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Lewis Hamilton surpassed Ayrton Senna’s career haul of 65 pole positions in Formula One as he edged Mercedes team mate Valtteri Bottas in a final lap shootout to secure top spot for Sunday’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

Hamilton banished memories of a dismal qualifying session in Baku last year, when he clipped the barrier and had to settle for 10th place on the starting grid, to grab pole with a time of 1:40.593 despite running wide at Turn 16.

He will be joined in an all-Mercedes front row by Bottas, who was pipped at the death when Hamilton outpaced him in the final lap after the session had been paused by a red flag.

“That was one of the most exciting laps that I’ve had all year,” he told Sky Sports. “A lot of pressure’’. 

“The first lap I had the time but I made a mistake,” he added.

“[There was] a lot of pressure because of getting temperature in the tire but the lap just got better and better. Coming out of the last corner I was just ‘thinking please be enough’.”

The British driver is now just two behind Michael Schumacher’s overall record of 68 poles in Formula One.

“That’s how qualifying should be,” Hamilton added. “Tomorrow will be a long hard race but we’re in the best position to start.”

Sebastian Vettel had his championship lead cut to 12 points when Hamilton won in Canada earlier this month, and now faces an uphill struggle to fend off his rival again after qualifying fourth. 

“The result is okay but I’m not entirely happy,” the four-times Formula One champion said. “This morning didn’t help but it’s not an excuse.

“I’m no fan of excuses.”

Vettel was beaten to third by team mate Kimi Raikkonen in an all-Ferrari second row.

Max Verstappen dominated Friday practice but Red Bull failed to have the anticipated impact as he qualified fifth and his team mate Daniel Ricciardo was down in 10th after hitting a wall, prompting the red flag which led to the last-lap shootout.

“It’s not really nice to be in fifth,” Verstappen conceded. “In Q3 on my final lap, where it all counts, I was two tenths faster but then had a problem with my gear sync, so on the straights I was losing a lot of lap time. 

“That was very painful,” he added. “We need to get on top of that because it shouldn’t happen.”

Canadian youngster Lance Stroll, in eighth, out-qualified his fellow Williams driver Felipe Massa, who was ninth. Force India duo Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon finished sixth and seventh respectively.

Fernando Alonso, already hit with a 40-point grid penalty, failed to advance past Q1 for the first time this season, while Jolyon Palmer did not take part in qualifying after a fire in his car during Saturday morning’s practice. 

AMMAN — All of Jordan’s different age division football teams are preparing for their respective qualifiers and competitions.

Jordan’s U-23 squad will leave for Qatar for a friendly tournament from June 28-July 7 in the final phase of preparations for qualifiers of the 3rd Asian Football Confederation (AFC) U-23 Championship in 2018. 

The Kingdom was drawn in Group E in the July 19-24 qualifiers hosted by Palestine which also includes Tajikistan and Bangladesh, as 40 teams play in 10 groups with the top team from each group, in addition to the top five second place teams moving to the championship finals. 

The team played an eight-nation tournament in Dubai earlier this year where they finished third after they beat Singapore 2-0, held China 0-0, lost 1-0 to the UAE before beating Malaysia 4-0. They also meet Oman in two friendlies earlier this month.

In 2016, Jordan was eliminated from the quarterfinals of the 2016 AFC U-23 Championship and failed to make it to the top four and a possible Olympic slot as the continent’s top three advanced to the Rio Games football tournament. In the inaugural AFC U-22 Championship in 2014, Jordan took third place when they beat South Korea while Iraq won the title after defeating Saudi Arabia.

In 2015, Jordan’s U-23 squad was eliminated from the 1st West Asian U-23 Championship and in 2014 the line-up represented Jordan at the Asian Games where they made to the quarterfinals.

Furthermore, the women’s squad this week hosted Algeria in two friendlies losing the first match 1-0 but came back to win the second 3-2. On the weekend, Jordan moved back to 50th in the latest FIFA Rankings after previously losing its ranking following 18 inactive months. Among Arab teams, Tunisia is 72nd, Morocco 73rd, Algeria 76, Bahrain 78th, Egypt 81st, the UAE 83rd, Palestine 92nd, Syria 114th and Iraq 117th.

