As the rain continues to pour down in Colombo, the first session is ended and lunch break has been taken. So far, India’s score read 67/1, with Devdutt Padikkal (44*) and KL Rahul (23*) unbeaten at the crease. Hoepfully, we will get the resumption soon but for now, there’s no confirmation. 

Oleksandr Usyk has maintained his interest in facing a former world champion, effectively placing the ball in his court as he equally considers another potential option.

The Ukrainian vacated his WBC, IBF and WBA heavyweight titles in June while, perhaps more importantly, revealing that he has just one fight left.

This followed his subpar performance against former kickboxing champion Rico Verhoeven, who gave a tremendous effort but ultimately suffered an 11th-round stoppage defeat in May.

Crucially, though, this was not supposed to be Usyk’s penultimate contest, as his original exit strategy – which he outlined earlier this year – involved two further fights.

Perhaps the Verhoeven clash was a little close for comfort but, either way, the two-division undisputed champion has already crafted a Hall of Fame-worthy career.

Not only that, but Usyk is firmly considered the greatest heavyweight of this era, having scored two respective victories over Tyson Fury, Anthony Joshua and Daniel Dubois.

He would therefore be forgiven for taking an ‘easier’ fight against Deontay Wilder who, while a former WBC champion, is arguably further removed from his prime than Usyk.

But with the 40-year-old coming off a split decision victory over fellow veteran Derek Chisora, Usyk, 39, has told The Athletic that the American remains an ideal candidate for a stateside showdown.

“Why not? If Deontay’s team wants it, I do it. Money, business… Now we have two options, but what for me is good, we will take. The team is working on it.”

While stopping short of revealing his second option, it would seem that Wilder is, indeed, the frontrunner to face Usyk in his last dance.

Back in the 2020 season, the Vikings opted to keep things modest for Justin Jefferson to begin his NFL career. The Vikings rookie at WR was tasked with filling Stefon Diggs’ cleats. Best to bring the young lad along slowly.

But then reality hit.

Bisi Johnson had been working as the WR2 behind Adam Thielen until injury ruined the chance at being able to do so. Jefferson got tossed into that Week 3 Tennessee Titans game. Fireworks went off and Jefferson has never looked back.

Right now, the Vikings don’t have a young star in the building who is likely to get to that Jefferson level. By definition, being a historic talent is exceedingly rare. But what of the enthusiasm for corner Charles Demmings? Can the young corner continue with his early momentum? Johnson couldn’t slow down Jefferson for long; maybe Demmings can do something similar.

Vikings Rookie Charles Demmings Keeps Hype Going

Mr. Demmings stands at 6’1″ and weighs roughly 195 pounds. He thrives in press and offers 4.4 wheels. Getting him in the 5th Round was possible due to playing at a small school.

Check out what Jeff Diamond had to say in the former GM’s analysis for Vikings Territory: “This fifth-round pick is making an impact with his physical coverage skills at training camp, He comes out of small school Stephen F. Austin but I’m impressed that he’s not intimidated in his first NFL camp which we saw when he put a big hit on vet WR Jauan Jennings in practice this week.”

Diamond’s sense of the depth chart: “Demmings could push vet free agent signee James Pierre for the third corner or at least become the fourth corner who gets play time in certain defensive schemes and in the event of injury to the other corners.”

A final insight from the former GM: “He’s a 4.4 guy with good size at 6-1, 193 pounds who can run with wide receivers and should be able to play the run. Demmings will get good battle testing trying to cover the Vikings talented WR corps in camp and he’ll be worth watching when he plays a lot in preseason games. He should be another special teams standout. There have been a lot of late-round corners who wound up being great players. Perhaps Demmings can be such a player.”

Perhaps, indeed.

An NFL corner cannot have thin skin. Making a mistake is exceedingly obvious, so much so that even casual fans can see the gaffe in real time. Whoever is out at corner therefore needs to be a high-compete player who doesn’t lose confidence after losing a rep.

