India vs South Africa Live Score, Hockey World Cup 2026: A hard-fought draw against one of the world’s best teams has given India confidence, but the real test of their Women’s Hockey World Cup campaign could come against South Africa today.

India held world No. 4 and Olympic silver medallists China to a 2-2 draw in their opening Pool D game, earning a valuable point in their bid to finish among the top two. England lead the group after their 4-0 win over South Africa, while India and China sit level on one point.

The importance of Tuesday’s fixture is heightened by the tournament format. The top two teams from each pool move into the second round, with results against a progressing team from the same pool carried forward. India and China would therefore carry their one point each if both advance, while they would not meet again in that phase.

A victory over 18th-ranked South Africa would give India a major boost before their final pool match and strengthen their qualification prospects. However, coach Sjoerd Marijne has stressed the need for consistency after India allowed China back into the contest following a strong first half.

“We scored a penalty corner and a field goal, but I’m not happy with the third quarter. We need to work on ball possession and ball retention,” Marijne said.

India will hope Deepika, Navneet Kaur and their promising World Cup debutants can maintain the attacking momentum while avoiding complacency against a South African side under pressure after their heavy defeat to England.

One of the many curious aspects of the 2025-26 season was just how quiet things eventually became at Manchester United. The most supported, most discussed and, for a certain generation, most loathed team in England were certainly all over the back pages when their manager was sacked, but by Old Trafford standards, the final months of the campaign breezed by, interim head coach Michael Carrick securing Champions League football at a canter before being handed the job on a permanent basis.

For the first time in three years, United could approach a new season with at most limited questions over the future of their manager. There need be no recruiting of particular targets to fit a particular system as was the case under Ruben Amorim or the influx of those familiar to Erik ten Hag. Carrick must prove he can achieve the same sort of results this season as he did last when he has to balance European fixtures with domestic commitments. However, he can at least approach that challenge with the confidence of his employers and United supporters. That is a better situation to be in than many of his predecessors.

Why you should root for them

Well, misery loves company, and you will never want for company as a Manchester United supporter. Consistently being the best club in England (and occasionally Europe) at the time when the Premier League was growing into one of the biggest competitions in sports has a way of drawing fans from right across the world.

As for the misery, well, the post-Sir Alex Ferguson years have demanded a heavy toll for supporters reared on perennial Premier League titles. Not one in 13 years but a Europa League and some domestic silverware is hardly the worst a fanbase has had it since 2013, but that does not make it any less painful for United.

Is this team good?

The third place in which United ended 2025-26 was not false by any stretch of the imagination. Carrick’s men had the third-best goal difference, the third-best expected goal difference, the third most goals scored. Without ever really getting close to Manchester City and Arsenal, the Red Devils could reasonably feel that they were the best of the rest. Compared to some of their rivals though, it is not so clear that they can repeat those levels.

After all, to be the third best team in England, Manchester United needed Bruno Fernandes to deliver at record-breaking level. His 21 assists were more than any team in the Premier League. In every metric you care to mention, he was the best chance creator in the division by a ludicrous margin, providing 54% more chances and 35% more expected assists than the second best in the league for those metrics. This was the best Fernandes could be. How much lesser a team do United become if he has an 80th percentile season rather than 99th?

We have quite a few seasons of that to go off. With a good but not great Fernandes — and a somewhat inferior supporting cast — United were not even getting close to the Champions League race. The moves this team has made over the summer should mitigate the need for Fernandes to be the best player in the league, but it would certainly help if he could keep things up.

What has changed?

It is to United’s credit that they have made moves in the market to mitigate the risk of Bruno Fernandes’ form dropping off. Youri Tielemans is not a like-for-like replacement, more of a deep-lying playmaker of questionable defensive qualities but who is excellent at feeding his teammates up the field. At 29, he is not exactly one for the long term, but activating his $47.5 million release clause was hardly a stretch for United. This is one of those moves that might not propel them into title contention but at least ensures they hold firm around the top five.

The same could be said of the other midfield addition, Andrey Santos, who arrived from Chelsea for around $65 million. He will offer some of the steel that Tielemans does not in midfield, and while he is not quite a like-for-like replacement for Casemiro, who departed on a high last season, he is another of those robust signings who will raise United’s floor.

That really is the way to look at what has been a really rather quiet summer under Carrick, who was handed a two-year contract in May. Even the handling of Marcus Rashford has lacked the sturm und drang of years gone by. United would like to sell him; Rashford would probably like to leave, but given that a suitor is yet to emerge, he has been quietly eased into a squad role for the time being. If that is where he lands, few managers would complain about having a forward who averaged 0.38 expected goals and 0.24 expected assists per 90 La Liga minutes last season.

In years gone by, particularly after Ten Hag’s first season and a second-placed finish under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in 2021, United have deluded themselves as to how close they might be to a title challenge. There was nothing false about last season’s third, but it was one where they were 14 points off champions with a relatively low points tally, their xG difference half of Arsenal’s.

