Vidarsa Vinod, Sonam Maskar and Elavenil Valarivan pose after winning silver medals. (PTI Photo)

NEW DELHI: India opened their medal account at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games with two silver medals on Sunday, both coming in the women’s 10m air rifle competition, as Elavenil Valarivan emerged as the standout performer on a day that also brought assured medals, cricket and hockey victories and strong starts in badminton and table tennis.Valarivan first combined with Sonam Uttam Maskar and Games debutant Vidarsa Vinod to win silver in the women’s 10m air rifle team event before adding an individual silver later in the day.The 27-year-old’s individual medal was particularly significant after she had gone without a podium finish in her previous two Asian Games appearances. She shot 252.4 in the final to finish 0.6 points behind Japan’s Hinata Taichi, who claimed gold with an Asian Games record 253.0. South Korea’s Ban Hyojin won bronze with 230.4.For Valarivan, it was a day of both achievement and a near-miss. She had led for much of the final before three loose shots towards the end allowed Taichi to turn the contest around.India’s two shooting silvers provided an encouraging start to a discipline that had produced a record 22 medals at the Hangzhou Asian Games.

Suchika Tariyal (ANI Photo)

Suchika assures historic MMA medal

While shooting provided India’s first medals, Suchika Tariyal ensured another podium finish.The 36-year-old defeated Mongolia’s Altanchimeg Baigalmaa 2-0 in the women’s traditional 60kg MMA quarterfinal to enter the semifinals and assure India of at least a bronze medal.The result assumes added significance with MMA making its Asian Games debut at Aichi-Nagoya. Tariyal, who has previously competed in judo, switched to MMA in 2024 and went on to win gold at the first two MMA-SFI National Championships.She also won bronze at the third and fourth Asian Mixed Martial Arts Championships earlier this year.

Shafali Verma (PTI Photo)

Shafali century takes India into cricket final

India’s women cricketers moved another step closer to defending their Asian Games title with a commanding 114-run victory over Bangladesh in the semifinal.Shafali Verma was the star, smashing her maiden T20I century off just 49 balls as India posted 195/4 after opting to bat. Smriti Mandhana contributed 37, while skipper Harmanpreet Kaur scored 40 off 33 balls.India’s bowlers then bundled Bangladesh out for just 81 in 15.4 overs, with Nandani Sharma and Deepti Sharma claiming three wickets each.The victory secured India a place in Tuesday’s final, where they will face Sri Lanka in a repeat of the previous edition’s gold-medal clash. Sri Lanka defeated Pakistan in the other semifinal.

India’s goal rush in hockey

India’s men’s and women’s hockey teams made emphatic starts to their respective campaigns, producing a combined 32 goals in their opening pool matches.The women began with a stunning 19-0 win over Uzbekistan, with Deepika Sehrawat scoring a remarkable eight goals.The men followed it up with a 13-1 demolition of Indonesia. Dilpreet Singh led the scoring with four goals, while India dominated virtually throughout the contest.The two victories provided early evidence of India’s ambitions in the hockey competitions and gave both teams a strong start to their Asian Games campaigns.

Deepika Sehrawat (Image credit: Hockey India)

Shuttlers make winning start

India swept Kazakhstan 3-0 in the women’s team badminton event, with PV Sindhu, Unnati Hooda and Tanvi Sharma all winning their respective singles matches.Sindhu opened with a straight-game victory before Hooda and Tanvi completed the sweep. India did not drop a game in the tie and moved into the quarterfinals, where they will face hosts Japan.The result provided a strong start for a team featuring a blend of experience and youth, with Sindhu leading the charge alongside Hooda and Tanvi.

Table tennis: women fight back, men suffer setback

India’s table tennis teams experienced contrasting fortunes on Day 1.Both the women’s and men’s teams began their campaigns with identical 3-0 victories over Indonesia in their respective Group F openers.The women then produced one of the day’s notable comebacks, recovering from 1-2 down to beat Singapore 3-2. Yashaswini Ghorpade won the deciding fifth match against Loy Ming, while Sreeja Akula had earlier levelled the contest at 2-2.The men, however, suffered a setback in their second group match, losing 0-3 to Iran. Manush Shah, Manav Thakkar and Harmeet Desai all lost their respective matches.Both Indian teams will next face Pakistan.

