-member panel comprising former India internationals Chuni Goswami, Prashanta Banerjee and Satyajit Chatterjee Oct 10.

The committee was slated to start functioning from Oct 24. The development comes after Bagan’s unceremonious ouster from the group league stage of the Federation Club – a tournament they have won 13 times – with defeats to rookies Royal Wahingdoh and Lajong. Mohun Bagan got only one point from the three outings.

There was lot of speculation then that Darby could face the axe. (IANS)