Formula 1 has announced the Japanese Grand Prix will remain at Suzuka until the end of the 2024 season.

The figure-of-eight track first staged an F1 race in 1987 and has decided the drivers’ championship on 11 occasions.

F1 chief executive Stefano Domenicali said the three-year extension shows a “long-term commitment to growing the sport in Asia”.

This year’s race is due to be held on 10 October after the 2020 grand prix was cancelled because of Covid-19.

However, it is one of a number of non-European venues over which there are doubts for 2021, either as a result of immigration restrictions or because of the pandemic.

Senior Mercedes figure joins rivals Red Bull

Red Bull have recruited a senior figure from rivals Mercedes to lead their new Formula 1 engine programme.

Ben Hodgkinson, head of mechanical engineering at Mercedes High Performance Powertrains, will become technical director at Red Bull’s equivalent department.

It is being set up close to the chassis factory in Milton Keynes to take over the running of Honda’s engines.

Honda will quit F1 at the end of the current season.

They have sold their engines and intellectual property to Red Bull.

Red Bull said Hodgkinson would take over his new position “once the terms of his current contract with HPP are fulfilled”.

He is currently tied to Mercedes until the end of 2022, although typically in these situations the two parties tend to negotiate terms for an early release.

A statement added: “[This is] a key leadership role heading up all technical aspects with a key focus on developing Red Bull’s inaugural power unit, to comply with the new Formula 1 regulations currently planned for 2025.”

The sport is working on defining a new engine formula that will increase the proportion of power provided by electrical energy and also use fully sustainable carbon-neutral fuels.

Hodgkinson has been working at Mercedes’ engine base at Brixworth in Northamptonshire for two decades and before that developed engines in both the World Rally Championship and for Le Mans.

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said: “Ben comes to this hugely exciting project as a proven race-winner and as an innovator capable of leading a like-minded team of highly skilled engineers.

“When Red Bull announced the creation of Red Bull Powertrains, it was also announcing a new phase of the company’s ambition in F1 – to bring every aspect of car design in-house and to put our destiny in our own hands.

“The ultimate expression of that is the development of a Red Bull power unit to meet the next generation of F1 engine regulations.

“Ben’s appointment signals our long-term intent and we will support him and his team with every available resource required in order to succeed.”

Hodgkinson said: “It was not easy to make the decision to leave HPP after almost 20 years but the opportunity to take on such a far-reaching and important project is a great honour.

“Red Bull are a serious player in F1 and have been our biggest rival in the hybrid era, so I’m looking forward to seeing what we can achieve together in this new phase of the company’s journey.”

Andy Murray is looking forward to playing in front of what he hopes will be a substantial crowd at Wimbledon.

The tournament, cancelled in 2020, begins on 28 June, seven days after all Covid restrictions could be lifted in England.

A final decision on numbers will be delayed as long as possible, with tickets due to go on sale in June.

“For me, it would make a huge difference,” said two-time champion Murray.

“Hopefully we can get some good crowds in. We’ve heard 30 per cent, but I don’t know if that’s 30 per cent of their usual capacity but they’ll be allowed to have Centre Court and Court One full. So we’ll see.

“At the beginning I didn’t miss it (crowds) that much, I was just pumped to be competing again. But, as the weeks go on, that’s kind of what you play for, to play in front of big crowds and play in great atmospheres. It’s something that I’ve definitely missed.”

Murray, 33, lives just a short drive away from Wimbledon but will need to stay at a designated hotel within a “biosecure bubble”, in line with ATP protocols.

“Obviously I would way rather not be staying in a hotel,” said the former world number one. “It would be a shame but, if that’s what we’ve got to do to keep everyone safe, then that’s what we’ll do.

“We’ve been told that the ticketing for Wimbledon is going to be vastly reduced for the players for family. It would be very odd playing at Wimbledon without, not just being able to see your family, but not having them there to support in the matches as well.

“That’s the times we’re living in. Hopefully, if we keep going with the vaccinations, there’ll be a possibility for family members and friends that have been vaccinated to come in. If not, that’s what it will have to be this year.”

Murray has never lost a singles match before the third round at the All England Club, and reached at least the quarter-finals every year between 2008 and his last appearance in 2017.

‘I need to be consistently practising’

Last month’s Miami Open had been due to be Murray’s first tournament following the birth of his fourth child but injury struck again, this time a groin problem.

Having missed the Australian Open after contracting coronavirus, the Scot, who had a metal hip implanted early in 2019, reached the final at a Challenger event in Italy in February before early exits in Montpellier and Rotterdam on a brief return to the ATP Tour.

“I need to be consistently practising (rather than) having these enforced breaks,” he said after being on court last week playing points. “That was the thing in December, why I think I got into such a good place was because of the two months of practising basically six days a week every week for a couple of months.

“By the end of that my game started to feel really good. That’s the first thing is to be able to be on the practice court consistently and then I obviously need to get the matches. How many matches that is, I don’t know.”

Rivers Angels of Port Harcourt yesterday defeated Sunshine Queens of Akure 4-0 in Ijebu Ode to win the Nigerian Women Football League (NWFL) Super Six Championship.