India’s Quimcy Joaquim Dsouza (AP Photo)

Heartbreak for Quimcy in teqball

India’s Quimcy D’Souza came agonisingly close to securing a historic medal in teqball but finished without a podium after losing two bronze-medal matches within five minutes of each other.The 24-year-old pushed Japan’s world No. 7 Yuina Sakamoto to the limit in the women’s singles bronze-medal match before losing 11-12, 11-12.Barely five minutes later, she returned to the arena alongside Mohamed Anas Beg for the mixed doubles bronze-medal match. The Indian pair lost 0-2 to Vietnam’s Hoang Minh Tan Nguyen and Gia Ngih Trinh, going down 9-12, 6-12.

Das finishes sixth, other swimmers miss finals

Rishabh Das finished sixth in the men’s 100m backstroke final after clocking 54.77 seconds. China’s Jiayu Xu won gold with a Games Record 51.98, while Japan’s Hidekazu Takehara and South Korea’s Juho Lee took silver and bronze respectively.Earlier, Benediction Beniston and Akash Mani failed to progress from the men’s 100m freestyle heats after finishing 12th and 23rd respectively.

Wushu brings mixed results

Suraj Singh Mayanglambam finished 11th in the men’s changquan final with 9.683 points after competing in a 21-athlete field.India also suffered two Round of 16 exits in Sanda. Aparna lost 0-2 to Iran’s Sogand Sinkaeichetan in the women’s 52kg category, while Vikrant Baliyan went down 0-2 to Iran’s Soheil Mousavi in the men’s 75kg category.There was further disappointment in MMA after Varun Sanyal was declared medically unfit to compete following an incident during a sauna session at his cruise-ship accommodation.

A medal-winning start with more opportunities ahead

By the end of Day 1, India had two confirmed medals — both silver — through Valarivan and the women’s 10m air rifle team. Suchika Tariyal had assured another medal in MMA, while the women’s cricket team had secured a place in the gold-medal match.The day also delivered emphatic hockey victories, a clean sweep in women’s badminton and a comeback win in table tennis, although the men’s paddlers and some individual competitors endured setbacks.For India, therefore, the opening day brought a mixture of medals, near-misses and promising starts — with several opportunities still ahead as the Aichi-Nagoya Games gather pace.

Arsenal Scout Luca Weinhandl as £20m January Transfer Talks Begin

Arsenal are doing what serious clubs should be doing, tracking the next wave before the market turns noisy and expensive. According to TEAMtalk, the Gunners are among several sides monitoring Sturm Graz midfielder Luca Weinhandl, a 17-year-old Austrian who has already pushed himself into the wider European conversation.

Advertisement

This is not random hype. Weinhandl has been watched closely in recent fixtures, including matches against Rapid Wien and LASK, and the interest stretches beyond Arsenal. Brighton and Aston Villa are in the frame too, with clubs across Germany, Italy and France also aware of him. Once that kind of queue forms, the price usually moves quickly.

IMAGO | Anfield Index

Luca Weinhandl Fits Arsenal Midfield Planning

The profile makes sense. Weinhandl is listed at 6ft3in, covers ground, plays box-to-box and has already shown enough composure to stand out in the Austrian Bundesliga and the Europa League. Arsenal under Mikel Arteta have been very deliberate about the kind of midfielder they want, players who can handle pressure, carry physical authority and still be clean in possession. On paper, he ticks obvious boxes.

Advertisement

The report states that Arsenal’s hierarchy see him as a long-term midfield solution rather than a short-term fix. That is important. At 17, this would be a recruitment play based on projection, development and asset growth, not instant first-team dependence. Those are usually the smarter deals, provided expectations stay realistic.