Jordan is reading to host the 2018 AFC Women’s Asian Cup and ended its Group A qualifiers with an unbeaten streak beating the Philippines 5-1, Tajikistan 10-2, Iraq 10-0, the UAE and Bahrain 6-0. 

The continent’s top eight teams will be competing in the 2018 AFC Women’s Asian Cup and the qualifiers had 21 teams playing in four groups. With Jordan technically securing a slot as host, the Philippines who came in second in the group clinched the qualifying slot from Group A, South Korea from Group B, Thailand from Group C while Vietnam moved Group D to join teams who have automatically qualified: reigning champs Japan, Australia and China.

In 2016, Jordan hosted the U-17 FIFA World Cup, the first of its kind to take place in the Middle East. Now, the Kingdom will be the first country in the west Asia zone to host the AFC Women’s Asian Cup which is held every four years, and has been won by China a total of eight of 15 times. The top five will advance to the Women’s World Cup 2019 in France.

The last time the senior team competed regionally was in 2015, when they exited the AFC Women’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament with a winless record. 

The Kingdom’s younger squads are also training for their respective Asian qualifiers. The U-19 men’s team, hosted Iraq in two friendlies this week drawing 3-3 after winning 1-0.

Jordan is set to play in Group E alongside Syria, Palestine and hosts Iran in the qualifiers, and hope to advance after they were eliminated from the qualifying rounds of the 2016 Championship. 

Jordan previously qualified to the Asian Championship four times and reached the FIFA Youth World Cup in Canada in 2007. Jordan finished fourth in 2006, but exited the group stages in 2008 and 2010 and reached the quarters in 2012. Jordan failed to qualify to the 2014 Championship. 

Similarly, the U-16 team is now preparing for their Asian qualifiers in which they will play in Group A alongside hosts Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan, Bahrain and Sri Lanka. In 2015, the U-16 squad failed to advance to the 2016 AFC U-16 Asian Championship.

LONDON — Former German tennis star Boris Becker said he was “surprised and disappointed” after being declared bankrupt by a court in London yesterday for failing to pay a “substantial” long-standing debt.

Lawyers for the three-time former Wimbledon champion pleaded with a Bankruptcy Court registrar to allow Becker a “last chance” to pay off the debt which dates back to 2015.

But Registrar Christine Derrett, who recalled watching Becker play on Centre Court, ruled there was a lack of credible evidence the outstanding payment would be forthcoming and refused to adjourn the case.

“Surprised and disappointed that Arbuthnot Latham chose to bring these proceedings against me,” Becker, 49, wrote on Twitter, referring to the bankruptcy application made by private bankers Arbuthnot Latham & Co. in connection with a judgment debt owed to them by the six-time major winner.

“This order relates to 1 disputed loan which I was due to repay in full in 1 month time! It is disappointing that my request for today’s hearing to be postponed was refused,” said Becker.

“My earnings are well publicised and it was a clear that I have the means to repay this debt.”

The German’s lawyers had argued there was sufficient evidence to show that he would be able to pay the debt soon through a refinancing arrangement, involving remortgaging a property in Mallorca, which was expected to raise 6 million euro (RM28.7 million).

His advocate told the registrar his instructions from Becker were that it was expected the deal would be approved by a Spanish bank in approximately one month.

Becker’s lawyer said his client was not likely to benefit from bankruptcy and it could have an adverse effect on his “image”.

But the judge responded: “He should have thought about that a long time ago.”

She added: “It is not often the case that a professional person has a judgment [debt] outstanding against them since October 2015. This is a historic debt.”

“One has the impression of a man with his head in the sand.”

Becker split with former World No. 1 Novak Djokovic last December following three successful years together, the Serb winning six of his 12 Grand Slam titles with Becker as coach.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga joined the exodus of the seeds at the Aegon Championships after being outplayed by Luxembourg’s Gilles Muller at a boiling hot Queen’s Club on Wednesday.

The Frenchman, seeded five, had no answer to left-hander Muller’s swinging serve as he bowed out 6-4 6-4.

Top seed and five-times champion Andy Murray, French Open runner-up Stan Wawrinka and 2016 Wimbledon runner-up Milos Raonic all suffered surprise defeats on Tuesday.

