Asian athletes have dominated the women’s 48kg and 49kg weight divisions for 25 years, winning 27 of 30 Olympic medals and holding all World records. And so, the desperation for an Asian Games medal is understandable for India’s Mirabai Chanu.

“I’m feeling so happy… so light. Bilkul weight hat gaya hai [the weight has lifted completely],” she said after the win.

In the Hangzhou Asiad of 2023, Mirabai knew she had tweaked her hip during warm-up, but she gritted her teeth and loaded 117kg on the bar — the second-most she had ever attempted — as she bid for bronze.

However, she collapsed and had to be carried off stage. Previously, she’d fallen short in Incheon 2014 and missed the 2018 Jakarta edition with injury.

When the lightest Olympic weight division moved to 53kg, Mirabai — rather than bulking up for the LA Games after missing out at Paris — kept her weight down to focus on the podium in Nagoya.

“I had to work so hard to preserve myself to maintain my weight but this was so important for me.”

With a silver medal in hand now, she exclaimed, “It feels ki life complete ho gaya (It feels like life is complete),” she said.

The Indian Premier League (IPL) auction will be held in Goa in mid-December, its chairman Arun Dhumal told PTI on Wednesday (September 23, 2026).

The IPL auction is returning to India after three previous editions were conducted overseas.

“We have finalised Goa. The likely dates are December 15 to 16,” said Dhumal.

The past three editions of the auction were held in Dubai, Jeddah (mega auction) and Abu Dhabi.

Dhumal had earlier said that it was a conscious effort to bring the auction back to India.

It will be a one-day affair as it is a mini auction.

Long before kick-off, the fans thronged the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium. Many of them wore the blue shirt of India, and there were several in yellow, too.

Hawkers were there as well, selling jerseys and plastic horns. And if you wanted, you could get the flags of India or Brazil painted on your face. There was indeed excitement in the air on Wednesday night. You would be pardoned if you thought the build-up was for a competitive match, and not the one featuring former football stars. The legends from Brazil didn’t disappoint their fans.

And there were quite a few goals, too. In the match dubbed the Return of the Titans, Brazil Legends beat Indian All Stars 4-3.

The highlight was an old-fashioned hat-trick by Fernandinho, who was superb right through. Brazil’s other goal was scored by the man most people came to watch — Ronaldinho. The winner of the Ballon d’Or in 2005 scored from the penalty spot. And it was a nice, firm kick.

He wasn’t the only player on the field to have won the Ballon d’Or and World Cup. There was Rivaldo, too. C.K. Vineeth netted two goals, including the one that gave the home team a 1-0 lead. The other was scored in the dying minutes by Ashim Biswas.

The rest day seemed to have helped both the Indian teams at the Chess Olympiad in Samarkand. The defending champion India scored badly-needed wins in the open and women’s sections in the seventh round on Wednesday.

After the loss to host Uzbekistan in the previous round — their first in the tournament — the Indian men should be relieved that they could defeat England 2.5-1.5. It was the wins by R. Praggnanandhaa and D. Gukesh over Nikita Vitiugov and Daniel Howard Fernandez, respectively, that nullified Nihal Sarin’s second straight defeat, this time to Luke McShane. Arjun Erigaisi drew with Michael Adams.

Uzbekistan has maintained its sole lead after scoring a crucial 3-1 win over China. The home team has 12 match points, two more than India and four others – the Netherlands, Germany, Azerbaijan and Armenia.

In the women’s event too, India is in joint second place, but just one point less than the leaders China and Kazakhstan who have 12 each. India is tied for the second position with Bulgaria, Georgia, Armenia and Mongolia.

Four rounds remain. The Indian women should take a lot of confidence into their remaining matches after their crushing 3.5-0.5 win against Germany. Koneru Humpy, Divya Deshmukh and B. Savitha Shri all won their games, while R. Vaishali drew.

The results (seventh round): Open: India bt England 2.5-1.5 (R. Praggnanandhaa bt Nikita Vitiugov; Arjun Erigaisi drew with Michael Adams; Nihal Sarin lost to Luke McShane; D. Gukesh bt Daniel Howard Fernandez).

Uzbekistan bt China 3-1; Armenia drew with USA 2-2; Germany bt Turkiye 3-1; Netherlands bt Bulgaria 3.5-0.5; Azerbaijan bt Greece 3.5-0.5; France drew with Uzbekistan (2) 2-2; Hungary bt Australia 2.5-1.5; Serbia bt Kazakhstan 3.5-0.5; Poland bt Sweden 2.5-1.5; Slovakia bt Iran 2.5-1.5; Czech Republic bt Lithuania 2.5-1.5.

Women: India bt Germany 3.5-0.5 (Koneru Humpy bt Dinara Wagner; R. Vaishali drew with Elisabeth Paehtz; Divya Deshmukh bt Hanna Marie Klek; B. Savitha Shri bt Lara Schulze).