Demmings still has a long way to go before arriving at that spot, but he’s been raising eyebrows. The clip directly above features Thor Nystrom offering his early assessment of Demmings, noting that the rookie is getting some run with the first-team defense. That’s not a small detail, folks.

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Getting worked in among the starters isn’t reason to throw a celebratory parade. Nevertheless, that’s a good update since it suggests that he’s not buried on the depth chart. The CB4 gets work with the 1s, not the CB10.

The Vikings haven’t had a true CB1 since Xavier Rhodes. Back in 2017, Rhodes could get tasked with lining up across from the other side’s WR1 and win the day. That’s of immense value since it helps to tilt the numbers advantage back towards the defense.

Charles Demmings is a long way off from proving to be that player. In fact, he’s very unlikely to get there. Most 1st-Round corners don’t get to a similar level of Rhodes, who was an All Pro and Defensive Player of the Year candidate. What’s not uncertain, though, is that getting that guy — a true island corner — is of immense value.

Adding somebody such as James Pierre means inserting a hurdle into the competition. The plan involves the young fella developing slowly while the elder statesman gets the job done in the immediate. Pierre is basically a roadblock in front of the rookie’s playing time. Does Demmings slow down at all as he speeds toward Week 1? Or, perhaps, does Demmings keep gathering speed as he bursts through the corners ahead of him?

Demmings, 23, gets back to work later today at Vikings training camp.

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Senior Editor for Vikings Territory & PurplePTSD . Twitter & Bluesky: @VikingsGazette. Email: k.joudry[at]vikingsterritory[dot]com. Canadian. Jude 1:24-25.

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Trainer Jason Warren believes Palm Angel has been a victim of her early two-year-old form.

Palm Angel is slated to make her twelfth start in the Drummond Golf Handicap (1600m) at Caulfield Heath on Saturday.

In her eleven prior starts, Palm Angel has recorded two wins, which are the only times the now four-year-old mare has finished in the placings.

On debut, Palm Angel won the Listed Merson Cooper Stakes (1000m) at Caulfield, and two starts later, she captured the Group 2 Blue Diamond Prelude (1100m), also at Caulfield.

Warren is not disappointed that the then filly secured crucial Black Type for her future stud career, but Palm Angel has faced the consequences since.

In eight runs since her Blue Diamond Prelude victory, Palm Angel’s closest performance to a placing was fourth in a three-year-old fillies benchmark 78 grade race when she was assigned 60.5kg before Jackson Radley’s 3kg claim.

For Saturday’s race, Palm Angel is back in a benchmark 74 race with 61.5kg, which will be offset by Jackson Radley’s 2kg claim.

“She’s carried a lot of weight ever since her early days, but I’m happy with how she’s going and her work has been good,” Warren said.

“I’m hopeful that she can bounce back on Saturday.”

“She probably gets into the race OK at the weights after the claim for what she has been getting.”

At her most recent race on July 18, Palm Angel finished sixth over 1400m at Flemington.

“I thought her run last start from a difficult barrier was a good run,” Warren commented.

“Jackson had to go too far back from a wide gate, and she was good to the line.”

“I think she’s been looking for a little bit further now and it has been a little bit of time between drinks for her.”

“What we don’t want is any more rain for her.”

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Ashish Yadav opened India’s medal account at the World Athletics U20 Championships with a silver medal in the men’s javelin throw, while national senior record holder Pooja Singh booked her place in the women’s high jump final.

Yadav produced a best throw of 74.09m in his third attempt to finish second in the men’s javelin final on Friday. His compatriot T Dharanidharan ended the competition in sixth place with a best effort of 72.35m.

Yadav’s silver-winning throw was 40cm short of his personal best of 74.49m, which he had recorded at the Indian Open Throws Competition in Patiala in March.

At 19, Yadav became only the second Indian after two-time Olympic medallist Neeraj Chopra to win a silver medal in the men’s javelin at the World Athletics U20 Championships.

