Kimi Raikkonen returns to Ferrari

LONDON: Finland's Kimi Raikkonen will race for Ferrari next season in a two-year deal that takes the 2007 world champion back to the glamour team he left in 2009 and creates the strongest pairing in Formula One.

Ferrari said in a statement on Wednesday that the 33-year-old 'Iceman', currently driving for Lotus, will replace Brazilian Felipe Massa alongside Spain's double world champion Fernando Alonso.

"Scuderia Ferrari announces that it has reached an agreement with Kimi Raikkonen. The Finn will join Fernando Alonso in the driver line-up for the next two racing seasons," the statement said.

There were no quotes from the famously taciturn Finn, whose future team mate had made clear he would have been happy to continue with Massa. The Spaniard has a contract to the end of 2016.

Massa, championship runner-up to Lewis Hamilton in 2008, had already announced on social media that he would not be driving for the Italian team in 2014.

Ferrari last had two world champions in their lineup in 1953, when Italians Alberto Ascari and Giuseppe Farina were together.

Raikkonen and Alonso should be a force to be reckoned with, although there could also be fireworks.

In contrast, other top teams have opted to pair a champion with a driver whose resume is less glittering.

Red Bull have a new face in Australian Daniel Ricciardo, who has yet to stand on the podium, as team mate to triple champion Sebastian Vettel while 2009 winner Jenson Button has Sergio Perez alongside him at McLaren but the Mexican is not yet a race winner.

Germany's Nico Rosberg, who partners Hamilton at Mercedes, has been on the top step of the podium twice this season but only three times in his career.

TWO ROOSTERS

Since the arrival in 1996 of Michael Schumacher, the seven times-world champion Raikkonen replaced at the end of 2006, Ferrari have preferred to have one clearly dominant driver in their lineup.

That was not the case in 2008, when Massa almost won the title, but Alonso wasted no time in stamping his authority on the team when he replaced Raikkonen.

Massa started 2010 still recovering from near-fatal head injuries sustained at the previous year's Hungarian Grand Prix and the Brazilian never regained his previous level of performance.

Ferrari chairman Luca Di Montezemolo has said in the past, reacting to speculation that Vettel could partner Alonso, that he did not want "two roosters in the same henhouse".

Ferrari decided, however, that Raikkonen - who won this year's Australian season-opener and recently ended a record 27 race scoring run - was a better bet than Massa.

Red Bull and Vettel have a firm grip on both of this year's championships and Ferrari are already focusing much of their attention on next year, when the rules go through significant change and a new V6 power unit is introduced.

The team, winners of a record 16 constructors' and 15 drivers' championships but without a title since 2008, are not in the habit of re-signing their ex-drivers although Austrian Gerhard Berger had two separate three-year stints at Maranello in the 1980s and 1990s.

Raikkonen should have no problems fitting in at Maranello, with Pat Fry and James Allison - his former technical directors at McLaren and Lotus (formerly Renault) - now with Ferrari. Both men also worked with Alonso, who won his two titles with Renault, at those teams.

The Finn won nine races for Ferrari between 2007 and 2009.

India refuses visa to a Pak team for CLT20

NEW DELHI: India has refused visa to Pakistani team, Faisalabad Wolves, to participate in Champions League Twenty20 tournament scheduled to begin from September 17 in view of abundance precaution.

The government's decision not to give visas to the Pakistani team to participate in the limited over cricket tournament comes in the backdrop of recent ceasefire violations along the Line of Control (LOC) creating tension between the two countries.

"As a matter of abundance precaution and caution in terms of safety and security, the government did not give green signal for the cricket team's visit," government sources said.

The Faisalabad team, led by national team skipper Misbah-ul-Haq, was invited to play in the qualifying rounds of the Champions League T20 in India, starting on September 17.

The Faisalabad team's participation in the CLT20 was confirmed until the LoC issues arose and that led to tensions between the two countries.

Last year, the BCCI had invited Pakistan to send its domestic T20 champions -- Sialkot Stallions -- for the Champions League which was held in South Africa.

The Sialkot Stallions, however, failed to qualify for the main round.

This year Faisalabad Wolves, by virtue of emerging as the national T20 champions, had earned the honour of representing Pakistan in the Champions League.

Last month, India had not granted visa to a Pakistani religious group to attend Urs here and suggested that they defer their visit in view of their safety and security.