The 34-year-old Muller won the grasscourt title in Den Bosch on Sunday and has continued that form on the London lawns.

With on-court temperatures nudging 40oC on Wednesday, Tsonga looked as listless as the sweltering crowd as Muller dominated behind his serve to claim his second title of the year, having never won one before.

He needed one break of serve in each set to subdue former runner-up Tsonga and will move on to face either Murray’s conqueror Jordan Thompson of Australia or American Sam Querrey in the quarter-finals.

American Donald Young also progressed, beating Serbia’s Viktor Troicki in straight sets. 

Murray crashed to one of the worst defeats of his glittering career on Tuesday as Australian World No. 90 Thompson ended his reign as Queen’s champion with an astonishing 7-6 (7/4), 6-2 first round victory.

Making the 30-year-old’s humiliation even worse, Thompson, originally beaten in the qualifying rounds, was only playing as a last minute replacement for the injured Aljaz Bedene.

It was the worst possible preparation for Wimbledon, with the grass-court Grand Slam set to get under way on July 3.

Having reached the French Open semifinals earlier this month, Murray must have hoped he was back on track after his poor run during an injury-plagued first half of the season.

But instead the three-time Grand Slam winner plans to go back to the practice courts with coach Ivan Lendl in a last-ditch bid to find a solution to his struggles.

“I said before the tournament there was still a lot of work to be done, and after the French Open I knew that I was still quite far from where I needed to be,” Murray said.

“One tournament doesn’t change all of what had gone on just beforehand. So that’s why I got back on the practice court quite soon after the French.

“But I was certainly feeling better in the build-up here than I was going into the French. I would have expected to have played and done a bit better.”

Murray has now failed to get past the second round in three of his last four tournaments. and has lost before the quarter-finals six times this year.

It is a remarkable crisis for a player who just eight months ago was sitting on top of the world after a golden year that including titles at Wimbledon, the Olympics and the ATP Tour Finals.

Confidence factor

Murray looks bereft of form and focus at present and he conceded a lack of confidence was a factor.

“I don’t feel like loads of my game has changed, but obviously right now I’m not playing as well as I was 12 months ago,” he said.

“Most of that comes down to confidence in matches. It’s not so much that I have changed my serve or my technique.

“It’s just when you’re playing a lot of matches and winning consistently helps you make better decisions at important moments.

LONDON — Milos Raonic’s Wimbledon preparations suffered a major setback today as the world number six crashed to a shock Queen’s Club first-round defeat against Australian wildcard Thanasi Kokkinakis.

Raonic came agonisingly close to a golden summer on grass last year when he reached the Queen’s and Wimbledon finals, only to lose to Andy Murray on both occasions.

But the Canadian’s hopes of warming up for Wimbledon with another strong showing at Queen’s were wrecked by Kokkinakis’s stunning 7-6 (7/5), 7-6 (10/8) triumph on a baking hot afternoon in west London.

Kokkinakis needed a wild card from the tournament organisers to make the Queen’s main draw after his ranking plunged to 698 following an abdominal strain that sidelined him for 18 weeks.

Finally fit again, the 21-year-old secured his first Tour level match win for 21 months at s-Hertogenbosch last week, but even so he surely wouldn’t have expected to clinch the best win of his promising career just days later.

“You don’t want to know about the extensive list of injures I’ve had. That was 22 months out of the game,” Kokkinakis said.

“I can’t wait to play in the next round.”

Kokkinakis faces Nicolas Mahut or Daniil Medvedev in the last 16.

Raonic only reached the last 16 at the recent French Open, but clay doesn’t suit his big-serving game as well as the manicured lawns of London.

Having recently hired former Grand Slam doubles champion Mark Knowles as his coach, Raonic was looking to make a statement of intent at Queen’s.

Instead, it was Kokkinakis who announced his own credentials as a future grass-court force in memorable fashion.

“I was just a little too passive. I was letting him dictate too much,” Raonic said.

“Obviously the disappointment is high right now, but whatever the result was this week, I don’t think that’s really going to change my chances at Wimbledon.”

Showing no signs of being intimidated by Raonic’s power game, Kokkinakis matched him blow for blow in the first set and held his nerve to win the tie-break.

