LUCKNOW: The Times of India Sports Awards (TOISA) 2025 brought together the biggest names and defining performances under one roof, honouring a year of achievement while offering a glimpse of what lies ahead. It was an evening that moved quickly, honoured widely, and showcased where Indian sport stands today.Smriti Mandhana led the Sportsperson of the Year honours in the female category, her season marked by authority and consistency. Alongside her, shooter Samrat Rana was recognised in the male category after creating history last year by becoming the first Indian world champion in the 10m air pistol – a defining breakthrough in his career.India’s sporting excellence in 2025 panned across disciplines. Nowhere was that more evident than in the Para Sportspersons of the Year: Sheetal Devi and Sumit Antil.Sheetal Devi’s rise has been defined by historic breakthroughs and medal-winning consistency. A world champion and Paralympic medallist, she has dominated compound archery while also breaking barriers, even earning selection in an able-bodied international squad, a first for an Indian para archer.

Sheetal Devi and Sumit Antil crowned ‘Para Sportspersons of the Year’

Sumit Antil, meanwhile, continues to set the benchmark in para athletics. A multiple-time Paralympic champion and world record holder, he added to his dominance with gold at the World Para Athletics Championships, consistently staying ahead of the field.From there, the ceremony gathered pace with a glittering roll call of the creme de la creme of Indian sports. The Indian women’s cricket team swept team honours, underlining a phase of dominance, while the Board of Control for Cricket in India was named Federation of the Year.“Once again, I would like to thank The Times of India for organising these awards. It is wonderful to see so many talented individuals here. Their achievements are truly extraordinary, and it is important that they are recognised,” said Rajiv Shukla, the BCCI vice-president while receiving the award on behalf of the board.Divya Deshmukh, named Emerging Sportsperson of the Year, signalled a new generation ready for the global stage, while Leander Paes was honoured as Mentor of the Year.

Yogi Adityanath at TOISA 2025

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath bestowed the top honours at the glittering ceremony held at The Centrum in Lucknow.Yet, TOISA 2025 was as much about messaging as it was about recognition. As chief guest, Adityanath laid out a clear policy direction, emphasising the need to build sport from the grassroots up.“We are working to ensure that every district becomes a centre of sporting activity, where facilities, coaching and opportunities are accessible to all. From village-level competitions to international platforms, our aim is to create a seamless pathway for athletes,” he said.He also highlighted the state’s progress in developing sports infrastructure. “Over the past 11–12 years, a sports culture has developed in the country. Inspired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, we have taken this forward in Uttar Pradesh since 2017,” he added.“On behalf of the Uttar Pradesh government, I once again welcome all of you. I thank The Times of India Group… for organising this wonderful platform that recognises excellence and inspires the next generation,” he concluded.Among other major winners, Amol Muzumdar was named Coach of the Year for guiding the women’s team to a historic ICC ODI World Cup title, while Subhash Rana won Para Coach of the Year.Shubman Gill and Deepti Sharma were named Cricketers of the Year, while Neeraj Chopra and Rupal Chaudhary took Track & Field honours.

Superstars at TOISA 2025

The evening also reflected on the legacy. Mithali Raj and PR Sreejesh were honoured with Lifetime Achievement awards, celebrating careers that shaped Indian sport’s global identity. The forward gaze came from Devendra Jhajharia, who spoke of a 50-medal target at the LA 2028 Paralympics; not as ambition, but as expectation.The tone, however, had been set at the very start. In his keynote, Prasad Sanyal, Group Business Head of TOI, Indiatimes, and WhatsHot, captured the essence of the evening: “More sweat, more glory – that is the journey Indian sport continues to embrace.”This was the eighth edition of TOISA, celebrating the journeys and achievements of India’s finest athletes across more than 45 sporting categories, covering performances from January 1 to December 31, 2025, a year that once again showcased Indian sport’s growing depth, consistency, and ambition.TOISA 2025 Winners List: Samrat Rana, Smriti Mandhana bag top honours; Sheetal Devi wins female Para Sportsperson of the Year

Matheus Cunha won a penalty for Manchester United at AFC Bournemouth but Michael Carrick’s men were not awarded another after a foul on Amad

Matheus Cunha has become the latest Manchester United player to criticise the decisions in Friday night’s 2-2 draw against AFC Bournemouth.

