Barcelona edge past Levante 4-2 to maintain perfect start in La Liga

Barcelona [Spain], September 14 (ANI): Barcelona maintained their perfect start to the 2026-27 La Liga season after defeating Levante 4-2 at the Ciutat de València on Sunday, with Karim Adeyemi scoring a stunning late goal to seal victory for the Catalan side.

Barcelona looked set for a comfortable win after racing to a three-goal lead, but Levante mounted a late comeback attempt with two goals in the final stages before Adeyemi’s stoppage-time strike ended the contest. noplasticplease.life

The victory marked Barcelona’s sixth consecutive competitive win of the season, matching the club’s best-ever 100 per cent start to a campaign. They remain at the top of the La Liga table.

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Xavi Espart opened the scoring for Barcelona in the fifth minute with a low right-footed effort from the edge of the box, marking his first competitive goal for the club.

Barcelona doubled their advantage in the 19th minute when Lamine Yamal finished off a well-worked move involving Fermín López and Raphinha. The Brazilian winger played a key role in the attack, providing his second assist of the match.

Lamine struck again shortly after the restart, converting a penalty after being brought down inside the box by Mandi to put Barça 3-0 ahead.

However, Levante refused to give up and reduced the deficit in the 79th minute through Iván Romero, who capitalised on a defensive mistake before rounding goalkeeper Joan Garcia and scoring into an empty net.

The hosts continued to push, and Brugué scored in the 88th minute from a rebound to make it 3-2, raising hopes of a dramatic comeback.

But Adeyemi had the final say, producing a brilliant solo effort in stoppage time. The German forward ran from the halfway line, beat Mandi with a backheel and calmly finished to secure all three points for Barcelona.

Barcelona will now look to create club history when they face Racing Santander at Spotify Camp Nou on Wednesday. A victory would give them seven wins from seven matches at the start of a season for the first time in their history. (ANI)

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Harmanpreet Kaur’s team India refused to collect the Women’s Asia Cup trophy from Asian Cricket Council president Mohsin Naqvi after beating Sri Lanka by 72 runs in the final in Dubai on Sunday to stand in solidarity with the lives lost during the 2025 Pahalgam attack. The decision also followed the same stand taken by the Indian men’s team after winning the Asia Cup last year.

BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia explained that the decision was linked to the current relationship between India and Pakistan and the unresolved issue surrounding the men’s Asia Cup trophy. He said the women’s team wanted to maintain solidarity with the men’s side rather than accept the trophy from Naqvi, who is also the Pakistan Cricket Board chairman and the country’s interior minister.

“Our men’s team won the Asia Cup a year and a half ago. And our whole situation, since the April 2025 Pahalgam incident, changed after that. So, after that, there was pressure on us from our citizens that we shouldn’t keep any relations with our neighboring country and not play cricket with them. But our government has a policy that we must play against every country in multinational tournaments,” Saikia said.

Also Read: Sree Charani creates history with 36th T20I wicket of 2026 during India’s Asia Cup win over Sri Lanka

He pointed out that while India continues to play Pakistan in multinational tournaments, there are limits to what the team is willing to accept.

“But that doesn’t mean we will follow every condition laid out for us. Our military conflict is still ongoing. One of the main leaders who is working against the interests of our country; we can’t receive the trophy from him,” Saikia said.

The BCCI had also suggested an alternative. According to Saikia, India was willing to receive the trophy from ACC deputy chairman Khalid Al Zarooni instead of Naqvi. However, that arrangement did not happen. Naqvi presented the runners-up cheque to Sri Lanka captain Chamari Athapaththu, while the Indian team conducted its own medal ceremony away from the main presentation.

Saikia also made it clear that the decision was not aimed at taking away from the team’s achievement. India had remained unbeaten in the tournament and won the final comfortably.

“It doesn’t diminish the performances of our team. We have won all our matches in a one-sided manner. Women’s cricket has been growing so well in India and there’s no bigger evidence of that than this,” he said.

The BCCI secretary also said the women’s team’s decision was a show of solidarity with the men’s side.

“A year ago, we did not accept the trophy in the Men’s Asia Cup. Our women’s team has also taken a decision today to express solidarity with that decision and did not accept the trophy in a similar situation,” Saikia said.

Saltillo [Mexico], September 14 (ANI): Indian recurve archer Dhiraj Bommadevara created history by winning the men’s individual title at the Archery World Cup Final 2026 in Saltillo, Mexico, becoming the first Indian male archer to claim an individual crown at the season-ending event, according to Olympics.com.

The 25-year-old defeated Japan’s Nakanishi Junya 6-5 in a thrilling gold medal match that went into a shoot-off. Dhiraj held his nerve under pressure, hitting a 10 in the deciding attempt to beat Nakanishi’s nine and secure the biggest individual title of his career.

With this achievement, Dhiraj became only the second Indian archer to win an individual title at the Archery World Cup Final, following Dola Banerjee, who won the women’s recurve title in Dubai in 2007.

Dhiraj, India’s lone representative at the 2026 World Cup Final, produced a dominant run through the eight-player field. He began his campaign with a convincing 7-1 victory over Olympic medallist Berkim Tümer of Türkiye in the quarter-finals before defeating two-time Olympic silver medallist Jean-Charles Valladont of France 7-1 in the semi-finals.

The final against fourth-seeded Nakanishi was closely fought, with neither archer able to establish a clear advantage. The opening set ended level at 28-28, before Nakanishi won the second set 29-28. Dhiraj responded by taking the third set 29-28, but the Japanese archer regained the lead with a 30-28 fourth-set win.

