Colors: Yellow Color

There will be a ‘first’ at Brands Hatch this weekend as Reema Juffali will be making her British Formula Four debut – being the first Saudi Arabian female racing driver to do so. The 27-year-old will be racing for reigning F4 champions Double R Racing in the FIA-sanctioned series. She only started racing just under a year ago –after her country lifted the ban on women driving; becoming the first Saudi female license holder to compete in a series at the TRD86 Cup in Abu Dhabi last October.

An excited Reema says: “It’s a good time in Saudi to be doing such a thing and all the support I’ve gotten from friends, family, people I don’t even know, has been fantastic and it’s only been pushing me to do better.”

On the F4 season, she said: "Brands Hatch is the heart of motorsport and this will be such a great thing for me to do and represent my country.

“To be here is quite unbelievable and to have done it in such a short space of time, I’m very grateful and happy about that.”

Talking further – about the coming season – she added: "It's going to be a tough year in such a competitive championship, but I'm ready for the challenge."

Saudi Arabiissued driving licences to women for the first time in decades in June 2018. It hosted a round of the all-electric Formula E series last December, with a number of women drivers testing there afterwards.

 

 

 

 

On a fantastic day for cross country running in Aarhus, Denmark, the senior women’s team impressed as they placed fourth overall after a stunning set of performances by the British squad, while two juniors placed in the top 25 of their respective races.

The senior women showed great spirit on the 10km course, forming a superb team effort to place fourth overall behind Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda.

They were led home by a strong finishing Kate Avery who built into the contest fantastically, running conservatively in the early stages before picking off her opponents over the 10km course.

After coming through in 60th after lap one of the 2km course, the Shildon athlete found her stride around the undulating Danish course, moving into the top 40 after the second lap. She overtook the fast-starting Jennifer Nesbitt on lap three, staying with a small group hoping to break into the top thirty. As she rounded ‘the berm’ at the bottom of the museum roof downhill section, she had to fight for her 30th position, holding on for an encouraging result.

Avery commented post-race: “There were certain parts when I thought my legs were going to give way, but when it came to the hills, in my head I kept saying ‘jog, jog, jog’ and it seemed to work because others weren’t. I’m really happy to be the first Brit home, I had the top 30 in my head when I saw the course, so I’m really pleased I did that well.

“My only concern was pacing it right. I’m pleased with how the cross season has gone. I'm still not back up to what I was doing previously so I need to get back to that level.”

52nd, 41st, 37th, 35th and 32nd were the positions Mhairi McLennan held after each lap in the contest, the final placing a staggering achievement for the Scottish athlete. It was the great show of strength, moving through the field expertly and working hard on the hills.

She moved passed Nesbitt in the final stages, and it was also a great World Cross debut for the latter, leading the Brits for long periods of the race, before placing as the third counter – 34th overall - in the best European outfit on the day.

Team captain Jess Piasecki was not too far behind, finishing strongly for 36th to confirm four Britons inside the top 40 on the world stage.

Piasecki added: “There are no other words to describe that course other than a monster. On the first lap I thought ‘I feel OK here’ even though I told myself not to go too hard. I let some people go through, but you can’t rehearse for a challenge like that.

“I’m happy I came through because normally I die a death and managed to take some positions on the final lap and stuck it out for the team. The girls had storming runs.”

Emily Hosker-Thornhill crossed the line in 48th, while Amelia Quirk at just 19 years-old and making her senior British debut, came home in 79th place, battling hard for the team.

As for the senior men, Patrick Dever was the standout performer as he came through the field majestically to seal 37th place, contributing to the ninth-place finish of the team overall.

Following the Loughborough-based athlete was Mahamed Mahamed who negotiated the course very well, pacing it perfectly as he moved into 44th place at the end, having come through the first few laps outside the top 70.

Making his first World Cross appearance for 12 years, Adam Hickey was next home in 51st while Oliver Fox was 58th, not too far behind the Essex athlete.

Ross Millington and Luke Traynor placed 64th and 107th respectively.

Joshua Cheptegei (UGA) won the race, making up for his dramatic finish in Kampala two years previously, when he missed out on a medal in the closing stages.

Trials winner Grace Brock (Cornwall) continued her excellent cross-country season by finishing as the first British finisher in 25th place in the junior women’s contest. She built into the race fantastically, moving from 59th on the first lap, into the top 30 after the second lap, and kept on moving up the field.

Placing as the second European behind Italy’s Nadia Battocletti, it was a step-up by Brock who placed 11th at the European Cross country just four months ago.

An ecstatic Brock spoke afterwards: “It was amazing – and the European champion only overtook me on the last bit. To make that jump from 11th at Europeans and to be second European here is more than I could have asked for. It was an amazing atmosphere all around the course and that really spurred me on in the closing stages.