United were pegged back twice at the Vitality Stadium after Bruno Fernandes and an own goal from James Hill put them ahead. Cunha won a penalty for Michael Carrick’s men when he was pulled by Alex Jimenez, but a second spot-kick was not given with the score at 1-0.

Adrien Truffert seemed to grab Amad’s arm and pull him down, but referee Stuart Atwell waved the appeal away. Ryan Christie went on to score at the other end, before the Cherries were then awarded their own penalty when Harry Maguire pulled Evanilson down.

The defender was sent off for denying a goalscoring opportunity and El Kroupi Junior converted from 12 yards out. Less than 24 hours after the game, it emerged that United are to make a formal complaint to PGMOL after the decision not to award a penalty.

The Manchester Evening News has been told that United officials were “furious” at what they considered another costly VAR blunder and cannot understand why similar penalty incidents within the same game were treated differently.

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Since then, Cunha has taken to Instagram to send a message to supporters after the draw. “An important point according to the decisions of the game,” he wrote. “We remain strong,” he posted alongside an image of him.

Carrick was left incensed when discussing the controversial decisions. “My first [thought] is he definitely got one of them wrong, because he’s given one penalty for the same thing that he’s not given one as a two-armed grab,” he said.

“So the Matheus one, he gives, the second one on Amad he doesn’t, which is, I think, almost identical, really, two hands on someone in the box, and they go over and they’re in control of the ball.

“For me, it’s two penalties, but it’d be interesting to see which one he acknowledges is wrong, whether the one we got or the one that we didn’t get. And it’s a huge moment.

“You don’t give it, they go down to the other end and score and then it needs to be a bigger penalty to overturn just because they scored when actually it’s a penalty and it should be a penalty if you’ve already given one.

“So a bit baffling, really, to make sense of that. And because they score, then the game flips a little bit and changes and then we defended with the 10 men after all that very well and the boys coming off the bench and finishing the game really strong.

“So that was a big positive for us to take the point in the end because we’ve seen them win late here so we take that, but the penalty one’s just astonishing, I have to say, one of them must be wrong.”

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Manchester United received a surprise Champions League boost following their draw with Bournemouth after defeats for Chelsea and Liverpool in the Premier League

It may have been considered a missed opportunity to pile pressure on Chelsea and Liverpool when Manchester United could only draw against Bournemouth on Friday. However United have increased their advantage by a point as time begins to run out for teams to make their final push to qualify for the Champions League.

There remains a strong chance that the Premier League will receive five places in the competition, but finishing fourth is a guarantee. Michael Carrick’s side will be in third place heading into the international break, regardless of how Aston Villa fare against West Ham.

The Midlands club are four points behind United, with Liverpool two further back and Liam Rosenior’s Chelsea another point behind them. As a result, United are seven points ahead of sixth place, and have opened a gap with just seven matches remaining of the season.

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Crucially, following a 3-0 defeat against Everton, Chelsea have won just one of their previous six matches in the division. While Carrick has injected vigour into United’s push, Liam Rosenior is now slightly scrambling to stop a freefall.

Carrick has played it coy over his expectations, but United took another step forward this weekend, albeit a small one. We take a look at how confident the club should feel, looking at their remaining fixtures.

Man United fixtures

Leeds (h)

Chelsea (a)

Brentford (h)

Liverpool (h)

Sunderland (a)

Nottingham Forest (h)

Brighton (a)

Chelsea fixtures

Manchester City (h)

Manchester United (h)

Brighton (a)

Nottingham Forest (h)

Liverpool (a)

Tottenham (h)

Sunderland (a)

Verdict

The two teams share four fixtures and also play each other within their final seven matches. Given that Chelsea face a title-chasing Manchester City and a Tottenham side who may be fighting for their lives in a derby fixture, it’s difficult not to see the Blues as having the more difficult run-in.

Certainly, without beating United, seven points looks a significant gap to bridge or to even strike fear into Carrick’s side. Greater threats lie in wait from teams in better form, such as Everton, or from resurgent sides with a stereotypically easier run-in, such as Newcastle.

United are looking on course, given the advantage they already hold, and those sides will pose a greater threat to the likes of Chelsea and Liverpool. The ability to play Champions League football next term is firmly in United’s hands.

Bjorn Baker might operate without the extensive stable sizes or financial muscle of Australia’s premier outfits, yet he’s poised to compete fiercely on Golden Slipper day at Rosehill.

