MONDAY, JULY 21, 2014 SPORTS Rosberg bags German GP

HOCKENHEIM: World championship leader completed the happiest two weeks of his life yesterday when he won the German Grand Prix. On a day of home celebrations, Rosberg cruised to an accomplished victory for Mercedes to increase his lead ahead of Mercedes team-mate in this year’s championship to 14 points. “It’s fantastic,” said Rosberg. “It’s an amazing feeling to win at home. It’s a very special day. This weekend with pole and the win is awesome. “I didn’t expect such a big advantage in the race.” Rosberg added that he had one worrying moment during his steady drive to victory. It came when spun and stalled his Force India on the start-finish straight, a mishap that threatened a return of the and the loss of his carefully-built advantage. “I definitely got a bit worried when I saw Sutil out there, as I thought it would be an SC,” he said. “That would have made it more difficult. But it was a great finish for me in the end.” The 29-year-old German, son of original and 1982 champion Keke Rosberg, came home a comfortable winner 20.7 seconds ahead of Valtteri Bottas of Williams at the end of an enthralling 67-lap contest. It was the Williams team’s 300th podium finish in and confirmed their recovery from a long period in the doldrums as a front- GERMANY: Mercedes-AMG’s German driver and race winner Nico Rosberg (center) celebrates next to sec- running outfit again. They were among seven Mercedes powered teams in the top ten. ond placed Williams’ Finnish driver Valtteri Bottas (left) and Mercedes’ British driver Lewis Hamilton Hamilton came home third just 1.8 seconds behind (right) after the German Formula One Grand Prix. — AFP Bottas, ahead of defending four time champion Sebastian Bottas, who was third in Austria and second at Silverstone second Force India. Vettel of Red Bull, two-time champion of two weeks ago. “It was not easy and required input from all Rosberg now has 190 points and leads Hamilton on 176 Ferrari and Australian , in the second Red the engineers. Thanks to all the fans. I saw many Finnish flags by 14 points while Bottas’ brilliant effort helped Williams Bull. Rosberg’s win, also his first podium appearance at a so thank you.” Bottas also became the first Williams driver to overtake Ferrari in the constructors’ championship, rising to German race, came after a week in which he had married his record three successive podium finishes since Juan Pablo third behind Mercedes and Red Bull. long-term girlfriend Vivian Sibold, signed an extended con- Montoya in 2003. The race was filled with spectacle from first to last, start- tract with Mercedes and celebrated Germany’s World Cup Hamilton was left not knowing if he should laugh or cry. “I ing with an opening lap collision that saw Magnussen collide victory. It was his fourth win of the season and the seventh had great fun. I did as good as I could. It was hard to get with at the opening corner, pitching Massa of his career, but even such joyful supremacy was overshad- through the pack safely and I had a little bit of a collision upside down in his Williams before his car barrel-rolled to a owed in an incident-filled race by the bold passing pace of with Jenson (Button),” said Hamilton. “I thought he was going halt. It was Massa’s third opening lap elimination this year. “I Hamilton, who started 20th on the grid following his crash in to open the door which he has done a couple of times lately, am ok,” he said. qualifying. but that was my bad judgement. “The accident was a little bit more scary watching than The Englishman delivered a thrilling series of moves on It was hard to overtake so I’m glad to get some points being inside. I just saw everything the other way around, but GERMANY: Mercedes-AMG’s German driver Nico Rosberg (left) leads his way through the field, but in the end was unable to grab today.” Another German, Nico Hulkenberg of Force India fin- I am fine.” After that, there were collisions and scrapes aplen- the pack during the German Formula One Grand Prix at the second place in the closing laps as Bottas hung on. “I feel ished seventh ahead of Button and his McLaren team-mate, ty and a frightening fire that saw Russian rookie racing circuit. — AFP really happy to be third time in a row on podium,” said Kevin Magnussen and Sergio Perez who finished 10th in the wriggle hurriedly to escape his blazing Toro Rosso. — AFP Team Shikan crowned Red Bull Winning 5 champion

KUWAIT: Soccer is all around these days and the best soccer players of Kuwait met at Hasan Abul’s Training Center for a creative and innovative soccer tourna- ment: Red Bull Winning 5. 16 teams out of 64, who qualified from 2 qualifiers, participated to the nation- al final at the Hasan Abul Training Center where members of team “Shikan” were the last men stand- ing and won the title of Kuwait’s Red Bull Winning 5 champion. Red Bull Winning 5 winners went through several phases and were able to eliminate their opponents one after another, reaching the final game against team the “Dream Team”. The crowds witnessed great performances that lead team Venus International to the title. Whenever one goal was scored, the other team lost one player and so many games in the quali- fiers just ended after few minutes, whereby some teams were able to beat their rivals immediately. The final round was different where intense and exciting action accompanied the performances of both teams who showed exceptional skills in the aim to win the title However, thrill and excitement were not bound to the final game only, for the adventure started with dual games of the 16 teams coming from previous qualifiers where 64 fought for the 16 final places. And given the competition is based on elimination, the number of teams decreased gradually while the level highly increased showing an impressive improve- ment in Kuwait’s for the most popular sports in the world. Each team of 5 players with no goalkeeper, had to eliminate a player from the opposite team upon scoring a goal. The games consisted of 10 min- utes each, and ended whenever one of the teams was completely eliminated. Red Bull Winning 5 winners expressed their extreme joy for winning this unique competition that gave the opportunity to demonstrate their football skills at a unique tournament.