Chopra had won gold at the 2016 edition in Poland, where he also set the world junior record of 86.48m, which still stands.

Heymans produces winning throw in final attempt

South Africa’s Jan-Hendrik Heymans claimed the gold medal after producing the competition’s decisive throw of 80.50m in his sixth and final attempt. The effort also became the U20 world-leading mark for the season.

Dominica’s Addison James took the bronze medal with a throw of 73.89m.

Ashfaq finishes eighth in 400m final

Mohommed Ashfaq, who had set a new U20 national record in the men’s 400m first-round heats a day earlier with a timing of 45.81 seconds, finished eighth in the final.

The Indian clocked 46.20 seconds in the medal race.

American Jayden Deleon won the 400m gold in a championships record of 44.47 seconds. His compatriot Quincy Wilson took silver after stopping the clock at 44.62 seconds, while South Africa’s Leendert Koekemoer completed the podium with a time of 44.96 seconds.

Pooja Singh reaches high jump final

Pooja Singh advanced to the women’s high jump final after clearing 1.79m during the qualification round on day three of the championships.

A total of 14 athletes across the two qualification groups cleared the 1.79m mark and were subsequently awarded places in the final.

Two Indians through to men’s long jump final

India will also have two representatives in the men’s long jump final after Shahnavaz Khan and Jithin Arjuna successfully negotiated the qualification round.

Shahnavaz finished fourth in Qualification Group A and fifth overall after registering a 7.73m jump in his third and final attempt.

Jithin also secured his place in the final, finishing 12th overall and taking the last available qualifying spot. He recorded 7.57m in his third and final attempt.

Italy’s Daniele Inzoli was the only athlete from the two qualification groups to clear the automatic qualification distance of 8m. He produced a jump of 8.15m.

Poonam misses women’s javelin final

There was disappointment for Poonam in the women’s javelin throw qualification round as she failed to make the final.

She finished eighth in her qualification group and 13th overall, with her best effort of the day measuring 48.81m.

Alexandra Eala of the Philippines wipes her face between points while playing Caty McNally of the United States during day six of the National Bank Open Presented by Rogers at Sobeys Stadium on August 07, 2026 in Toronto, Ontario. Matthew Stockman/Getty Images/AFP

MANILA, Philippines — Alex Eala alleviated worries about her fitness after twisting her right ankle in a gutsy win over Caty McNally in the round of 32 of the Canadian Open in Toronto on Saturday.

Eala tweaked her right ankle midway through the second set and fought through it en route to a 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 victory over McNally to reach the fourth round of the WTA 1000 hard court event.

“I kind of rolled my ankle in that second set.  I hit the forehand and I landed kind of wrong. I called the physio. I don’t know what happened, because it happened so fast. But luckily there’s nothing wrong with it, and it was no serious problems,” the 25th seed Eala said in the post-match presser.

Eala, who needed a medical timeout to have her ankle checked leading 3-2, was on the verge of sweeping McNally, serving for the match up 5-4.

But McNally fought back and forced the decider before Eala dug deeper and regained her rhythm to close out the match after two hours and 39 minutes.

Caty McNally of the United States congratulates Alexandra Eala of the Philippines after their match during day six of the National Bank Open Presented by Rogers at Sobeys Stadium on August 07, 2026 in Toronto, Ontario. Matthew Stockman/Getty Images/AFP

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The 21-year-old Eala admitted she’s feeling the fatigue from playing in back-to-back tournaments and coming off a title run at the WTA 500 DC Open in Washington on Tuesday, where she overcame World No. 3 Jessica Pegula in the final.

“Today was physically, it pushed me a lot. I have a lot of matches in the bag. But that goes for good and bad. I think this is also a learning process. We’re athletes. So that kind of physical is a huge part of our job,” said Eala, who opened her bid in Toronto with a three-set win over Alycia Parks on Thursday morning. “I think I have a great team who is going to help me recover, and I have high hopes for the rest of the tournament.”