Baker boasts five entrants across four Group 1 fixtures, highlighted by colts Warwoven and Paradoxium in the $5 million centrepiece, alongside Pericles for the George Ryder Stakes (1500m), Stefi Magnetica in the Ranvet Stakes (2000m), and Green Spaces contesting the Rosehill Guineas (2000m).

Third on the metropolitan trainers’ premiership, Baker trails exclusively Chris Waller and Tulloch Lodge, sustaining his remarkable form from the prior season when Waller alone produced more Sydney winners.

“Compared to the big stables and big bloodstock agents, we’re at a much lower level in terms of numbers and quality, so to get two runners in the Golden Slipper is really a dream,” Baker said this week.

“It’s very much about small steps to get into these races. Even when I came here (from his native New Zealand), you’ve got to start winning races and slowly building quality up.

“Two runners in the race suggests we’re going in the right direction.”

Pericles squares off against the hot property Autumn Glow in the George Ryder Stakes, with the mare favoured at $1.30 in Winx territory, and Pericles listed at $16 in the next betting group.

Baker’s Godolphin gelding boasts consistency, never worse than fourth in five starts, bolstered by a strong return win in the Futurity Stakes (1400m) at Caulfield recently.

Baker remains confident and unwilling to concede despite the favourite’s dominance in Pericles’s path.

“You’ve got to back yourself. You’re in the wrong game if you want to put the white flag up every time there is a superstar,” Baker said.

“If there is ever a horse that is capable of knocking off a superstar, it’s Pericles. He’s got an exceptional record.”

The Doncaster Mile titleholder Stefi Magnetica attempts a new voyage at middle distances in the Ranvet, a formidable proposition.

Baker concedes luck is essential to beat Aeliana and Sir Delius, but insists her preparation exceeds her prior seventh in the All-Star Mile (1600m) at Flemington.

“It was hard to get a line in Melbourne. It didn’t work out, it was a very firm track, and second-up she can be a little bit vulnerable as well,” Baker said.

“It’s going to be a tough race with Sir Delius and Aeliana and co, so she is going to need to get a good run in transit and have everything go her way, but she’s in good order.”

Complementing the Group 1 efforts, Baker has four fillies and mares lined up in the Group 3 Birthday Card Stakes (1200m), with Monte Supreme his best shot at $9.50.

Visit trusted racing betting markets to find value in the Golden Slipper.

The pressure of the Big Dance wasn’t the only thing making players from Georgia, Virginia, Iowa and Fairleigh Dickinson sweat on Saturday afternoon. 

Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City does not have air conditioning, and an unseasonably warm day meant the temperature inside the 43-year-old building soared to over 80 degrees with a 26% humidity rate during the first-round games of the 2026 NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament. 

Virginia won a thriller in the first game of the day, defeating Georgia 82-73 in overtime to become just the second team to advance to the second round out of the First Four. 

Per U.S. Climate Data, the average temperature in Iowa City in March is 48 degrees, but it got up to 84 degrees on Saturday, which broke the city’s previous record high for March 21 of 78 degrees. The sell-out crowd of over 15,000 only added to the heat inside the arena. 

“That was really cool,” Virginia guard Kymora Johnson said of the Iowa fans cheering for Virginia. “Obviously Iowa gets a lot of fans, and it was really cool to see the stadium fill up, although it was very hot.”

“What I try to focus on, sometimes to a fault, you just control the controllables,” Iowa coach Jan Jensen said earlier this week when asked about the weather. 

“I’m glad you brought it up because maybe I better try to talk about it. I’m older, I’m in my fifties right, so I can be like we can’t control that, suck it up. But when you’re younger and it is really hot and it’s been cold in Carver most of the year because it’s winter in the Midwest, might need to chat about it. But I do think the focus will be great. Hydrate up. Both sides will have to have a lot of water if the crowd does heat it up in there. But I think that we’ll be pretty smart about we gotta do what we gotta do whether it’s 80 or 20,” she added.  

This is not the first time that Carver-Hawkeye’s lack of air conditioning has been an issue. Last spring, when the Indiana Fever played the Brazilian national team in a WNBA preseason game in the building, former Hawkeyes star Caitlin Clark warned her Fever teammates about the heat. 

“I warned everybody, like, there’s no air conditioning in Carver-Hawkeye, and usually they don’t play basketball games there in May,” Clark said. “So hopefully, hopefully it stays a little cool in there. I don’t know what the humidity is looking like, but we’ll see how it goes. Might be a little toasty.”