Sachin Tendulkar still has hunger for cricket: Chetan Chauhan

PATNA: Amid speculations on retirement of Sachin Tendulkar, former Test cricketer Chetan Chauhan on Wednesday said the veteran batsman still had hunger for runs and was the best judge when to call it a day.

"Tendulkar still has hunger to play cricket," Chauhan said.

Chauhan, who partnered with legendary cricketer Sunil Gavaskar for a long time before retiring from the game in 1982, said Tendulkar was the best judge himself to call it a day at a right time.

"Though he (Tendulkar) has not scored a century in Test matches for the last two year, but he still has a lot of potential and hunger to keep playing the game", Chauhan, who was here in connection with a run organised by BJP's sports wing, said. He himself is president of BJP's national sports cell.

The former Test opener said that Gautam Gambhir had chance to return to the national team.

Chauhan, who played 40 Tests, said Virat Kohli had tremendous potential as India's future captain.

"He (Kohli) proved himself as a good captain in the recent West Indies tri-series which India won and also at Zimbabwe tour," the cricketer-turned BJP leader said.

"His (Kohli) aggressive attitude and cool head even in trying times makes him a fit candidate to lead Team India in future," Chauhan said.

About cricket in Bihar, Chauhan said that the state had produced some good crickters like Saba Karim, Amikar Dayal and Avinash Kumar. He paid a visit to cricket academy run by Dayal at St Xaviers school and encouraged youngsters.

He expressed displeasure over fight between different cricketing bodies in the state for affiliation to the BCCI.

Chauhan urged them to come on one platform under former cricketer and BJP MP Kirti Azad.

Rafael Nadal's granny says, Rafa was a ball-player before he could walk

MADRID: Rafael Nadal started playing with balls before he could walk and in his formative years liked soccer just as much as tennis, his grandmother Isabel Homar told Spanish radio on Wednesday.

Speaking to Cadena Ser from the island of Mallorca where Nadal is from, Homar said the world number two, who beat top-ranked Novak Djokovic to win his second US Open title on Monday, "always liked anything that was round".

"He started playing with balls in the hallway of his home before he learned to walk," Homar said, adding things often got broken by accident.

"He loved playing football and he was always excited when Saturday came around," added the 82-year-old. "He liked football just as much as tennis."

Homar remembered how her son Toni, who has coached his nephew to 13 Grand Slam titles, rang her one day and told her to come and watch her grandson.

"I remember one day Toni called me and said 'you have to come and see him'," she said after watching Nadal's victory at Flushing Meadows on television with members of her family.

"I can't remember how old he was, maybe six. He was already holding the racket very well and when he hit the ball he hit it well."

Homar said she had suffered in the second set of Monday's final, which Nadal lost to Serb Djokovic before completing a 6-2, 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 triumph.

Her musician husband had preferred not to watch the match due to nerves, she added.

"I liked the first set a lot but the second not so much because when I see that he is losing, I don't like it.

"I was really suffering and a lot of the time when that happens I have to turn it off.

"You get really nervous and then it is really difficult to get to sleep."

Nadal is next in action in Spain's Davis Cup World Group playoff tie at home to Ukraine starting on Friday.

Gareth Bale not fit enough to play full match, says Coleman

MADRID: Real Madrid's record signing Gareth Bale is not fit enough to last a full match and it would be "dangerous" to make him play 90 minutes if he debuts in Saturday's La Liga match at Villarreal, according to Wales coach Chris Coleman.

Bale, who became the world's most expensive player when he joined Real for 100 million euros ($133 million) at the start of the month, played the final half an hour of Wales's 3-0 World Cup qualification defeat to Serbia on Tuesday, his first competitive action since July.

"We have looked at him in these 10 days and he is nowhere near ready for 90 minutes even if Spanish football is slower," Coleman was quoted as saying on the FIFA website (www.fifa.com) on Wednesday.

"If he starts Saturday, he will not finish the game. I would be amazed if he does," he added.

"He may get 45 minutes, I don't know, but he will feel better in himself after 30 minutes here.

"But he has only had four training sessions in two months which is dangerous."

Real have won their opening three La Liga matches under new coach Carlo Ancelotti, who replaced Jose Mourinho at the end of last season.

It remains to be seen how Bale adapts to playing alongside the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema and whether he can make up for the departure of Germany playmaker Mesut Ozil to Arsenal.

Ozil was one of Real's most creative squad members and developed a lethal partnership with Portugal forward Ronaldo.