Kokkinakis’s close friend Nick Kyrgios was cheering his compatriot on from courtside 24 hours after being forced to withdraw from the tournament due to injury.

Kyrgios said he would spend his time in a local Wimbledon pub while he is out of action and Kokkinakis could be forgiven for joining him for a celebratory drink after this famous victory.

Trailing 6-3 in the second-set tie-break, he saved three set points and, on his third match point, finished off Raonic with a forehand winner.

Pakistan’s Champions Trophy success not only defied the odds, but also suggested the mercurial side have found the nucleus of a squad capable of returning to England in 2019 confident of claiming a second 50-over World Cup title.

The South Asians arrived in Britain for the eight-team, One-Day International  (ODI) tournament as the lowest-ranked side, packed with players still trying to find their feet at the highest level and given little hope of emerging victorious.

Their confidence was dented when they suffered a thumping loss to arch-rivals and neighbours India in their opening match of the campaign and the limp performance put Pakistan’s chances of reaching the semifinals in severe jeopardy.

However, they quickly silenced their critics by defeating top-ranked South Africa and Sri Lanka to reach the last four, where they stunned previously unbeaten hosts England before outclassing defending champions India in Sunday’s final.

“Great team effort! After losing the first game, we were nowhere,” all-rounder Mohammad Hafeez told the official broadcasters after the team’s 180-run win over India.

“We were in the knockout stage but no one gave us a chance. The way we showed character, this is for the nation. They have been waiting for this for a long, long time. This is the least we could do.”

The most recent global success for Pakistan in one-day cricket before Sunday was the 1992 World Cup win in Australia and New Zealand, when another unfancied side, led by talismanic all-rounder Imran Khan, beat England in the final in Melbourne.

Since the departure of captains Misbah-ul-Haq and Younis Khan from the 50-over format in 2015, Pakistan slumped to ninth in ODI rankings and barely managed to qualify for the Champions Trophy, contested by the top eight sides in the rankings.

The decline cost Azhar Ali the captaincy and Sarfraz Ahmed, the Twenty20 skipper, was elevated to the role in February.

With their inability to host top international sides on home soil due to security concerns and a spot-fixing controversy blighting their domestic T20 league, Sunday’s win provided the country’s cricket fans with some much-needed cheer.

The victory was made even more remarkable when recent form is taken into consideration as Pakistan had also lost their last seven matches against India in ICC events before the final.

Dangerous attack

“After the [first] India match, one thing I said to my boys was ‘the tournament hasn’t finished yet’,” Sarfraz told reporters. “It’s a very young team and credit goes to them and the management. 

“It’s a very important boost for us to win this. When we arrived here, we just played like we have nothing to lose. Credit goes to my batsmen, my bowlers and the team management. 

“I think it’s a very proud moment for me, my team and my country.”

The Champions Trophy success will also boost Pakistan’s hopes for a second World Cup title when they return to England and Wales in 2019.

The country has a tradition of producing exciting fast bowling talent and 25-year-old Mohammad Amir and Junaid Khan, 27, can be expected to spearhead the pace attack at the next World Cup.

Add deadly accurate medium paceman Hasan Ali, the player of the Champions Trophy, and 18-year-old leg-spinner Shadab Ali to the mix, and Pakistan have a bowling unit with enough menace to trouble any side in the world.

With Babar Azam and Fakhar Zaman also coming of age, Pakistan’s batting lineup appears to have the right blend of youth and experience, boosted by the solidity of former captains Azhar, Hafeez and Shoaib Malik.

“We want to be a little more consistent as a team,” coach Mickey Arthur said. 

“We’ve got a group of young players who are fantastic. We have to keep this momentum going. We’re happy with the brand of cricket we’re playing. 

“We’ve got two years until the 2019 World Cup. We’ve got the monkey off our back in terms of qualifying. We now have two years to identify a squad we want to take forward and give them enough game time. That’s the aim at the moment.”

LONDON — Fakhar Zaman and Mohammad Amir shone as Pakistan defied the odds to overwhelm arch-rivals India by 180 runs and pull off a major upset in the Champions Trophy final at The Oval on Sunday.

Fakhar capitalised on a lucky escape to strike a superb 114 and lift Pakistan to a commanding total of 338 for four and fast bowler Amir ripped out India’s top three batsmen before the defending champions subsided to 158 all out.