There is further work expected, perhaps a new left back and/or an extra body in midfield, but United do not have the look of a team in a hurry. After 13 years waiting for a title, they are still prepared to go the long way round.

Expectations for 2026-27

Though stranger things have happened than a team making up that ground in one season, United haven’t attempted this summer’s equivalent of throwing big money at Jadon Sancho and Cristiano Ronaldo for one last heave. United are building like an organization intent on stabilizing, and their midfield refit seems to be a good way of achieving that aim. A top five finish, a run to the knockouts in the Champions League, perhaps a domestic cup: it would not be the sort of season they sing “glory, glory Man United” about, but it would be a solid step in the right direction.

Rangers are to host Celtic at noon on Sunday 13 September in the last of the Premier Sports Cup quarter finals.

The last eight of the competition kicks-off with Hearts visiting Stenhousemuir on Friday evening.

On Saturday, Ross County take on Hibernian in Dingwall and Kilmarnock meet Aberdeen at Rugby Park.

Celtic beat Rangers on penalties at the semi-final stage last season before losing in the final to St Mirren.

The Old Firm rivals also met in the Scottish Cup last term, with Celtic again prevailing in a shoot-out after a 0-0 draw at Ibrox.

NEW YORK — Rising women’s star Alex Eala and Felix Auger-Aliassime, spouses Elina Svitolina and Gael Monfils, and two-time defending champions Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori have been given wild cards into the US Open mixed doubles tournament.

The U.S. Tennis Association on Monday set 11 of the 16 teams that will be in the championship, with six teams qualifying directly because of their combined rankings and five being given wild cards.

Topping the field is the team of No. 1-ranked Aryna Sabalenka and 24-time men’s Grand Slam singles champion Novak Djokovic, who have the lowest combined singles ranking of any team that entered.

READ: Alex Eala stopped by Amanda Anisimova in Cincinnati Open

An all-star field 🤩

Direct entries and wild cards are confirmed for the US Open Mixed Doubles Championship presented by Vital Proteins. pic.twitter.com/KHAINMkPaV

— US Open Tennis (@usopen) August 17, 2026

Also qualifying directly, in order of their rankings: Elena Rybakina and Taylor Fritz, Diana Shnaider and Daniil Medvedev, Iga Swiatek and Casper Ruud — the runner-up team last year — Belinda Bencic and Flavio Cobolli, and Amanda Anisimova and Learner Tien.

The remaining wild cards given Monday went to the teams of Leylah Fernandez and Frances Tiafoe, and Taylor Townsend and Alexander Zverev.

The first round and quarterfinals will be played Aug. 25, with the semifinals and final set for Aug. 26. All of the matches will be played either in Arthur Ashe Stadium or Louis Armstrong Stadium, the two biggest venues.

Three remaining wild-card spots are still to be announced, and the final two teams in the two-day main draw will earn their way in through an eight-team qualifying tournament to be played Aug. 24.

The teams given spots in the qualifying tournament Monday: Katerina Siniakova and Henry Patten, Gabriela Dabrowski and Harri Heliovaara, Luisa Stefani and Neal Skupski, Aleksandra Krunic and Mate Pavic, Jelena Ostapenko and Marcelo Arevalo, and Erin Routliffe and Lloyd Glasspool.

READ: Alex Eala, Felix Auger-Aliassime set for US Open mixed doubles

Two more teams will be given wild cards into the qualifying tournament.

Eala, 21, earned her first career title two weeks ago at the DC Open, becoming the first player from the Philippines to win a WTA Tour event, and has been drawing large crowds to her matches.

Monfils is at the opposite end of his career, with the popular Frenchman planning to retire after this season.

Errani and Vavassori won the title in New York in 2024, but the Italians weren’t sure they would even get to defend it after the USTA revamped the event last year in an effort to draw top singles players who had long been shunning mixed doubles.

They were eventually given a wild card, becoming the only traditional doubles team in the event, and beat Swiatek and Ruud in the final.

There is probably no other sport in the world that has experienced a boom like Hyrox in recent years. What started as an idea in 2017 has, within just a few years, evolved into one of the fastest-growing fitness movements in the world.

The format was developed by event organizer Christian Toetzke, communications expert Michael Trautmann, and Moritz Fürste, a former member of the German national field hockey team that won gold at the 2008 and 2012 Summer Olympics.

Their basic idea was very simple: to create a competition that combines the atmosphere of a running event with the intensity of functional strength training that many people know from time in the gym. Hyrox consists of eight functional stations interspersed by eight one-kilometer runs.

“People love to either challenge themselves or compete against others, take part in a contest and battle their own inner demons,” Fürste told DW.

People were already doing this. Hyrox simply standardizes it as a competition format.

Hyrox gives people a new purpose

To develop their concept, the founders analyzed the global sports landscape and found that there was a gap in the market of established sports.

