Starting up front in Kai Havertz’s absence, Deniz Undav impressed in Germany’s 4-0 friendly win over Finland on Sunday night, scoring twice and providing an assist.

After the game, the Stuttgart forward drew praise from Julian Nagelsmann, who felt the 29-year-old was unlucky not to have found the net earlier in the match.

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“Deniz was very dangerous, he was a bit unlucky with his first finish. He was involved in three goals and played a good game,” said Nagelsmann, according to Bundesliga.de.

Undav was forced off after picking up a knock while scoring his second goal, but both the striker himself and Nagelsmann played down the injury afterwards.

“I think everything is fine with Deniz. He had a very heavy workload in Stuttgart and has played a lot; he looked happy in the dressing room. He did very, very well again today,” Nagelsmann said.

Another standout performer was 18-year-old Bayern prodigy Lennart Karl, who impressed on the right wing on his first start for Germany.

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“Karl had a lot of actions in the first half, he tried a lot and also had good moments again and again in the second half. He’s a player who will be very valuable for us,” said Nagelsmann.

Overall, the Germany coach was pleased with what he saw.

“The boys executed the game plan very well, we started very well, the first 15 minutes were very good. In the second half we also defended deeper at times, and then we also scored on the counterattack, which does us good. The result is good, we didn’t concede, so we can continue like this,” he said.

Great Britain’s Max Burgin ran a season’s-best time to win the 800m at a Diamond League meeting in Morocco.

Burgin, 24, crossed the line in a time of one minute and 42.98 seconds as he beat off a competitive field at the Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium in Rabat.

After a strong start to the race, he held off a late pursuit by Olympic champion Emmanuel Wanyonyi (1:43.56) to to clinch his first Diamond League victory.

Algeria’s Slimane Moula completed the podium as he finished in third place while Ireland’s Mark English was 11th in 1:45.

“I expected a race like this where someone would push me to my maximum,” Wanyonyi said.

“I have done my best and 1.43 is not a bad time for me. My focus this season will be on the 800m, not the 1500m”

Elsewhere, GB’s Matthew Hudson-Smith finished second in the 400m with a time of 44.25 seconds, just behind Jacory Patterson of the United States.

“It’s good to be back, I have had a lot of niggles but it is a great opener. Now I need to build on that for the rest of the season,” Hudson-Smith said.

GB’s Molly Caudrey finished seventh in the pole vault with a jump of 4.60m – 20cm behind winner Nina Kennedy of Australia.

RJ Abarrientos (with ball) soars to the hoop. —MARLO CUETO

ANTIPOLO—When Barangay Ginebra eliminated Rain or Shine on Sunday, it marked the ninth time the franchise reached a PBA Finals in 12 tournaments with Justin Brownlee as import.

But with the Gin Kings caught in the middle of a title drought, there is a new king of hunger for Brownlee as he and his teammates try to turn the Commissioner’s Cup into a celebration for their legions of fans.

“Hungry? Man, you hear my stomach growling?” Brownlee said in jest when asked by the Inquirer about his bid for a seventh PBA title, a record for imports, following Ginebra’s 118-107 win over Rain or Shine at the Ynares Center here.

Ginebra won the series, 4-2, before a crowd of more than 11,000, with Brownlee going off for 31 points plus 15 rebounds and five assists and RJ Abarrientos unloading 30 points, six rebounds, seven assists and three steals.

The Gin Kings became the first team to reach the championship round of the midseason conference and will face either the TNT Tropang 5G or the Meralco Bolts in a best-of-seven affair.

Cementing BPC case

It will be the seventh consecutive conference that Ginebra will play for the title with Brownlee as reinforcement. But the last three times have been a frustration since the beloved franchise ruled the 2022-23 Commissioner’s Cup.

They fell short in all of those Finals to Rondae Hollis-Jefferson and TNT, including last season’s version of the second conference, following a thrilling Game 7 that went to overtime.

“I think as a team, we really believe that it’s our time,” he said. “Being here before and having lost the last three times, we think it’s our time and we think we can get that hump and get a championship.”

To achieve that, Brownlee will need a lot of support from a number of guys, primarily Abarrientos, whose last two games may have cemented his case as the Best Player of the Conference.

Game 6, however, wasn’t about just Brownlee and Abarrientos. Scottie Thompson came up with 16 points, eight rebounds and six assists; Ralph Cu was again solid off the bench, knocking in 11 points, while Isaac Go provided quality minutes, finishing with nine points.

Sigh of relief

Coach Tim Cone could only heave a sigh of relief that Ginebra was able to close out a determined Rain or Shine side that stayed within striking distance throughout the contest, responding with timely shots and key stops.