Pakistan had come into the tournament as the lowest-ranked team and lost heavily to India in its opening group match but they beat South Africa and Sri Lanka to make the semifinals where they knocked out hosts England

“Fakhar is a great impact player, he played like a champion batsman today,” Pakistan captain Sarfraz Ahmed said at the presentation ceremony.

“Amir bowled brilliantly today but all my bowlers bowled really well. We have a young team and credit to my boys.

After India had won the toss, Fakhar, on three, was caught by wicketkeeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni off a Jasprit Bumrah no-ball and the 27-year-old left-hander took full advantage to make his first international century.

He shared a fluent century opening partnership with Azhar Ali (59), the pair unleashing a barrage of crisp attacking strokes all around a sun-kissed ground

Azhar also continued his fine form, reaching fifty off 61 balls before he was run out following a mix-up with his partner

Fakhar lofted Ravindra Jadeja over long-on for six and got to three figures by sweeping Ravichandran Ashwin to the boundary.

He celebrated with an extravagant twirl of his bat and kissed the turf as the Pakistan supporters sensed an unlikely win.

Fakhar hit 12 fours and three sixes before skying a catch off Hardik Pandya, but Pakistan had the perfect platform to make the highest total in a Champions Trophy final.

Three sixes

Babar Azam chipped in with a solid 46 and Mohammad Hafeez struck three sixes in a punchy unbeaten 57 that left India needing to produce the highest successful run chase in the tournament’s history to lift the trophy for the third time

Within three overs, however, their reply was in tatters as Amir produced a devastating spell of bowling

He trapped Rohit Sharma lbw for nought with a swinging delivery and removed India talisman Virat Kohli with another fine ball which the captain could only edge to point for five

Kohli, the world’s top-ranked one-day batsman, had been dropped off the previous delivery in the slips and the India fans looked shell-shocked as he trudged off

Their hopes now rested largely on the shoulders of Shikhar Dhawan who had been in fine form in the tournament but he made only 21 before nicking the inspired Amir to wicketkeeper Sarfraz.

Spinner Shadab Khan snared Yuvraj Singh lbw for 22 and Dhoni, India’s former captain who has saved the team on many occasions, pulled Hasan Ali to Imad Wasim at deep square leg to depart for four.

Shadab picked up his second wicket when Kedar Jadhav, on nine, gave Sarfraz a simple catch and India appeared to be crumbling meekly at 72 for six

Pandya, however, briefly raised their spirits with a quickfire 76, reaching his fifty with three successive sixes off Shadab and hitting six maximums in all before he was run out.

Jadeja nicked Junaid Khan to slip for 15, Hasan had Ashwin caught by Sarfraz and Hasan forced Bumrah to lob another catch to the wicketkeeper, who pouched it gleefully to complete Pakistan’s first Champions Trophy win with 19.3 overs to spare. 

“Early wickets are never good, especially in a chase. We thought one big partnership would have set it up nicely,” Kohli said

“Pakistan had to earn their win and they made us make mistakes. We have no hesitation or shame to admit we didn’t play our best game today.”

NOTTINGHAM — These days Donna Vekic is best known as the girlfriend of three-times Grand Slam champion Stan Wawrinka but it is easy to forget that five years ago she was tipped as the next big thing.

Croatian Vekic, who turns 21 later this month, reached the final of her first WTA Tour event in Tashkent in 2012 — the youngest player to do so for six years.

The following year, still aged 16, she was runner-up at the Wimbledon warm-up event in Birmingham, prompting former American great Chris Evert to predict a top-10 career.

She has never got close.

There was one title in Kuala Lumpur in 2014 when she reached a career high 63 but she finished outside the top 100 for the past two years. Last year she fell in the first round of the Australian Open, French Open and Wimbledon and failed to qualify for the US Open.

Google her name and the results throw up endless stories about an unsavoury incident in 2015 when Australian Nick Kyrgios made derogatory sexual remarks about her during a match against Swiss Wawrinka in Montreal, for which he was subsequently fined.

There are signs, however, that Monte Carlo-based Vekic, now “older and wiser”, might start making headlines again for the tennis ability that has been hibernating for a while.