“Most sports — such as tennis, football or ball sports in general — are very clearly defined,” explained Fürste. 

“They’ve all been around for hundreds of years, but the one area of the sports world that was never really defined was the world of the gym. We wanted to give these people a goal to train for, aside from being healthy or looking good in the mirror.”

Hyrox is not the only attempt at creating competition around gym work. CrossFit is perhaps its most famous rival. It started back in 2007, changes daily and features Olympic weightlifting and gymnastics. Hyrox is the same each time, offering more functional fitness development. The closest in style to Hyrox is DEKA Fit, although the latter’s global reach is affected by its focus on local US affiliate gyms.

For Fürste, the definition of success is what happens at the end of races.

“No one finishes a race with any energy left; everyone is completely exhausted. But everyone thinks about being faster next time,” Fürste said.

Clearly, Hyrox isn’t the only way to train, but Fürste believes it is a good way to train for competition.

The standardized format means that events are comparable worldwide, regardless of whether you compete in Hamburg, London, New York, or Sydney. As a result, there has been a surge in interest in recent years.

Hyrox growing 100% in all markets

In a 2025 interview with “Sports Illustrated,” Fürste spoke of two pivotal moments for Hyrox; first, when 650 participants turned out for their first ever event and second, when they sold out an event in London in 2022, after the pandemic. It was clear then that they were on to something.

In the 2022–23 season, around 90,000 athletes took part in Hyrox competitions. By 2025, that number had already risen to more than 650,000.

“No matter where we’ve gone so far, we’ve seen tremendous growth in the first two to three years,” Fürste said.

“There wasn’t a single market that didn’t grow by 100% from one event to the next. This shows that the product works. It’s a great experience for those who take part.”

Next stop: the 2032 Olympic Games

With more than a million athletes set to compete in Hyrox events worldwide this season, it looks like there’s no sign of the boom ending anytime soon.

“This shows that we’re neither a trend nor a niche,” Fürste said. “It shows that we’ve made our mark in the sports world.”

Hyrox is now present in more than 85 cities in around 30 countries across the world. Studies confirm the series’ extraordinary growth, with more than 278,000 finishers recorded by the end of the 2023-24 season alone.

“I invested a lot and met with people who have been working in the industry for years,” said Fürste, who believes Hyrox is like the modern sports version of a music festival.

“I had to risk everything to get where I am now and to be part of this team.”

While he never doubted Hyrox’s success, he also never imagined it would become so big. And now the next goal looms on the horizon. Fürste told “Sports Illustrated” that he aims to make Hyrox part of the Olympic program in Brisbane in 2032, taking the popular fitness event to the world’s biggest sporting stage.

This article was originally published in German.

Team India wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant produced a sparkling knock at a crucial time on Day 4 of the first Test against Sri Lanka at Galle on August 18. Despite holding a 178-run first-innings lead, Team India were in a spot of bother at 81/3 when Pant walked out to bat.

The southpaw, renowned for his counter-attacking abilities, swung the momentum Team India’s way with his breathtaking 66 off 69 balls. In the process, Pant also became the first Indian to smash 100 maximums in Test cricket.

The sparkling display and a 20th half-century included eight boundaries and two maximums.

Pant had been criticized for the rash shots that led to his dismissals in the practice match and the first innings of the ongoing first Test. However, the gloveman once again proved his value to the Indian side in the red-ball format.

Fans on X praised Rishabh Pant for another game-changing knock in Test cricket with the following reactions:

Fans continued hailing Pant for his explosive knock, with one saying:

“Since Debut In 2018, Rishabh Pant India’s Best Test Batter and Most Impactful Batter. Without Pant, India’s Test Cricket Team Is Nothing. In Every Difficult Situation This Player Scored Runs. Some Bitter Journalists Write About Pant, The Team Management Is Not Happy With Pant, Pant Will be Removed From The Team.”

“Flamboyant was literally made for Rishabh Pant. The swagger, the fearless shots, the madness — there’s simply no one like him,” said a fan.

“Rishabh Pant has once again answered his critics with the bat! A brilliant innings against Sri Lanka when it mattered. Instead of constantly criticising him, learn to appreciate match-winning performances. Let the bat do the talking!,” a fan posted.

Rishabh Pant’s heroics help India set a daunting run-chase for Sri Lanka

Rishabh Pant was one of India’s few bright spots in the second innings of the first Test against Sri Lanka. The left-hander was India’s lone half-centurion in the innings as they fizzled away to be bowled out for 193 in the 49th over.

Yet, with the advantage of a massive first-innings lead, India ensured that the Lankans had a mountain to climb. With a day and a session remaining in the contest, Team India set the hosts a daunting target of 372 in the final innings.

Pant aside, India received contributions from KL Rahul (35) and Devdutt Padikkal (44) in their second innings. The rest of the Indian lineup had no batters even cross double figures.