A summary of Friday's action in the FIFA World Cup 2026 UEFA Qualifiers.
Former Australian captain Brad Haddin encouraged the Aussie public to go out and watch Indian icons Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli in action
India, led by Harmanpreet Kaur, are coming into the showpiece event on the back of a hard-fought ODI series loss to Australia, where opener Smriti Mandhana slammed two back-to-back centuries and the spinners, led by Deepti Sharma, giving a good account of themselves.
Disappointing, wanted to go out on a high: Emotional Devine bids farewell to game
India conceded more than 100 penalty corners, including 17 in a game against Belgium across 16 Pro League matches.
The injury to the 32-year-old stalwart is a big blow to India as they take on a strong Afghanistan side in their third and final Group B match on Thursday.
India's decorated off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin failed to fetch any buyers for himself and went unsold in the ILT20 Season 4 auction on Wednesday.
P V Sindhu bowed out, while H S Prannoy and Lakshya Sen scored hard-fought wins to advance in the Hong Kong Open Super 500 tournament.
Hockey: India seek World Cup berth through Asia Cup triumph; up against China in opener
Djokovic to face World number 204 Valentin Vacherot next.
India hosts the event from a position of unprecedented strength with a string of titles under its belt.
Cousins Valentin Vacherot and Arthur Rinderknech will meet in the Shanghai Masters final after pulling off stunning upsets of former champions Novak Djokovic and Daniil Medvedev in the semifinals on Saturday.
Chief coach Craig Fulton was not fully satisfied with Indian men's hockey team's performance against lowly China in their Asia Cup opener, but stressed that the most important thing was to start with a win.
'Yes, this is an away game against a good team, but we have to prepare accordingly and think only of one thing -- a positive result.'
Navneet Kaur struck from a penalty corner seconds before the final hooter as India came from behind twice to hold defending champions Japan to a 2-2 draw
'I have no idea what's happening right now, I'm not in a dream, it's just crazy. I'm just so happy with my performance these past two weeks.'
Second-half surge against Nepal puts India in SAFF U17 final
India and Bangladesh have two points each with Suryakumar Yadav's men leading the standings owing to a superior net run rate. Sri Lanka and Pakistan occupy the third and fourth spots respectively.
Fourteen players, including Bengaluru FC captain Sunil Chhetri, are not immediately joining the preparatory camp for next month's Asian Cup qualifying round matches against Singapore as three clubs have delayed the release of their players, which will be a cause of concern for head coach Khalid Jamil.
World Junior C'ships: Gnana Dattu, Bhavya-Vishakha reach quarters; Tanvi, Unnati also advance
'In the last couple of tournaments, we've served a lot better than in the past year. The game is too fast to rely on one style. You need multiple ways to score points, and that's what we are trying to develop.'
Defending champion Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz are aiming for a third successive Grand Slam final meeting when they take their high-voltage rivalry to the US Open while Novak Djokovic looks to foil the new generation as he hunts a 25th major.
'When I played against Sindhu didi in China, I am happy I managed to play better than I did last time.'
He also overtook his career-best 65-season win tally of 2023 with this win.
A gold medallist at the 37th National Games, Mannepalli was trailing 4-7 in the first game before rallying to 12-9. He then took control and scored six straight points from 15-11 to seal the game.
Portugal qualified for the 2026 World Cup on Sunday with a 9-1 hammering of Armenia that included hat-tricks from both Bruno Fernandes and Joao Neves.
Over four decades, the India-Australia ODI rivalry has mirrored the evolution of both teams, from Australia's supremacy in the 2000s to India's resurgence post-2010. Come Sunday, this rivalry will be renewed as Shubman Gill will commence his first assignment as ODI captain in the opening game of the three match series, at the Optus stadium in Perth.
Indian shuttlers handed tough draws, Lakshya Sen to face world No 1 Shi Yu Qi in opener
The FIDE World Cup 2025 is coming to Goa from October 30 to November 27, 2025!
PV Sindhu overcame the first-round hurdle, defeating Julie Dawall Jakobsen of Denmark in straight games
Jemimah Rodrigues rose through the ranks in Mumbai to become one of the key batters for India, but the journey wasn't easy.
Sumit Nagal on Monday dropped out of the much-desired bracket following a string of poor show
The 16-year-old is just the third Indian woman to become the under-18 recurve World champion after Deepika Kumari (2011) and Komalika Bari (2021).
Olympian and reigning mixed team pistol World champion Esha Singh ended India's medal drought at the ISSF World Cup Rifle/Pistol, clinching gold in the women's 10 metres Air Pistol event in Ningbo, China, on Saturday.
With a five-match T20I series in October-November in Australia, five T20Is against South Africa at home in December and five T20Is against New Zealand at home in January 2026, Team India will now look to test itself, its combinations and youngsters against some of the world's best T20I teams ahead of the T20 WC 2026, which will start in early 2026.
The Indian men's hockey team outclassed South Korea 4-1 in the final to win the Asia Cup trophy and qualify for next year's World Cup.
The bonus amount, a 177% increase on the previous season's payout, will be distributed to players based on performance at the nine ATP 1000 tournaments, which rank just below the four Grand Slams in prestige.
Wrestler Neha Sangwan, who was disqualified from the recent Under-20 World Championships for being overweight, was on Monday dropped from the senior World Championships squad.
England's torrid run in the 50-over format has plunged to alarming depths after they lost their first ODI series to South Africa since 1998.
Praggnanandhaa takes on a strong field at Grand Swiss, eyes Candidates berth
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