On Friday at the Nottingham Open she completed a third consecutive straight sets win, this time against Greek Maria Sakkari to move to within a victory of her fifth career final.

Not quite in the same league as 32-year-old Wawrinka who has won two of his three Grand Slams since being romantically involved with Vekic, but she is still aiming high.

“I hope I won’t be as old as he was when I win my first Grand Slam!” she told Reuters at the Nottingham tennis centre.

“It’s been difficult. I’ve had some ups and downs in my career but I’m still only 20.

“You know I can’t say it’s been easy but I feel like I’ve been through everything, but now I’m stronger mentally and have improved a lot of things in my game.

“There are still things to work on but I know what it takes to be there and hopefully I can achieve that and keep this momentum going.”

Vekic, coached by Nick Horvat and whose agent Lawrence Frankopan also looks after Wawrinka, said the hardest thing was watching other young players zoom past her.

“I was playing those finals when I was 16 and 17 and it was more me who was putting pressure on myself, thinking OK I have to win every tournament now,” she said.

“Then all the other young girls came up and like Belinda [Bencic] she was in the top 10 and I was thinking what am I doing wrong? But I wasn’t really doing anything wrong.

“It just takes time and I had fall to get back up. This will make me stronger. I went high then low. It was difficult for me because I was expecting the opposite.

“But I’m happy that I am coming back.”

Vekic said she takes heart from the likes of Jelena Ostapenko who won the French Open last week, aged 20.

That was incredible and it showed everyone can do it and that women’s tennis is so open,” she said.

“To win a slam at any age is amazing, 20 or 30. I’ll take either.”

BIRMINGHAM, England — India put on a display of composed and confident batting as it cruised into the final of the Champions Trophy with a nine-wicket victory over Bangladesh on Thursday, setting up a clash with old rivals Pakistan on Sunday.

A masterful unbeaten 123 from Rohit Sharma at Edgbaston steered the defending champions to victory with nearly 10 overs to spare after they were set a target of 265 by Bangladesh, playing in their first semifinal of a major tournament.

Sharma shared a 178 run partnership with Virat Kohli, who ended unbeaten on 96 as India dominated against a modest Bangladeshi bowling attack, which never managed to create any real pressure.

The Tigers will feel they failed to put up a big enough target but with their opponents completing the task with 589 balls remaining, it was hard to imagine a scenario where India would have lost this game.

"It was another complete game. We needed to have a clean, collective game. We didn't expect to win by nine wickets, but that's the quality of our top order," said skipper Kohli.

An entertaining 123 run third wicket partnership between Tamim Iqbal and Mushfiqur Rahim put Bangladesh in a strong position but their middle order failed to fully capitalise on that foundation.

Bangladesh ended its 50 overs on 264 for seven after Tamim top scored with 70 and Mushfaqir made 61, but with a stronger middle and lower order contribution they would have expected to reach around 300.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar claimed two early wickets for India — Soumya Sarkar dragging on in the first over and then Sabbir Rahman slashing a short ball to Ravindra Jadeja at backward point to leave Bangladesh at 36 for two.

Tamim was fortunate when he was bowled by Hardik Panya off a no-ball when he was on 17, but he took good advantage of the reprieve.

Together with Mushfiqur, Tamim took the game to India with some aggressive batting, taking calculated risks and scoring at a brisk pace as they brought up the century partnership off 104 balls with 10 fours and one six.

The breakthrough came after India had managed to slow down the run-rate and with the pressure on, Tamim lost his composure, bowling the part-time off-spin of Kedar Jadhav as he attempted a wild slog.

Shakib Al Hasan was superbly caught, off a bottom edge by MS Dhoni, stood up to spinner Ravindra Jadeja and then Jadhav, an unlikely source of trouble with his tame spin, struck again with the crucial wicket of Mushfiqur, whose mistimed shot was snaffled up by Virat Kohli at mid-wicket.

Bangladesh badly needed Mahmudullah, a century maker in the win over New Zealand last week, to regain the momentum but he was only able to make 21 off 25 balls before being bowled by a fine Jasprit Bumrah yorker.

India were positive from the outset of their response, reaching 63 without loss in the first 10 overs, and the departure of Shikhar Dhawan (46) with the score at 87 merely allowed Kohli to join in the fun with Sharma.