£20m Fee Reflects Growing Competition

A figure of around £20m has been mentioned, and that tells you where the market now sits for elite teenage talent. It sounds steep for a player still early in his senior career, but if multiple Premier League clubs are seriously involved, that number starts to look normal very quickly.

Weinhandl reportedly rejected a move in the summer in order to continue his development at Sturm Graz. That suggests patience and clarity, two qualities clubs like to see. Sturm Graz are also under no pressure to sell immediately, which means any January move would need the right structure and the right football argument.

Advertisement

January Window Could Be Decisive

Arsenal have a choice to make. Move early and accept the developmental nature of the signing, or wait and risk a broader auction by next summer. That is the calculation here. If Weinhandl keeps performing at his current level, the list of suitors will grow and the cost with it.

There is a reason clubs scout players like this aggressively. You either buy before certainty arrives, or you pay heavily once everyone agrees. Arsenal appear to understand that, and in Weinhandl they may see a midfielder whose value, and level, could rise fast.

Our View

From an Arsenal supporter’s perspective, this kind of report feels encouraging because it points to planning rather than panic. The midfield has quality, but the squad still needs fresh legs, size and long-term succession thinking. If Luca Weinhandl has the blend of athleticism, technical security and maturity being described, then £20m could look very sensible in a couple of years.

Advertisement

The key, though, is pathway. Arsenal cannot keep collecting talented young players without a credible route into meaningful minutes. If he arrives, there has to be a clear development plan, whether that means gradual cup appearances, training exposure with senior players, or a loan strategy that actually suits his game.

Supporters will also like the fact that he reportedly chose development over a move in the summer. That suggests a player thinking beyond the first big contract. Arsenal need more of that mentality, especially in younger signings.

There is always risk with teenage recruits, particularly when other clubs are circling and reputations start growing faster than careers. But this is exactly where smart recruitment can separate a very good side from one that stays strong for years. If Arsenal truly believe Weinhandl fits the long-term picture, then waiting around would make little sense. Get in early, coach him properly and trust the process.

Source: TEAMTALK

On the opening Sunday of the 2026-27 NFL season, 10 teams – Baltimore, Buffalo, Carolina, Chicago, Cincinnati, Detroit, Houston, Jacksonville, Minnesota and New Orleans – all scored at least 30 points, tied for the third-most such teams in a Week 1 in NFL history.

Seven teams – Arizona, Baltimore, Cincinnati, Detroit, Las Vegas, Minnesota and the New York Jets – all won in Week 1 after missing the postseason in 2025.

Six teams – Baltimore, Buffalo, Carolina, Chicago, Cincinnati and Jacksonville – all scored at least 24 points in the first half of their games today, the most such teams in Week 1 in NFL history.

96 Points Scored

The Chicago Bears defeated the Carolina Panthers, 59-37, in Week 1 and the combined 96 points are the most points scored in a season-opening game in NFL history, surpassing the 88 points scored by Tampa Bay and New Orleans in Week 1 of the 2018 season.

Chicago quarterback Caleb Williams passed for 269 yards and two touchdowns, and rushed for 65 yards and two touchdowns in the Bears’ win over Carolina.

Henry Stars for Ravens

Baltimore running back Derrick Henry rushed for 144 yards and three touchdowns in the Ravens’ 41-23 win at Indianapolis.

Henry has 125 career rushing touchdowns, surpassing Pro Football Hall of Famer Marcus Allen (123 rushing touchdowns) for the third-most rushing touchdowns in NFL history.

Henry has 26 career games with at least 100 rushing yards and has eight career games with at least 100 rushing yards and three rushing touchdowns – the third-most such games in NFL history.

Wins for Lions & Bills

Detroit running back Jahmyr Gibbs recorded 186 scrimmage yards (156 rushing, 30 receiving) and two rushing touchdowns and wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown had 10 receptions for 67 yards and two touchdowns in the Lions’ 31-30 overtime win over New Orleans.

