Sports Today Highlights, March 21: Hamilton Takes F1 Sprint Pole In China; Shardul Likely To Join LSG For IPL 2025

And it's curtains on our sports coverage for March 21, but hold on, as we have more updates and action from other sports.

Hello and good morning! It's a busy Friday morning, with a host of sporting action to follow including the likes of cricket, basketball amongst others.

Live updates begin soon. Some interesting action has taken place over the night.

Currently two games are going on in the South American qualifiers of the FIFA 2026 World Cup. Brazil are in action against Colombia while Peru and Bolivia are up against each other.

Live Scores:

• After 60 minutes, Brazil 1-1 Colombia

• After 40 minutes, Peru 1-0 Bolivia

The second Grand Prix of the F1 season takes place in Shanghai this Sunday and from today we will have the practice races. An interesting weekend begins for F1 enthusiasts.

At Half-time, Peru 2-0 Bolivia

Andy Polo and Paulo Guerrero are the two scorers so far for Peru.

Yesterday, Japan became the first nation, apart from the hosts, to seal qualification to the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

Brazil have defeated Colombia in a stunning fashion thanks to an injury time strike. Raphinha had helped Brazil take lead early in the game but Luis Diaz levelled the scores before half-time. The stalemate continued throughout the second half. Vinicius Jr then struck nine minutes past the regular time to set up a crucial win for Brazil.

• Croatia 2-0 France

• Denmark 1-0 Portugal

• Italy 1-2 Germany

• Netherlands 2-2 Spain

• Paraguay 1-0 Chile

• Brazil 2-1 Colombia

• Peru 3-1 Bolivia

• Golden State Warriors leading Toronto Raptos 93-92 in three quarters.

• Chicago Bulls leading Sacremanto Kings 92-89 in three quarters.

• Milwaukee Bucks leading Los Angeles Lakers 57-46 at half-time.

Chicago Bulls have beaten Sacramento Kings 128-116 in the NBA game. Earlier, Indiana Pacers registered a 105-99 victory over Brooklyn Nets.

Australia Women have beaten New Zealand Women in the first T20I of the series. Beth Mooney scored a fantastic 75 while Georgia Voll to got a half-century as the two Australia openers helped their team surpass New Zealand's first innings total of 137/2 in just 13.3 overs. Australia won easily by eight wickets.

• Charlotte Hornets beat New York Knicks 115-98

• Golden State Warriors beat Toronto Raptos 117-114

• Chicago Bulls leading Sacremanto Kings 128-116

• Milwaukee Bucks beat Los Angeles Lakers 118-89

• Indiana Pacers beat Brooklyn Nets 105-99 after overtime

Sprint Qualifying ahead of the Chinese Grand Prix to start in about an hour.

Below is the top three in FP1 which finished some time back.

1. Norris

2. Leclerc

3. Piastri

India's Sankar Muthusamy Subramanian caused a major upset by knocking out world no. 2 Anders Antonsen of Denmark in a thrilling three-game contest to reach the men's singles quarterfinals of the Swiss Open Super 300 badminton tournament.

The 21-year-old from Tamil Nadu, a silver medallist at the 2022 World Junior Championships and currently ranked 64th in the world, put up an impressive display of defense to defeat the three-time World Championships medallist 18-21 21-12 21-5 in a 66-minute contest.

New Zealand have been all out for 204 in 19.5 overs. Mark Chapman stood out with the bat for the Kiwis with a quickfire 94 off just 44 balls. Haris Rauf was the best Pakistan bowler on show with three wickets for just 29 runs in four overs.

Indian gymnast Pranati Nayak has qualified for the Vault final after securing a third place in the qualification round at the FIG Apparatus World Cup in Antalya, Turkey.

The 29-year-old, who represented the country at the Tokyo Olympics, came up with an aggregate score of 13.317 in the vault qualification.

She finished behind the American duo of Jayla Hang (13.783) and Claire Pease (13.584). The Vault final is scheduled on Saturday. (PTI)

Chris Wood scored a hat trick of headed goals as New Zealand beat Fiji 7-0 Friday to join New Caledonia in the Oceania qualifying final for the 2026 World Cup.

New Caledonia earlier beat Tahiti 3-0 in the first semifinal in FIFA's smallest confederation.

The winner of the New Caledonia vs New Zealand final will go directly into the FIFA World Cup 2026.

Most Successful IPL Teams

Mumbai Indians won five IPL titles: 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, and 2020.

Chennai Super Kings won five IPL titles: 2010, 2011, 2018, 2021 and 2023

Kolkata Knight Riders won three IPL titles: 2012, 2014, 2024

Indian long-distance runners Pradhan Kirulkar and Vivek More have been banned by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) after testing positive for prohibited substances during the Pune Half Marathon on December 15, 2024. Kirulkar tested positive for Meldonium and received a three-year ban, reduced from four years after admitting the offense.

More tested positive for Mephentermine, Meldonium, and dEPO, resulting in a five-year ban. These bans add to a rise in doping cases involving Indian athletes, including Archana Jadhav, who was also banned for four years from the same event.