“I knew the start was going to be fast, so my plan was to hold back a bit and then when it started to stretch out, I would start to move up. That was my plan and I felt like I executed it really well. I maybe didn’t kick quite as well as I would have liked at the end, but I am really pleased. 25th place is a higher placing than I was expecting so I’m over the moon.”

Another debutant, Amelia Samuels, enjoyed her maiden appearance for Great Britain & Northern Ireland, crossing the line in 35th and the second Brit. Samuels was 57th after the first lap but continued to pick her rivals off, helping the team on their way to seventh position overall.

Becky Briggs and Charlotte Alexander placed 44th and 49th, while Eloise Walker battled well to 51st position. Olivia Mason admitted she paid the price for a fast start but ran a solid race to place 57th overall.

The British team finished seventh overall, the top Europeans in the field. Ethiopia took the team title overall with Kenya’s Beatrice Chebet winning the race individually.

There was an eighth-place finish for the British junior men’s team, with Matt Willis (self-coached; Wrexham) matching the 25th position of his compatriot in the women’s race, similarly the second European finisher behind the prolific Jakob Ingebrigtsen.

It was an excellent result for the Welshman who was the top Briton at the European Cross-Country Championships in Tilburg last year. He certainly played the course to his strengths, battling hard in the downhill sections when his opponents were reeling from the hill climb. It was a demonstration of strength from the youngster, moving from 34th on lap one to the top 25 after 7km.

Willis spoke afterward: “I’m really happy; I wasn’t expecting to run that well at all. I’m just over the moon to finish in 25th.

“The first lap was ok but then it became a lot harder on the other laps. The sand was particularly hard to run through. The hills were hard, but I adored the downhills; I used my strength wisely to make up for my weaknesses on the uphill sections.”

On finishing as second European in the field, he added: “It gives me hope for Europeans in December and gives me that extra bit of motivation.”

After admitting he didn’t “show his best” at the European last December, Rory Leonard (Morpeth) made amends in Aarhus, fighting his way through the field to claim 37th place and in doing so, was the second counter for the GB & NI team.

Euan Brennan used his mountain running pedigree to good effect, crossing the line in 50th, and was one of several athletes to speak about the sheer speed of the race. Debutants Josh Cowperthwaite and Zakariya Mahamed were 62nd and 66th respectively, while Ben West unfortunately did not finish.

The race was won overall by Milkasa Mengesha (ETH) with Ethiopia taking the team gold, with GB & NI in eighth overall.

 

An innovative project to get college students involved in women’s futsal is set to be launched by the University of Wolverhampton.

Sports teams from local colleges will be invited to take part in the women’s futsal competitions organised by students and Birmingham FA at the University’s Walsall Campus.

Futsal is played on a hard court which is smaller than a football pitch and is mainly indoors. It is played in more than 170 countries.

The University has secured £1,450 funding from the British Universities and Colleges Sports (BUCS) Women’s Football and Futsal Innovation Fund in partnership with the FA to run the programme.

A taster session will take place in June with the main competitions from September/October.

The events will be run by University students who will be involved in aspects such as refereeing, media and managing the day.

Tracy Nash, Professional and Workforce Sports Manager at the University, said: “We’re delighted to have received funding from BUCS for this project which will see us set up a number of competitions and festivals throughout the year for local colleges linked to football clubs we currently have links with.

“As part of the project University of Wolverhampton students will get involved in the delivery through organising, refereeing, media and managing the day.

“Workshops in coaching and refereeing futsal would also be offered to participants and to the student workforce involved to upskill both college students and University students enabling the game to grow further.”

The University is one of 12 institutions to have received funding from the innovation fund to run projects which aim to provide solutions to participation and workforce challenges in women’s and girls’ football and futsal that can be shared across the sector.

Institutions will upskill a diverse student workforce to deliver the activity and work with both university and local community partners.

Lewis Hamilton claimed victory in the Bahrain Grand Prix after an engine problem hit runaway leader Charles Leclerc's Ferrari late in the race.

Leclerc had dominated after retaking the lead following a poor start and was on course for a maiden victory when his hybrid system failed.

Hamilton closed an eight-second deficit within three laps and swept by for his first win of 2019 with nine laps to go.

Leclerc would have slipped down to fourth behind Hamilton's team-mate Valtteri Bottas and Red Bull's Max Verstappen but was saved by a late race safety car.

As victory slipped from his fingers, the despair in Leclerc's voice was clear as he asked the team what had happened, and was told he had suffered a failure of the MGU-H, the part of the hybrid system that recovers energy from the turbo.

It cost him 40km/h on the straights and left him helpless as first Hamilton and then Bottas closed in at five seconds a lap.

"Oh my God," he said, as he saw a fairytale victory slip from his grasp on a weekend on which he had destroyed his four-time world champion team-mate Sebastian Vettel.

Vettel, meanwhile, made yet another high-profile error, spinning his car while being passed by Hamilton for what at the time was second place with 20 laps to go.