Serge Gnabry bagged a brace and Harry Kane inched closer to the Bundesliga single-season goals record as Bayern Munich beat Union Berlin 4-0 at home on Saturday. Michael Olise also got on the scoresheet as Bundesliga leaders Bayern went 12 clear. Borussia Dortmund can return the gap to nine points with a win at home to Hamburg in Saturday’s late game.  Kane’s second-half goal took him to 31 goals this campaign — the same number Union have scored all season — and 10 short of Robert Lewandowski’s mark from 2020-21, with seven games to play.

“It’s still possible, I just have to keep doing what I’m doing,” Kane told reporters about the record. 

“All it takes is a hat-trick or a couple of braces in a row and then it’ll look a bit more likely.”

Bayern now have 97 goals this season, four short of the best mark set in 1971-72, when Franz Beckenbauer and Gerd Mueller helped the Bavarian giants tear through the Bundesliga. 

Coach Vincent Kompany made five changes from the side which thumped Atalanta on Wednesday to set up a Champions League quarter-final clash with Real Madrid, but kept Kane front and centre. 

Union had never beaten Bayern in 14 clashes and held out until the 41st minute, when Olise collected a punted Leon Goretzka pass and curled the ball into the top corner. 

Gnabry made it two just before the break, knocking in a rebound at the far post. 

Kane pirouetted and curled in Bayern’s third just after the break, boosting his tally to 48 in 40 games in all competitions this season. 

Gnabry was again in the right place to volley in with 67 minutes gone and add gloss to another big Bayern win. 

Bayer Leverkusen’s top-four hopes took a hit with a 3-3 draw at rock-bottom Heidenheim after leading 2-0 at half-time and 3-2 with five minutes remaining. 

The draw leaves Leverkusen sixth, four points behind RB Leipzig, Stuttgart and Hoffenheim, who are all level on 50 points. Stuttgart have a game in hand. 

“I’m speechless,” goalkeeper Mark Flekken told DAZN. “We talked at half-time about not getting complacent.”

Hoping to bounce back from Tuesday’s Champions League exit at Arsenal, first-half goals to Malik Tillmann and Patrik Schick had Leverkusen on course for a routine win. 

Heidenheim fought back to level the match through a Hennes Behrens goal and a Marvin Pieringer penalty. Schick once again gave Leverkusen the lead with a header but Pieringer levelled things up from a corner with 85 minutes gone. 

Justin Njinmah scored the only goal as Werder Bremen won 1-0 at Wolfsburg to push their hosts closer to a first ever Bundesliga relegation. 

Second-last with just one victory in the calendar year, 2009 German champions Wolfsburg could be six points from safety if St Pauli beat Freiburg on Sunday. 

Elsewhere, Rhine Derby rivals Cologne and Borussia Moenchengladbach played out a 3-3 draw. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

WWE Superstar Seth Rollins and Becky Lynch recently took to social media to drop a massive teaser related to an upcoming announcement. The two shared a collaborative Instagram post.

Both Seth Rollins and Becky Lynch currently perform on Monday Night RAW. The Man is in a heated feud with AJ Lee, and they are expected to clash for the Women’s Intercontinental Championship at WrestleMania 42. Meanwhile, many reports suggest that Bron Breakker will return soon to set up a match against The Visionary at this year’s Show of Shows.

On the Road to WrestleMania 42, the husband-wife duo has shared a massive teaser. Rollins and Lynch recently took to Instagram to share a collaborative post about an upcoming announcement, teasing that they are launching something major.

Although they didn’t mention the details of this announcement, many fans believe it could be related to their coffee project with Dayglow Coffee, which Big Time Becks teased last month. They also confirmed that the reveal will happen on March 23, 2026.

“ANNOUNCEMENT INCOMING. 03.23.2026. From Us, With Love. R+C,” the post read.

Check out the Instagram post below:

WWE star Seth Rollins dropped a major retirement tease

During a recent interview with the Boston Herald, Seth Rollins admitted that he was “closer to the end” of his wrestling career than when he first started.

The Visionary added that he still had a lot to give back to pro wrestling and was excited that he was a part of the Road to WWE WrestleMania 42.

“I’m closer to the end of my career than the beginning, but I still feel like I have a lot to give. I’m excited to be able to do that as we march forward to WrestleMania,” Rollins said.

It remains to be seen what the Triple H-led creative team has planned for the former WWE World Heavyweight Champion at this year’s Show of Shows.