Uzbekistan bt Slovenia 3.5-0.5; China drew with Kazakhstan 2-2; Georgia bt Poland 2.5-1.5; Bulgaria bt Ukraine 3-1; Armenia bt Azerbaijan 2.5-1.5; Mongolia bt France 2.5.1.5; USA bt Switzerland 3-1; Netherlands bt Turkiye 3.5-0.5; Cuba drew with Serbia 2-2; Canada bt Hungary 2-2.

After a semifinal finish in the UK Women’s Snooker Championship earlier this month, Anupama Ramachandran is turning her attention to billiards.

The reigning IBSF World Snooker champion will lead India’s challenge in English billiards at the Commonwealth Cue Sports Championships, to be held in Ahmedabad from October 7 to 10.

“I’ve been playing a couple of snooker tournaments and did well in the event in the UK. I’ve been feeling more confident and feel that I’m in good touch,” Anupama told The Hindu in an virtual interaction.

“Obviously, I’m playing billiards, which is a little different. Although the games are similar, they require different skills and a different thought process. So, I’ll have to put in the hours on the billiards table.”

The 23-year-old has also been testing herself in Heyball over the last year and a half, competing at the Asian and World championships.

“Because I’ve played snooker, the potting aspect does help me. But there’s a lot of tactical play and the way you think about the game is a little different. It’s about playing more and gaining experience,” she said.

For Anupama, the Ahmedabad event also represents a significant step for cue sports in the country, particularly with billiards being included in the Commonwealth Games.

“India has a great legacy in billiards with the likes of Wilson Jones, Michael Ferreira, Geet Sethi and Pankaj Advani. We won five medals at the previous edition in Mauritius, and hopefully we can improve on that this time.”

Anupama has also been fine-tuning her technique under former Asian champion Yasin Merchant, with particular emphasis on her timing and cueing.

“I was struggling a little with my timing and cueing, and Yasin sir helped me make a few changes. It’s a slow process, but I can already see the difference in my game. I feel more comfortable with my timing and my shots now, and that has been the major change,” she said.

Aspect Sports has been awarded the operating rights for the Navi Mumbai franchise, the newest addition to the T20 Mumbai League, from the 2027 edition.

The franchise, which will take the league’s strength to nine teams, has been awarded for ₹106.88 crore for a six-year period, with the first season carrying a fee of ₹12.21 crore, the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) announced on Wednesday.

It is understood that the average annual franchise fee of ₹17.81 crore is more than 50% of the highest fee than the existing eight franchises in the league.

The addition of Navi Mumbai is expected to expand the league’s footprint beyond its traditional Mumbai base and provide cricketers from the region with a pathway into the competition.

“The expansion of the T20 Mumbai League to Navi Mumbai is a significant milestone in our vision to take the game closer to every corner of the Mumbai cricketing ecosystem,” MCA president Ajinkya Naik said.

“The addition of a ninth franchise will not only broaden the league’s reach but also create greater opportunities for emerging cricketers to showcase their talent on a competitive platform.”

Rajdip Gupta, chairman of the T20 Mumbai League Governing Council, said the ninth franchise would help the league build a “stronger and more sustainable ecosystem” while creating greater value for its stakeholders.

Aspect Sports is owned by Aspect Global Ventures. Its executive chairperson Aksha Kamboj said the organisation viewed its association with the league as a step towards establishing a long-term presence across multiple sporting disciplines.

Tajinderpal Singh Toor might have missed a chance to carry the Indian flag at the opening ceremony, but the star shot-putter remains a favourite to raise it for the third consecutive time at the Asian Games as the track and field events kick off at the Paloma Mizuho Stadium in Nagoya on Thursday (September 23, 2026).

While athletics icon Neeraj Chopra had a premature end to his season due to injury, Tajinderpal is certain to finish on top. A two-time defending champion, the 31-year-old hopes to complete his hat trick of gold medals and enter the history books as the first-ever Indian track and field athlete to stand on top of the podium three times in a row in a single event.

In the absence of Neeraj, Rohit Yadav and Yashvir will look to ensure an Indian among the javelin medallists. Both have crossed 85m this season, although the gold is likely to go to Sri Lankan Rumesh Pathirage, who has been the man to beat this year with three throws beyond 90m and tops the season’s World list.

Among those looking to improve the colour of their medals from the previous edition are long jumper Murali Sreeshankar and Gulveer Singh (10,000m), who won silver and bronze in their respective events. Sreeshankar has consistently jumped over 8m this year, while Gulveer has also been entered in the 1,500m and 5,000m, although it remains to be seen if he will participate in all three.

Defending champion steeplechaser Avinash Sable, returning from a long injury layoff, proved he was ready to compete again with an impressive outing at the Indian Athletics Final Series earlier this month.

National record holder decathlete Tejaswin Shankar will be eager to better his silver but will have to contend with local favourite Yuma Maruyama, who leads the Asian rankings with 8,321 points this season and won bronze last time around.

Quarter-miler Vishal T.K. and 3000m steeplechaser Parul Chaudhary can surprise the field on their day while triple jumper Praveen Chithravel and 100m hurdler Jyothi Yarraji have been struggling with niggles. Long jumper Ancy Sojan, the Asian leader at the moment, will also be hoping to carry her momentum to clinch gold.