“We don’t want to go to a Game 7 against a Yeng Guiao team. That would have been a disaster for us,” Cone said. “So we put all our eggs into one basket tonight because we don’t want a Game 7.”

While Ginebra advances, Rain or Shine was dealt with another semifinal exit, the fifth in the last six conferences.

It was the closest the Elasto Painters had at ending the skid after winning Game 1 and tying the series at 2-2. Being close, however, was not enough. INQ

Olid had left Hearts hinting that, despite winning the league title for the first time in their history, she was not going to be given the financial backing she wanted next season.

There is a sense that the domestic women’s game has lost a bit of the momentum in terms of public excitement and backing from their parent clubs it had when Celtic were first to go full-time professional in 2019 and Rangers, Hibs and Hearts soon followed.

However, former Partick Thistle manager Brian Graham suggested: “Over the last five or six years, the standard of the women’s game in Scotland is definitely getting better – and it’s only going one way.

“I would love to see it getting supported and backed a little bit more at times. We want to see more fans in here today.”

As for the Hampden protagonists, Graham thought Celtic deserved their victory because of the way they defended resolutely after their goal – and because Rangers did not make the most of their one-player advantage.

“They lost the League Cup to Glasgow City, they lost the league on the last day, now they’ve lost the Scottish Cup on the last day of the season.” he pointed out.

“So she [Crichton] will be bitterly disappointed because, over the piece, she’s had a good first season but just not got over that final hurdle for silverware.

“However, Leanne has done an incredible job after coming from Motherwell as assistant.”

Graham agreed with Scott – that Celtic have the momentum going into the new season.

“Believe me, there will have been a bit of self-doubt among these Celtic players this afternoon knowing the fact they had not beaten Rangers in 10 games,” he said.

“They know it’s not been the season they wanted, but winning here, it will give them that belief going into next season.

“Congratulations to him [Scott] getting the first piece of silverware in a short period of time.

“He knows he’s going to have a big summer. He’ll have payers going out, he’ll have players coming in. It’s a rebuild situation at Celtic now.

“This is where he can really put his stamp on it moving on to next season. You can really judge him next season.

“Hearts winning the league and their manager leaving, there’s going to be a big upheaval there too.

“They’ll want to get players in, but they have a strong nucleus of a squad, although you never know, some of those players might get moves and the manager coming in.”

Former Rangers midfielder Clare Gemmell pointed out that it is “phenomenal” that the SWPL has had five different winners in the last five seasons.

Will Celtic build on their Hampden triumph as they aim for a second title and first since 2024?

NEW DELHI: For nearly two decades, Virat Kohli has lived and breathed Royal Challengers Bengaluru. On Sunday night in Ahmedabad, he finally experienced a moment he had imagined countless times.After smashing the winning six to seal RCB’s second IPL title and complete a successful title defence against Gujarat Titans, Kohli revealed that finishing the chase himself had long been a personal dream.“Stuff you dream of. Thought of this moment many times, wanting to hit the winning run,” Kohli said after his unbeaten 75 guided RCB to a five-wicket victory at the Narendra Modi Stadium.The innings was vintage Kohli — controlled, aggressive and decisive. It also featured the fastest half-century of his 19-season IPL career, reached in just 25 balls.Dream finish on the biggest stageKohli admitted he felt unusually calm despite the pressure of a title chase.“I felt really relaxed coming in. The team we have gives confidence to see any kind of situation through. Knew exactly what to do in the chase,” he said.The former RCB captain had set the tone early alongside Venkatesh Iyer, with the pair helping Bengaluru record the fastest team fifty in IPL final history.“I told Venky we need to kill the game in the powerplay. There was total clarity,” Kohli revealed.Even at 37, the batting superstar continues to evolve. Asked about his 25-ball fifty, Kohli explained how the rise of fearless young cricketers has forced him to adapt.“Such is the demand, super young players are pushing you to up the ante. I had to change my mindset, not my game so much, take on bowlers and get extra runs,” he said.A champion team, not a one-man showPerhaps the most satisfying aspect of the triumph for Kohli was the strength of the squad around him.“We’ve had to wait for so long and then just to have a group of guys where you don’t feel that you are the only guy who has to step up for the team is amazing,” he said.Kohli praised the contributions of Josh Hazlewood, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jacob Duffy, Krunal Pandya and Rasikh Salam Dar, calling RCB a complete side. The batting great also highlighted RCB’s consistency throughout the season.“Come the big situation, you need the big boys to step up. But I knew we have a champion side,” he added. “We topped the table, there’s a reason why we got here first. If we stick to our cricket and execute our plans, we are the best team in the competition.”As chants echoed around the stadium, Kohli reserved special praise for the fans.“We have 14 home games, not seven. We have fans behind us all the time. Ninety percent fans were on our side despite it being GT’s home ground,” he said.