Buffalo quarterback Josh Allen passed for 334 yards and two touchdowns and had two rushing touchdowns in Buffalo’s 36-31 win over Houston.

Allen, who has 303 combined passing and rushing touchdowns (222 passing, 81 rushing) in 129 games, became the fastest quarterback in NFL history to reach 300 career combined passing and rushing touchdowns, surpassing Aaron Rodgers (134 games).

Jaguars & Vikings Open Season With Victories

Jacksonville quarterback Trevor Lawrence completed 18 of 23 pass attempts for 245 yards and four touchdowns with no interceptions in Jacksonville’s 34-10 win over Cleveland.

Minnesota wide receiver Justin Jefferson had eight receptions for 92 yards and two touchdowns in the Vikings’ 39-22 win over Green Bay.

Jefferson, who has 8,572 career receiving yards in 95 career games, became the third-fastest player in NFL history to reach 8,500 receiving yards.

Steelers & Cardinals On Top

Pittsburgh linebacker T.J. Watt recorded two sacks and returned an interception 35 yards for a touchdown in the Steelers’ 20-13 win over Atlanta.

Watt, who has 117 sacks and 10 interceptions in his career, joins Pro Football Hall of Famer Julius Peppers as the only players with at least 100 sacks and at least 10 interceptions since 1982, when the individual sack became an official statistic.

Arizona tight end Trey McBride recorded nine receptions for 95 yards and a touchdown in the Cardinals’ 26-14 win at the Los Angeles Chargers.

McBride has 38 career games with at least five receptions, tied with Pro Football Hall of Famers Antonio Gates (38 games) and Kellen Winslow Sr. (38) for the second-most such games by a tight end in his first five seasons in NFL history.

Other Week 1 Sunday Games

New York Jets rookie tight end Kenyon Sadiq recorded a rushing touchdown in his NFL debut in the team’s 23-10 victory at Tennessee.

Tampa Bay rookie linebacker Josiah Trotter had a sack and returned an interception 38 yards for a touchdown in his NFL debut against Cincinnati, becoming the first player since 1982, when the individual sack became an official statistic, to record a sack and an interception-return for a touchdown in his first career game.

Los Angeles Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert passed for 209 yards and a touchdown against Arizona.

LiveScores Now Available at IrishScores.com

Out writers pick the team they would start today:

Tyrone Marshall

Carrick needs to go back to basics to get a result here. That means going with Shaw at left-back if he is anywhere near ready to start, because the alternatives at left-back have really flopped.

I’d make a change in midfield as well. Youri Tielemans has started to struggle and the extra running power of Andrey Santos might be needed in a game where United have to turn up the physical edge.

It’s unclear whether Sesko is definitely unavailable for today’s game even though he wasn’t spotted travelling to London with his teammates, but if we work on the assumption he is out then Bryan Mbeumo is the best option to lead the line. The only issue with that is who fills in on the right with Amad out, but Lacey showed in midweek he is ready to make an impact from the off and should be given a chance.

Tyrone’s XI: Lammens; Dalot, Maguire, Martinez, Shaw; Santos, Mainoo; Lacey, Fernandes, Rashford; Mbeumo

Read the rest here >>>

Angel Capital has finally achieved a breakthrough Group 1 success, capturing the Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes at Caulfield.

Previously finishing fourth as the favoured $2.90 elect in the 1400m event last year, Angel Capital reversed the result under a superb Ben Melham performance.

The five-year-old gelding surged past the 2025 Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes winner Sepals ($11) in the final 100 metres to record a three-quarter-of-a-length victory, with Angel Capital ($5) crossing the line first.

Regal Award ($9.50), who had led from the start, finished a long-neck back in third.

Angel Capital began his racing journey with Clinton McDonald at Cranbourne before being acquired by Yulong and transferred to the stables of Chris Waller.

The Waller team had considered a start in the Group 1 Manikato Stakes (1200m) scheduled for next Sunday at Caulfield but shifted their focus to Saturday’s race upon assessing Angel Capital’s favourable handicap.

