Sport

Lionel Messi scored a spectacular free kick, but Inter Miami CF suffered a 2-1 defeat against Columbus Crew in MLS. Messi's 21st league goal levelled the match before Jamal Thiaré scored in stoppage time to secure victory.

India finished fifth in the women's 25m pistol team event at the Asian Games after a costly rapid stage. Esha Singh qualified for the individual final, while Manu Bhaker and Rahi Sarnobat missed out. China won gold, followed by South Korea and Chinese Taipei.

Greece secured their first-ever victory over Germany in the UEFA Nations League, while Portugal beat Norway in Oslo. Denmark defeated Wales and the Netherlands edged Serbia as Matchday 2 of the 2026/27 Nations League produced several notable results.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated India’s chess teams for winning silver in the Open section and bronze in the Women’s event at the 2026 FIDE Chess Olympiad in Samarkand. India also retained the Nona Gaprindashvili Trophy for the third consecutive edition

US President Donald Trump returned to the Presidents Cup as honorary chairman at Medinah Country Club, witnessing the American team secure its 11th consecutive title. Trump praised the team’s comeback, briefly addressed spectators and participated in the trophy presentation ceremony

Virat Kohli's unbeaten 139 and Shubman Gill's 110 powered India to an emphatic eight-wicket victory over the West Indies in the first ODI after Kuldeep Yadav's four-wicket spell restricted the visitors to 295 for seven, giving the hosts a 1-0 series lead

Telangana began their Junior National Girls’ Football Championship campaign in emphatic fashion, defeating Puducherry 17-0 at Narainpur, Chhattisgarh. Nakshatra and Teertha scored four goals each, while Sanvitha struck three times and S Laxmi, Yashitha and Komal scored twice each

India’s 1-1 draw against 44th-ranked Panama in Bengaluru marked their best-ever result against a higher-ranked opponent in the FIFA World Ranking era. The result also added another memorable chapter to the Blue Tigers’ history at the Kanteerava Stadium

India’s women’s football team will face Russia in two FIFA international friendlies in Kolkata on October 8 and 11. The matches will be India’s first internationals since their sixth SAFF Championship triumph and their first games in West Bengal since 2016

Chhattisgarh defeated Telangana 81-33 in the boys’ preliminary round of the Sub-junior National Basketball Championship in Vijayawada. Delhi, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Manipur also recorded wins in the boys’ section, while Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and others prevailed in girls’ matches

Hyderabad para-swimmer Karthik Agneya Kolli, 16, won gold in the six-km Cannonball Swimathon in Gurugram. The neurodiverse swimmer completed the gruelling race in 1 hour and 52 minutes, leading from the early stages against adult professional swimmers

Rain threatens to disrupt the Asian Games cricket quarterfinal between India and Afghanistan in Nisshin on Monday. If the match is washed out, India will advance as winners based on their higher T20I ranking, while Pakistan could benefit similarly

Prachi Choudhary said she was still coming to terms with her Asian Games bronze in the women’s 400m. The 29-year-old clocked 53.21 seconds for her maiden individual Asian Games medal after years of success in relay events.

India’s 18-year-old Anahat Singh admitted disappointment after losing the Asian Games women’s singles final to Malaysia’s Sivasangari Subramaniam. Despite settling for silver, the reigning Junior World Champion said the tournament had taught her valuable lessons about handling pressure.

India begin their Asian Games gold medal defence against a second-string Afghanistan side in the quarterfinals. The near-full-strength Indian team will look to adapt quickly to conditions in Japan after being pushed hard by the hosts in their previous match

PV Sindhu criticised the Asian Games badminton schedule after playing three singles matches within 24 hours. The two-time Olympic medallist said players needed more recovery time and also raised concerns over the absence of Hawk-Eye during her quarterfinal defeat

Anahat Singh won silver in the women’s singles squash event after losing the Asian Games final to Malaysia’s Sivasangari Subramaniam. The 18-year-old became the first Indian woman to win singles silver but missed direct qualification for the LA28 Olympics

Harjinder Kaur finished ninth in the women’s 69kg category with a combined 204kg as India’s weightlifting campaign at the Asian Games ended. Mirabai Chanu’s silver in the 49kg category remained India’s lone medal, while Gyaneshwari Yadav and Nirupama Devi missed the podium

Abhay Singh won the silver medal in men’s singles squash at the Asian Games after losing 9-11, 5-11, 5-11 to defending champion Eain Yow Ng. The defeat denied Abhay direct qualification for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics, where squash debuts

India’s record 20-member fencing contingent ended its Asian Games campaign without a medal after the women’s sabre team lost to Uzbekistan in the quarter-finals. Three Indian teams reached the last eight, while none of the 10 individual entries progressed beyond the round of 16

India captain Shubman Gill won the toss and elected to bowl against the West Indies in the series-opening ODI in Thiruvananthapuram on Sunday. Spin all-rounder Naman Dhir made his debut, while Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli returned to action

India’s men’s and women’s recurve teams advanced to the Asian Games semifinals after defeating China and Chinese Taipei respectively. The compound men’s and women’s teams also reached the last four, while India’s recurve and compound mixed teams advanced to semifinals

Virat Kohli hopes to help India win the 2027 ODI World Cup, which he has described as his last. The former captain dreams of playing a match-winning knock while chasing in the final but says winning the trophy matters most

India ended their Asian Games badminton campaign with one bronze medal after PV Sindhu and Unnati Hooda lost their women's singles quarterfinals. India failed to win a medal in any individual event, with the men's team bronze remaining their sole medal