The victory, which crowned the River State team as champions of the Nigerian Women’s Professional League, also gave the side a ticket to represent the country in the WAFU B zone of the maiden CAF Women Champions League.

The Angels drew their first two games but followed with three consecutive 4-0 wins on their way to the trophy.

The Port Harcourt side overcame their Akure-based counterparts to retain the coveted domestic title in Sunday’s final game in Ijebu Ode

Edwin Okon’s ladies went into yesterday’s game with eight points from four matches in the Round Robin tournament, while Sunshine accrued seven points from the same number of games.

With just a win needed to retain the title, Oghenebrume Ikhekua gave the holders the lead with the opener two minutes before Vivian Ikechuchwu doubled the lead a minute from half-time.

After the restart, Alice Ogebe extended Rivers’ lead to three in the 63rd minute before Maryann Ezeanagu struck 11 minutes from full-time to wrap up their third consecutive four-goal victory.

The league triumph was Rivers Angels’ first back-to-back title and seventh overall following previous successes in 1994, 2010, 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2019, with six of them won under Okon’s regime.

In other results, Robo Queens were held to a 1-1 draw by Delta Queens after Chiamaka Okwuchuwu’s effort from the penalty spot three minutes from full-time cancelled out Lawal Taiwo’s first-half opener.

Earlier, Bayelsa Queens condemned Edo Queens to their fifth defeat after a 3-0 victory to end their campaign on a high thanks to Juliet Sunday’s brace along with Zainab Olapade effort.

In the final table, Rivers finished on top with 11 points, followed by Delta and Robo with nine and eight points, respectively, while Bayelsa and Edo finished fifth and sixth with five, and no points.

Having emerged the champions, Rivers become the country’s representatives at the maiden WAFU-B zonal event in May, where they will bid to qualify for the CAF Women’s Champions League.

Welterweight champion Kamaru ‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ Usman has today knocked out his challenger, the  American mixed martial artist, Jorge ‘Gamebred’ Masvidal in their hugely anticipated sold-out 170-rematch  face-off for the UFC 261 Welterweight championship title scheduled at the VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida.

The UFC 261 title fight which sold out 15,000 tickets in fifteen minutes after the announcement was made, longtime contender, Masvidal was looking for vengeance after being defeated during their first bout in July 2020 and reigning champion Kamaru is simply looking for another solid clear-cut win.

But in a 1 minute 8 seconds of the second round. Kamaru Usman with a devasting right punch knocked out Masvidal to retain his welterweight champion undisputed title.

The contender, Jorge Masvidal acknowledged the power when he said, “He (Kamaru Usman) won fair and square, he didn’t show me his power in the first fight so I underestimated his striking power”.

Masvidal refused to give a hint if he would be asking for a third rematch after he was knocked out in round two of their rematch

Rafael Nadal won his 12th Barcelona Open title, saving a match point in a thrilling three-set victory over Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas.

Nadal trailed 4-2 in the opener but recovered, breaking twice to take it.

World number five Tsitsipas showed great grit in the second set, saving two match points in game 10 game before levelling the match on a tie-break.

In a tight third set, Nadal faced a match point before piling on the pressure to win 6-4 6-7 (6-8) 7-5.

The victory, which took three hours 38 minutes, gave the 34-year-old his 61st clay court title and came against an in-form opponent who had won his maiden Masters crown in Monte Carlo last week.

“Winning the trophy here means a lot,” said Nadal, who had only lost one set in 11 previous finals in the Spanish city.

“I have been increasing my level and this was an important victory for me.”

Tsitsipas, who recovered from two sets down to beat Nadal at February’s Australian Open, started this match strongly before the Spaniard turned the opening set around.

Nadal again came from a break down in the second set after Tsitsipas had regrouped well.

That took him to the brink of victory on the court named after him but Tsitsipas showed his own mettle to stay in the contest, recovering from 15-40 at 4-5 with two fine points, including a lovely touch volley winner on the second.

A topsy-turvy tie-break saw Nadal lead 4-2 then save two set points from 4-6 only to serve a double fault at 6-6 that helped Tsitsipas clinch it.

The third set was serve dominated until 4-5, when Nadal wobbled on his own delivery, but ultimately it was the Spaniard who proved just the tougher.

Meanwhile, in the Belgrade clay court final, Italy’s Matteo Berrettini won his fourth career title.

The world number 10 beat Russia’s Aslan Karatsev, who had stunned Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals 6-1 3-6 7-6 (7-0).

Italy’s Matteo Berrettini won his fourth career title on Sunday defeating Aslan Karatsev, who had stunned Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals, in the Belgrade clay court final.

The 25-year-old Berrettini, the world number 10, triumphed 6-1, 3-6, 7-6 (7/0) over the Russian who was seeking his second title of 2021 after winning in Dubai.

Berrettini won previous titles at Gstaad in 2018 and Stuttgart and Budapest, both in 2019.

On Saturday, the 28th-ranked Karatsev had knocked out world number one Djokovic in the semi-final, saving 23 of 28 break points.