Darren Beadman, a former champion jockey and representative for the Waller stable, expressed the significant relief felt by the stable in witnessing Angel Capital’s attainment of Group 1 status.

“He’s been unlucky so many times in Group 1’s,” Beadman said. “He’s been deserving of the Group 1 win for so many runs and the way this track panned out today with a good, a strong speed up front, and Ben has the utmost faith in the horse, he rode him to perfection.”

Beadman highlighted Melham’s crucial contribution to Angel Capital’s maiden Group 1 victory.

Melham had been instrumental in Angel Capital’s early career when the horse was under McDonald’s care.

“He’s shown a lot of faith and confidence in the horse,” Beadman added. “There wouldn’t be too many jockeys that would have the key to unlock the gift that he’s got, the horse. Benny’s riding in career best form and looks strong and fit.”

Melham had consistently praised Angel Capital’s ability from their initial rides together.

He had guided the now five-year-old to wins in the McKenzie Stakes at Moonee Valley and the Caulfield Guineas Prelude as a three-year-old. Post-transfer to Waller’s yard, Melham had limited opportunities on the gelding, though these included Group 1 placings in the C F Orr Stakes and the Newmarket Handicap last season.

“We’ve sort of praised his ability from day dot,” Melham commented. “I just knew today that it’s the first time he’s been in a suitable race where I thought everything would go to plan with the right conditions. Then we got here this morning, and they cut the track in half. Honestly, he needs all the track he can get, so I wasn’t too happy about that, but we found a race with good speed. He got into a good rhythm, and obviously Chris is a master at setting these horses for these races. He looked a picture in the yard when I got on him, he gave a little pig root going out on the track and then he just rolled to the barriers beautifully in the zone. The ability’s never been the question with him. He’s a very good colt, as you’ve seen there today, but he’s just so big and he’s such a brute. He’s not an easy horse to ride, but when things go his way, you’ve seen what he can do.”

Explore the best Australian betting sites for comprehensive racing odds.

The BMW PGA Championship comes to a conclusion at Wentworth Club on Sunday, with a stacked field chasing bumper prize money at the DP World Tour’s flagship event.

The total tournament purse is $9m (£6.6m), with the winner in line to earn more than £1.1m.

As well as a healthy cheque, the tournament winner will also pick up a chunky 1,335 points to add to their tally in the DP World Tour’s Order of Merit.

Rory McIlroy will be particularly motivated to scoop some points after losing ground to race leader and old foe Patrick Reed at the Irish Open.

Reed pulled out of the BMW PGA Championship with a hand injury, and McIlroy is in the mix on Sunday, beginning two shots back from the leaders in his bid to win a second title after his 2014 triumph at Wentworth.

BMW PGA Championship prize money

(ranking points for DP World Tour Order of Merit)

An incident of eve-teasing left Suchika Tariyal with a simple thought: ‘I wanted to learn how to fight’. Twenty-four years later, that decision has taken the 36-year-old from judo mats in Haryana to the Asian Games podium, where she assured India of its first medal at the Aichi-Nagoya Games by beating Mongolia’s Altanchimeg Baigalmaa 2-0 to enter the semifinals of the women’s Traditional Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) 60kg event here on Sunday. The semifinals at the Nagoya City Inae Sports Centre here on Monday will give Tariyal a chance to turn her assured bronze into a gold. A place in the last four guarantees a medal, with both losing semifinalists receiving bronze. “It’s great to have assured one medal for the country. It’s time for me to give that fight for a gold medal tomorrow,” Tariyal said after her victory. The Women’s Traditional MMA 60kg combines striking, takedowns, grappling and ground fighting, with athletes competing in the under-60kg category. 

The winner is decided by points, submission or stoppage, and reaching the semifinals guarantees a medal, with both losing semifinalists receiving bronze. It is making its Asian Games debut at Aichi-Nagoya 2026.

It’s another landmark moment for Tariyal in a career that has stretched across judo, jiu-jitsu and MMA.

