Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1056422
maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 28 NOVEMBER 2018 21 SPORTS FOOTBALL SPORTS SAILING RED Bull Racing's Max Verstappen says he will not do any community service tasks that make him "look like an idiot." The Dutch driver was sentenced by the FIA to two days of community service for shoving Esteban Ocon after the Brazilian Grand Prix on Nov. 11. FIA president Jean Todt said in Abu Dhabi this past weekend that a stewarding role at a junior category race is one possi- bility for Verstappen's community service. Red Bull boss Christian Horner joked: "I think he's going to be making cups of tea for Jean." Verstappen also joked in Abu Dhabi that, although relieved he will not have to attend the FIA Gala award night because he finished outside the top three in the F1 standings (behind Lewis Hamilton, Sebas- tian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen). "Maybe I can (work) it as a community service day." More seriously, the 21-year-old Verstap- pen said he will not be happy if his com- munity service is too public. "I'm definitely not going to look like an idiot," Verstappen said. "I believe they are already being very hard on me for this, so let's find some- thing that is suitable for me to do." Verstappen determined not to look like 'an idiot' during community service Max Verstappen was not exactly thrilled with the FIA penalty imposed after the F1 Brazilian Grand Prix THE man who carried out a bomb attack on the Borus- sia Dortmund football team's bus in 2017 has been jailed for 14 years. The defendant, who has been identified only as Sergej W. in line with Ger- man privacy rules, was con- victed on 28 accounts of attempted murder by the Dortmund state court yes- terday. He was also ordered to pay 15,000 euros to defender Marc Bartra, who got in- jured in the attack, having needed an operation to re- move debris from his hand. A police officer was also injured when three explo- sions rocked the team's bus as it left a hotel in the west- ern German city to travel for their Champions League home game against AS Mo- naco on 11 April of last year. Yesterday's verdict ended an 11-month trial that fea- tured testimony from play- ers and then-coach Thomas Tuchel. Prosecutors alleged that W. took out a loan to place a bet that Borussia Dort- mund's shares would drop in value, then bombed the bus and tried to disguise the attack as Islamic terrorism. Dortmund is the only German club whose shares are listed on the stock ex- change. The blasts shattered a win- dow of the bus and hit Bar- tra with shrapnel, leaving the team without the Span- ish defender for around a month. The verdict fell short of prosecutors' call for a life sentence. Defence lawyers had ar- gued that W. should be con- victed only of setting off an explosion and given a much lower sentence. In January, the defendant testified that he carried out the attack but did not in- tend to kill or hurt anyone. The 29-year-old, a Ger- man citizen who came to the country from Russia at 13, told the court that he was trying to fake an attack and designed the explosives in such a way "that no harm to people could be expect- ed". The suspect was arrested 10 days after the attack. Borussia Dortmund team-bus bomber given 14-year jail sentence Sergej W. TEAM BUS BOMB