“I needed to push a lot. I’m as tired as one can be at this stage. You can imagine, a lot of matches,” Eala said. “But, that’s the job. I’m ready. I’m excited for another match. I’m going to do my best to recover and start again from zero.”

The Filipino World No. 20 will be tested again on Monday against 12th seed Belinda Bencic for a spot in the quarterfinals. Bencic outlasted Taylor Townsend in a grueling match that lasted more than three hours.

Dan Clarken and Oopy MacGillivray have spring aspirations for their mare Mating Call, who is set to kick off her campaign at Morphettville.

Clarken is looking forward to seeing Mating Call compete over six furlongs again in the Group 3 Behemoth Stakes (1200m) this Saturday.

The mare’s only previous experience at 1200m was a winning debut at Balaklava nine months ago.

After her debut, Clarken and MacGillivray took Mating Call to Melbourne for the Group 2 Thousand Guineas Prelude, where she finished sixth. She then followed this with a third in the Group 2 Edward Manifold Stakes and a fifth in the Group 1 Thousand Guineas.

“I’m really interested to see her at six furlongs,” Clarken said. “We’ve only seen her the once and that was the day she won her first start at Balaklava and the way she won was just ridiculous. She then ran really well over in Melbourne and that was her first prep. Now she’s furnished into a four-year-old mare and she look fantastic. We’re excited to see where she gets to.”

Mating Call is nominated for the Cox Plate (2000m) at Flemington in October, though Clarken believes a start in the Caulfield Cup (2400m) is unlikely.

Regarding the Cox Plate nomination, Clarken stated, “You have to do these things because you just don’t know as they can come out of left field at this time of year. You have to dream, but I’m not sure 2400 metres of the Caulfield Cup would be her go. She probably gets too much up on the steel, she’s not relaxed, for that sort of trip right at the moment. I’m not saying it’s never going to happen, but right at the moment it might be a stretch too far for her.”

Mating Call recently finished second in a jump-out at Murray Bridge and had a gallop between races at Morphettville last Saturday.

“She appears to have come up really well,” Clarken commented. “She’s had a jump-out and then she had a good gallop at Morphettville just to get her away from Murray Bridge and get a few shakes and shivers out of the way. It served its purpose. Her time on the tracker was very good. After Saturday, she’ll go over the border, that’s the idea. You have to get them going to start with, this is in our backyard and a good starting point for her, and then we can work out where to go from there.”

For the upcoming Behemoth Stakes, consider checking out the betting sites offering comprehensive racing odds.

Somebody needs to fire up Chumbawamba. J.J. McCarthy gets knocked down but then gets up again. It’s an admirable trait that’s going to serve him well no matter how this thing goes.

Per the word from various onlookers, Mr. McCarthy was better at Friday’s practice. By no means does that result in him being the favorite to be the starter for Week 1. Rather, the updates function as a reminder that this thing is still going and that the competition is real.

J.J. McCarthy Better than Kyler Murray on Friday

Consider what Will Ragatz had to say.

The veteran writer’s social media update: “Vikings just wrapped another padded practice. Not a very riveting one, to be honest. Lot of special teams work early on and run game focus. I’d give the QB edge to McCarthy, who looked sharp. But there weren’t many eye-popping throws from either guy. Murray continues to get more of the reps with the starters.”

Some onlookers are going want better than just being “sharp,” but Kevin O’Connell may not being among them.

Whoever starts at quarterback needs to function as a point guard, as Kirk Cousins used to say. Be a good distributor who puts the ball into the playmakers’ hands. Doing so will lead to points getting put on the board. Do that across enough possessions and wins will follow.

For the Vikings, “sharp” is exactly what’s needed. For the Vikings, “sharp” was exactly what was missing.

However, many will think that McCarthy needs to be Hercules to overcome Kyler Murray. Quite possibly, that perspective will prove true since the veteran has accomplished a decent amount.