“I had a dream from childhood that I would learn some kind of fighting, so I chose judo. That journey has brought me here. It’s like perfecting the base to go to the next level, and judo has helped me a lot with that,” she said.

Her journey began in Rohtak, Haryana, where she grew up in a modest and conservative family.

After the eve-teasing incident at the age of 12, she took up judo as a means of self-defence.

She first trained at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium and later at the Dada Dev Mandir Centre in Palam before honing her skills at SAI Bhopal.

Getting into competitive sport was not easy, with her family initially having reservations about the challenges and travel involved for a girl competing away from home.

Tariyal eventually built an impressive judo career, competing for India in more than 20 international events and becoming an eight-time national champion.

She won gold at the 2019 Commonwealth Judo Championships and the 2019 South Asian Games, besides taking silver at the 2018 Commonwealth Judo Championships.

She represented India at several Asian Judo Championships and competed in the women’s 57kg category at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, where she narrowly missed out on a podium finish.

Judo to jiu-jitsu: Tariyal moved into jiu-jitsu and reached the top of that sport too, winning gold in the Adults Ju-Jitsu Contact Female 63kg category at the 2024 JJIF Ju-Jitsu World Championships.

Her MMA journey had actually started much earlier, with a debut victory in 2017, but she then took a seven-year break while continuing to compete successfully in judo and jiu-jitsu.

She returned to professional MMA in 2024, signing a multi-fight contract with BRAVE Combat Federation in the women’s strawweight division. She made her professional comeback at BRAVE CF 92 in Bahrain in December 2024 and won.

The transition to MMA has continued to test her. She won gold at the first and second MMA-SFI National Championships and followed that with bronze medals at the third and fourth Asian Mixed Martial Arts Championships in January and May 2026.

Her Asian Games preparation included a six-week camp in Mumbai under coaches Nikhil and Sushobhan.

“When I was travelling and faced difficulties in Mumbai traffic, my coaches would wait for me to come and finish my training. They kept full attention and kept on perfecting my techniques. My fellow teammates and sir supported me well and ensured that I didn’t sustain any injury in the buildup,” she continued.

Tariyal said her approach against Baigalmaa was built around the same fundamentals she has developed through years of combat sports.

“I just planned my game as per my coach’s instructions. My gameplan will be the same going forward — same takedown, ground and pound, and then on the ground, finish the fight through a submission or lock. That’s the strategy going forward as per my sir’s instruction,” she said.

Against Baigalmaa, ranked 92nd in the Eurasia region, Tariyal executed that plan to win 2-0 and move into the last four.

“It took me a lot of time to reach here. There is a lot of hard work — first judo, then other games and now MMA. It’s a new game, totally new mixed martial arts,” she said.

Alongside her sporting career, Tariyal has also served the country as a CISF head constable before joining the Haryana Department of Sports as a junior coach. 

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

Featured Video Of The Day

Spain’s Royal Family Welcomes World Cup Champions To Zarzuela Palace

ESPN Unlimited rolls all 7 ESPN-affiliated networks — ESPN, ESPN2, SEC Network, ACC Network, along with ESPN+, SEC+ and ACCNX — into one plan. It’s effectively “cable ESPN, but via streaming.” That means subscribers can get coverage of more than 47,000 live events each year, on-demand replays, original programming and more. Purchased alone, the plan costs $29.99/month.

FOX One is the home to all the major FOX channels: FOX News, FOX Sports, FOX Weather, FS1, FS2, FOX Business, FOX Deportes, Big Ten Network (B1G), local FOX stations and FOX Network. Users also have access to on-demand content from FOX Entertainment, including movies, TV shows, comedies, ad-supported channels like LiveNOW and TMZ and FOX podcasts. A FOX One subscription costs $19.99 a month. 

With the Fox One/ESPN bundle, you can combine both services for one low rate of $39.99/month. That means access to tons of NFL and college football games, great shows, news and more, all at a savings of $120/year.