The 75-member strong contingent is expected to shoulder the responsibility of propelling India’s medal tally and is targeting at least 25 podium finishes. India won 29 in the last edition, but injuries and inconsistent form have tempered expectations. 

India’s hunt will begin with Asha Ilango and Niharika Vashisht in the triple jump on Thursday (September 23, 2026), although a medal looks tough. Also in action on Thursday will be Seema in the 10,000m and the 4x400m mixed relay team, the latter expected to bring home the first medal from athletics.

The Aichi General Shooting Range continued to reward Indian shooters with medals at the Asian Games in Nagoya on Wednesday (September 23, 2026), just not the colour they desperately want, or the events that they expected to win in.

The men’s and women’s skeet teams both finished third for a bronze while two of the three shooters in the final — Anantjeet Singh Naruka and Raiza Dhillon — fell agonisingly short finishing fourth. Parinaaz Dhaliwal finished eighth in the individual event as India’s wait for a shooting gold continues.

The shotgun arena made up for the disaster inside the firing range where Esha Singh and Suruchi Phogat had forgettable outings in the qualifying and failed to make the cut for the final while Manu Bhaker bowed out fifth in the 10m air pistol, an event the three of them have been dominating, specially the first two, in the past one year.

Naruka, the silver medalist from Hangzhou, missed two of his first four shots and despite trying his best, was unable to overturn the deficit.

In a field where the smallest of margins meant survival or elimination, it was not so much Naruka misfiring as his competitors not faltering. He scored 25 out of 28 shots, one behind bronze medalist Lee Meng-Yuan of Taiwan. Among the women, Raiza ended with 23 out of 28 while Parinaaz was the first to be eliminated.

Earlier, the men — Mairaj Ahmed Khan and Bhavtegh Gill along with Naruka — totalled 346 over three days of qualifying rounds to finish behind Qatar (353) and Kuwait (348).

The women’s trio of Raiza, Parinaaz and Maheshwari Chauhan totalled 331 in the qualifying to finish third behind China (357) and Kazakhstan (336) for the first-ever Asian Games medal in women’s skeet.

“It’s a great feeling knowing that (we are the first) but I think the girls were in great form and I am really hoping we will go with a few more medals, a little disappointed it not being a better colour. I think it’s just a stepping stone for better podium finishes,” Maheshwari said on the historic medal.

“I genuinely feel the reason (for shotgun taking a backseat) is because we just didn’t have high performing athletes and enough female athletes to begin with.

“The shotgun crowd today is much younger and at a much higher technical quality and level, I do feel you are gonna see a lot more of shotgun doing better overall,” she added.

In pistol, Manu finished her qualifying round with 579 in third position. Esha began with series of 94 and 93 before slowly picking up pace but a 95 and 96 in the last four series was never going to be enough, as she finished with 572 points with 12x. Suruchi, meanwhile, had three series of 94 each and one of 93 for a total of 568 with 12x to finish 26th.

In the final, Manu never really got going, starting with a 9.9 and ending with a 9.6 and just two 10.8s throughout her series of 18 shots. The biggest setback was an 8.9 on her eighth shot, which pushed her down into elimination zone and although she kept surviving, it was a matter of evading the inevitable.

Shams Mulani picked up four wickets as Australia-A slumped on either side of a Jason Sangha counterattack and folded for 171, a massive 163 short of India-A’s 334, on the second day of the first ‘Test’ at the Siechem Cricket Stadium here on Wednesday.

Sangha produced a 64-ball 46 (5×4, 1×6) after walking in at 37 for three, and a late recovery appeared to be the theme for the second day in a row. He began with consecutive sweep shots off Mulani (four for 67) after tea before riding the bounce against Tushar Deshpande and punching the pacer through point twice.

Liam Scott took a leaf out of this playbook and ransacked 14 runs off Tanush Kotian in three deliveries. However, Scott was no match for Mulani, who floated a delivery full, got it to turn and had Scott caught behind. Two overs later, Sangha threw his wicket away in an attempt to clear the point fielder with a reverse sweep.

The spinners took the honours in the final session, but it was because of the quicks that Australia-A was behind the eight ball. Its top and middle orders, which boasted of five capped players, unravelled against lateral movement.

Sam Konstas was far from the hot-headed opening renegade, who had caught India by surprise during the last Border-Gavaskar Trophy. He put a price on his wicket and negotiated the early period. But Deshpande’s delivery nipped in sharply and pinned him in front on 25.

Earlier, Kumar Kushagra (113, 240b, 12×4) checked his instinct and took up almost an hour to complete his seventh First Class ton off 202 balls.

Kushagra showed no intent of changing gears after his century, but would be ruing the approach. On a rapidly deteriorating pitch, his end was inevitable and it came when a Corey Rocchiccioli (four for 95) delivery pitched outside the off-stump line, spun and crashed into his leg stump.

The scores: India-A 334 in 117.3 overs (Sai Sudharsan 57, Kumar Kushagra 113, Tanush Kotian 69, Corey Rocchiccioli 4/95) vs. Australia-A 171 in 55.3 overs (Jason Sangha 46, Shams Mulani 4/67).