What’s worth remembering is simply that the competition is ongoing. We haven’t yet arrived at the preseason games and nor have the Baltimore Ravens travelled to Eagan for joint practices. Those are going to be crucial pieces of the puzzle for evaluating who is capable of elevating the team. Seeing one prove far better — sharper? — in these settings will mean a lot.

Consider another perspective. Judd Zulgad of SKOR North offers his two cents:

“J.J. McCarthy had the better day today than Kyler,” Zulgad explains. Note that the reporter does say that Murray continued to get more work even though he “had a very average day.” Zulgad is among those who thinks that Murray is going to win the competition.

As I’ve said a few times, McCarthy isn’t a static entity. Rather, he’s dynamic, getting better or worse as the days go. So, too, is Murray seeing his game change. Hopefully, both are getting better. Who is going to be better in a month, two months, and so on? In theory, the younger of the two should have more room for growth, but that’s not a locked-in outcome.

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J.J. McCarthy is still only 23. Kyler Murray just arrived at his 29th birthday. The battle continues.

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Senior Editor for Vikings Territory & PurplePTSD . Twitter & Bluesky: @VikingsGazette. Email: k.joudry[at]vikingsterritory[dot]com. Canadian. Jude 1:24-25.

Eya Laure and Alas Pilipinas women during a game  in the 2026 SEA V Cup Leg 2. –SAVA PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines–Alas Pilipinas Women stayed in the medal hunt in the SEA V Cup Leg 2 after ending a seven-year losing streak to defending champion Vietnam, 22-25, 25-23, 25-21, 25-22, on Saturday at Chiang Mai Stadium in Thailand.

The Philippines finally got over the hump against Vietnam, a team it had not beaten since the 2019 edition of the tournament and in previous AVC Women’s Cup tournaments.

The victory also kept alive the Filipinos’ hopes of returning to the podium after their four-straight bronze medal streak ended last week in Hanoi.

READ: Alas Pilipinas swept by Thailand in SEA V Cup Leg 2 opener

Eya Laure played her best game of the tournament so far, dazzling with 22 points from 19 kills, two blocks and an ace.

The Choco Mucho star came to the rescue after the Philippines blew a 19-13 lead in the fourth set, with Pham Quynh Huong delivering big hits to tie the game at 22.

Bella Belen stopped the bleeding with a clutch kill before Laure sent the Philippines to match point, 24-22, with an off-the-block hit.

Alas Pilipinas women’s Eya Laure in action in the 2026 SEA V Cup Leg 2. –SAVA PHOTO

Laure then found the perfect timing to block Tran Thi Thanh Thuy for the game winner, giving the Philippines a 1-1 record and a chance to return to the podium with a win over Indonesia on Sunday at 2 p.m.

Interestingly, Laure was a rookie when the Philippines beat Vietnam in the 2019 SEA V Cup, formerly known as ASEAN Grand Prix, in two legs in Thailand and Laguna. Current Alas seniors Jia De Guzman and Dawn Catindig were also part of that team.

Leg 1 Best Opposite Hitter Alyssa Solomon delivered 17 points, while her National University teammate Belen had 16, highlighted by three blocks. De Guzman also helped spread the offense as the Philippines snapped an eight-game losing streak to Vietnam in the SEA V Cup.

Thea Gagate also stepped up with six kill blocks to finish with 10 points, while Dell Palomata had four blocks to finish with nine points, with the team tallying 15 kill blocks.

The Filipino spikers held as many as an 18-9 lead in the third set, with Belen, Laure, Solomon and Gagate delivering the goods. But Thuy cut the deficit to three, 23-20, before Laure and Belen closed out the set to give the Philippines a 2-1 match advantage.

Thuy topscored with 25 points. Huong had 14, while Tran Thi Bich Thuy added 12 only to drop to 0-2 in the tournament before facing Leg 1 champion Thailand on Sunday.