Vettel already needed a pit stop for fresh tyres, but he also suffered a front wing failure as he toured around to the pits, and the German finished fifth, two places behind his team-mate.

"That was extremely unfortunate for Charles," Hamilton said over the radio on his slowing down lap. "We have work to do to keep these guys on our tails."

It was a bitter blow for Leclerc, who thoroughly deserved the win, but the Monegasque had already done enough to announce himself as a major title contender.

He had started from pole position, but a poor start meant he dropped behind Vettel and Bottas on the first lap.

But he passed Bottas at the start of the second lap and then Vettel on lap four, around the outside of Turn Four, and proceeded to underline his superiority over Vettel by cruising off into a comfortable lead.

Until the Ferrari hit trouble in the closing laps, the race was all behind Leclerc, as Vettel and Hamilton swapped positions behind him.

Hamilton jumped Vettel at the first pit stops, but Mercedes's choice of soft tyres, while the Ferraris fitted mediums, left him struggling.

Vettel closed him down and passed for second on lap 24.

Hamilton felt he was in dire trouble, but he managed to keep Vettel in sight, so when both pitted for a final stint on mediums Hamilton was able to close on Vettel.

The world champion passed Vettel around the outside of Turn Four with 20 laps to go, and the German spun on the exit of the corner.

"Aargh," he said. "New tyres. Box."

It was another mistake that raised questions about Vettel's ability to race in high-pressure situations after a series of errors last year dashed his title hopes long before they should have died.

Vettel said he believed his front wing had failed because of the vibrations from his damaged tyres. Regardless, the dynamics within the Ferrari are now fascinating.

Vettel had started the season as their leader but Leclerc has now staked his claim and proved he will be a major force this season.

 

 

 

 

A London-based father has posted a request online looking for a hypnotist to make his son switch from supporting Tottenham Hotspur to Arsenal, after trying everything to get his son to back the Gunners. The father says he’s willing to pay £3,000 to the chosen hypnotist, and says that his wife ‘isn’t aware’ he’s doing this.

A UK-based father has posted a request online looking for a hypnotist to make his son switch his allegiance from Tottenham to Arsenal, after trying everything he can to persuade the six-year-old to support the red North London side.

The request was posted on Bark.com last week, but so far has had no responses from hypnotists in London, prompting the father to launch a public appeal.

The request states that the father recently received a ‘bonus from work’ and is willing to pay £3,000 to any hypnotist who can make his son support Arsenal and carry on his family’s tradition. He says that his son is six years old and despite his best efforts, has been swayed towards Spurs by some of his friends at school in the last six months. The ad states that his infatuation with Tottenham started last year after watching Harry Kane win the Golden Boot at the World Cup.

The father explains that his family has always lived in London and have traditionally been passionate supporters of Arsenal until his son decided he wanted to switch to Spurs. The dad also says that he wants his son to find his passion for the Gunners in time for next season, as he wants to take him to the Emirates Stadium for their first Premier League game.

The dad also said that his wife doesn’t know he’s doing this, and says ‘it’ll be easier to ask for forgiveness than permission’.

The Bark app and online platform Bark.com, Europe’s leading local services marketplace, connect customers with local professionals for any project, including accountants, cleaners, DJs, personal trainers, plumbers, web designers and wedding photographers, to name a few. Bark.com’s goal is to revolutionise how people find and sell local services online, get quotes, read reviews, message the professionals and hire - all through the app and website.

Kai Feller, Bark.com co-founder, said: “People love to argue about sport, especially when family members support different teams. We don’t know if it’s even possible to change someone’s loyalty like this, but hopefully someone will be able to help out this father and unite the family in their support of Arsenal!”

Arsenal first team players Mesut Ozil, Bernd Leno, Ainsley Maitland-Niles and Shkodran Mustafi were treated to a tour of Dubai, visiting the city’s latest attractions and legendary landmarks, and taking in the striking architecture and impressive skyline.  The players were picked up on a hop on hop off City Sightseeing bus, making their first stop at the Dubai Frame. The players toured the spectacular structure, which boasts panoramic views of both old and new Dubai at 150 metres high.

The players stepped onto the glass bridge in the transparent viewing deck, and even showed off their fancy footwork to the delight and amazement of the other visitors at the Dubai Frame. Dubai’s latest architectural landmark is a giant rectangular frame situated in a unique location that offers views via its 93 metre bridge observatory.  The players then continued to Burj Khalifa, and also passed the Dubai Canal during their sightseeing tour.

Arsenal is set to play a friendly match with Al Nasr Sports Club at Al Maktoum Stadium on 26 March. The players are also taking part in warm weather training sessions, to prepare for the final weeks of the 2018/19 football season. Last week, the players arrived on a specially-branded Emirates A380 Arsenal aircraft, and the airline is supporting the visit by connecting football enthusiasts in the UAE with one of the game’s most iconic clubs.