Sports News 12:30

BULLETIN SPORTS NEWS 18 March 12:30 pm

Good day, let’s look at the latest sports news and scores:

# We start with cricket: Former Proteas captain Faf du Plessis will be Axar Patel’s deputy at Delhi Capitals in this year’s Indian Premier League. Du Plessis captained Royal Challengers Bengaluru for three seasons until last year, but wasn’t retained. Delhi bought him at auction for 4.3-million-rand. Delhi has never won the competition. Du Plessis has been playing in the IPL since 2012. The 40-year-old batter scored four-thousand-571 runs in 145 matches. The IPL starts on Saturday when Kolkata Knight Riders host RCB.

# Rugby: Defending champions University of the Free State-Shimlas returned to winning ways, with a hard-fought 16-9 victory over the Central University of Technology in the fifth round of the Varsity Cup. Log leaders the University of Stellenbosch-Maties continued their unbeaten streak by defeating the University of Cape Town-Ikeys 31-24 in the Cape derby. The University of Pretoria-Tuks beat North West University-Eagles 26-17 to remain in contention for the playoffs, while the University of Johannesburg saw off the University of Witwatersrand 32-24.

# Motorsport: British driver Lando Norris says his Formula One team, McLaren, learned from last year’s mistakes when they won the constructors’ championship, but he finished second behind Red Bull’s Dutch driver, Max Verstappen, in the drivers’ championship. Norris beat Verstappen in the season’s first Grand Prix on a wet course in Melbourne, Australia, on Sunday. Norris says they’ve worked hard during winter to prepare for a wet race after missing out in similar conditions in Canada and at Silverstone due to tyre calls last season.

# Tennis: Six-time champion Novak Djokovic of Serbia and 2022 winner Carlos Alcaraz of Spain could potentially meet in the Miami Open semifinals. Djokovic, who returns to the ATP Masters One-thousand event for the first time since 2019, will open his campaign against countryman Hamad Medjedovic or Australian Rinky Hijikata. Alcaraz will face either David Goffin of Belgium or Australia’s Aleksandar Vukic. Indian Wells champion Jack Draper of Britain, who has the opportunity to complete the coveted Sunshine Double, is in German Alexander Zverev’s quarter of the draw.

# And finally, boxing: The sport is set to be at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics after a new governing body was selected. International Olympic Committee chief Thomas Bach says the IOC’s executive board approved including boxing after his organisation recognised World Boxing to oversee the sport at the Olympics, ending years of divisions over the way the sport is run. The decision still needs to be rubber-stamped by a full IOC Session later this week, but that is expected to be a formality.

Stay tuned for more news………….