Coleman said Real fans should give Bale time to settle.

"He played 30 minutes but after 15 minutes he looked tired - but he has only had four training sessions, so you will not get what you normally get," Coleman said.

"But he gave us a lift, the fans were excited and it gave us a spur, although the game was done and dusted.

"We needed to be in the game when he came on. It was lost by then, but it was nice for the Welsh supporters to see him."

Rafael Nadal- Davis Cup not ideal preparation for Asian swing

MADRID: Playing the Davis Cup on clay in Madrid this week is not ideal preparation for the hard-court swing in Asia and an assault on the number one ranking, according to newly crowned US Open champion Rafa Nadal.

Spaniard Nadal, currently number two behind Novak Djokovic, is poised to replace the Serb as the world's top-ranked player after he beat him in Monday's final at Flushing Meadows.

Before he travels to Asia, Nadal will return to Davis Cup action for the first time since 2011 to help Spain in their World Group playoff at home to Ukraine starting on Friday.

"Given the fatigue I am feeling, what I would like to do is rest and recuperate well physically and mentally for the Asian tour," Nadal said in an interview published in Spanish sports daily Marca on Wednesday.

"It's the final sprint of the year and I am fighting for something as special as finishing as number one," added the 27-year-old, who last held the top ranking in June 2011 and slipped to five before his return from injury in February.

"The Davis Cup won't help me in that goal because to be prepared for what I have left it's not good to change surfaces.

"But I said I would go already a few months ago, I committed myself and I will be in Madrid.

"I feel duty bound to go to Madrid and I feel duty bound to help the team so we stay in the World Group.

"I believe Spain deserves to be among best for what it represents and has represented in the world of tennis for so many years."

Spain's Davis Cup captain Alex Corretja said he would wait and see what state Nadal was in when he arrived in the capital on Wednesday before deciding whether he should feature in Friday's opening singles.

He may opt to rest him and play in-form Tommy Robredo and Fernando Verdasco, keeping his best player in reserve for Saturday's doubles or Sunday's reverse singles in case the unfancied Ukrainians spring a surprise.

"More than swamped, right now I feel empty, a little tired of everything," Nadal told Marca.

"In emotional terms, when you have been playing for a month and winning all your matches and then you put the cherry on the cake here you have a slump and that's logical.

"It's nothing strange and I hope to be fine in a few days."

Spain are in the Davis Cup playoffs after losing away to Milos Raonic's Canada in the first round in February.

Felipe Massa announced that he will no longer be driving for Ferrari next year.

Felipe Massa announced via Twitter on Tuesday that he will no longer be driving for Ferrari next year.

Ferrari's last world champion, Kimi Raikkonen, is believed to have been lined up to replace the Brazilian.

"From 2014 I will no longer be driving for Ferrari," said Massa on his official @Felipe1Massa account.

"I would like to thank the team for all the victories and incredible moments experienced together.

"Thank you also to my wife and all of my family, to my fans and all my Sponsors. From each one of you I have always received a great support!

"Right now I want to push as hard as possible with Ferrari for the remaining 7 races."

Talk in the paddock has been raging for several weeks about who will be Ferrari's second driver next year alongside two-time former world champion with Renault, Fernando Alonso.

Raikkonen spent three years with Ferrari from 2007-2009, winning the world title in his first season.

He left F1 in 2009, moving to the World Rally Championship, and was replaced at the Italian team by Alonso.

After a stint in NASCAR he returned to F1 with Lotus in 2012. Massa says he wants to remain in F1 but has yet to find a drive for 2014.

"For next year, I want to find a team that can give me a competitive car to win many more races and challenge for the Championship which remains my greatest objective!" he said.

Massa has spent eight years with Ferrari since joining from Sauber in 2006.

In 2008 he came within a couple of bends of winning the world title, only for Lewis Hamilton to snatch it by overtaking Timo Glock two corners from the end of the Brazilian Grand Prix.

It was Massa's best season in a Ferrari and the only time he challenged for the title, although he finished third in 2006 and fourth in 2007.

His 2009 season ended in July's Hungarian Grand Prix when he suffered a horror injury in a crash in qualifying after being hit on the head by a suspension spring that had fallen from compatriot Rubens Barrichello's Brawn.

Massa suffered a head injury that was initially thought to be life-threatening but he recovered and was driving for Ferrari again in 2010.

He has won 11 races in his Ferrari career, the last coming in 2008.