Needing victory in the fifth set to force a shoot-off, Dhiraj delivered under pressure, winning 28-27 to level the match at 5-5 before sealing the title in the decider, according to Olympics.com.

Dhiraj’s triumph completed an impressive season after he qualified for the World Cup Final by winning the men’s individual recurve title at the third World Cup stage in Antalya. He also won the mixed team gold alongside Kumkum Mohod at the same event.

India finished the 2026 Archery World Cup season with seven medals across four stages in Puebla, Shanghai, Antalya and Madrid, including four gold medals. Dhiraj was the country’s only individual gold medallist after his Antalya and World Cup Final successes.

The Indian archer had previously competed at the World Cup Final in 2023 and 2024 but returned without a medal on both occasions. His historic victory in Saltillo marked a breakthrough moment in Indian recurve archery. (ANI)

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It was a one-sided Women’s Asia Cup final, and many were actually waiting to see what would happen after that. Mohsin Naqvi, determined to hog the limelight, was yet again standing on the dais to hand the trophy and medals over to the Indians. That’s when the impasse started. It was natural that India wouldn’t want to have anything to do with Naqvi, a man who, as Debajit Saikia said, has a major say in Pakistan’s anti-India acts. Here was someone who had posted multiple tweets with the airplane celebration last year, mocking India’s armed forces. Here was a man who justified Pakistan’s disrespectful acts time and again. He was persona non grata for the Indians, and it was time they voiced their opinion yet again.

Naqvi is a key minister in the Pakistan government and is being snubbed time and again by Indian cricket teams. His own team is rubbish, and yet he insists on being there. To get exposed in front of the world and let India table the acts of terror perpetrated by a failed Pakistani state. Each time Naqvi does this, each time he will allow India to showcase the barbaric acts of Pahalgam to the world.

Naqvi, obstinate and hungry for the limelight, held his ground. The Indians did not flinch. Eventually, he instructed his people to walk away with the trophy, much like what happened at the men’s tournament last year.

That men’s Asia Cup was the worst tournament when it came to disrespecting the sport. Missing press conferences, making the media wait and not turning up, getting a game delayed by an hour — Pakistan did everything possible to push the sport to the brink. And yet the sport paid them back.

Similar things happened in the women’s final last night. First, Pakistan were thrashed by India in the pool game and then lost to Sri Lanka in the semi-final. Anyone with prudence would have withdrawn after that and let someone else hand over the trophy. Naqvi is the PCB chief, for God’s sake. His own team is in shambles. And yet he insisted on presenting the trophy to the Indians, whom he would have loved to see lose.

The ego isn’t lost on anyone, and that’s where the Indian act becomes important. They held their ground, and all that matters is that they are the champions. The Indians weren’t even pushed in any of the games, and no Asian team comes even close.

Rather than wanting to present the trophy and stand there for the cameras, Naqvi would do well to review the current state of Pakistan cricket. Deep-dive into why they are where they are. A review could help with corrective measures, and perhaps, at some point, he can hand over a trophy to a Pakistan captain.

Someone asked on social media whether Pakistan would have taken a trophy from an Indian politician had such a situation arisen. The answer is that Pakistan will not get there with Naqvi in charge. At the moment, they are simply poor, and yet Naqvi isn’t bothered as long as he gets to stand on the dais and pose for the cameras.

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Dubai [UAE], September 14 (ANI): India’s women’s cricket team delivered a dominant performance in the Women’s T20 Asia Cup 2026, emerging as the standout side across batting and bowling departments while lifting the title with a commanding campaign.

The Harmanpreet Kaur-led India clinched their eighth Women’s Asia Cup title after thrashing Sri Lanka by 72 runs in the Final on Sunday, which was played at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.

India’s batting unit maintained a significantly higher scoring rate than the rest of the tournament, recording a run rate of 8.35 compared to 5.12 by the other teams combined. Their batting strength was further reflected in their runs-per-wicket ratio of 26.46, more than double the combined figure of 11.95 for other teams.

The Indian batters also produced the highest number of individual half-centuries in the tournament with four, while the remaining teams collectively managed only two. India were the only side to register a century, with one batter reaching the three-figure mark. The team also dominated the six-hitting charts, smashing 32 sixes during the tournament, while all other teams combined hit 22.

India’s bowling attack was equally impressive, finishing with the best bowling average of 8.84 and an economy rate of 4.29. In comparison, the other teams collectively recorded a bowling average of 16.12 and an economy rate of 5.79.

The six-hitting gap highlighted India’s attacking approach, with the champions hitting a six every 16.62 balls. Sri Lanka followed with eight sixes at a rate of one every 64.62 balls, while Pakistan hit seven, Bangladesh four, Thailand two and Indonesia one. Hong Kong and the UAE failed to hit a six during the tournament.

However, India’s fielding remained an area of concern as they recorded the lowest catching efficiency among all participating teams. The Indian side dropped 17 catches, the most in the tournament, while Indonesia were next with seven dropped catches. India’s catching efficiency stood at 59.5 per cent, with Indonesia the only other team below the 70 per cent mark at 58.8 per cent.

Bowling spearhead Shree Charani also created history during the tournament, becoming the Indian women’s bowler with the most T20 International wickets in a calendar year. Charani has taken 39 wickets in 2026, surpassing Poonam Yadav’s previous record of 35 wickets in 2018. Deepti Sharma follows with 30 wickets in both 2024 and 2026.

Charani was also among the record performers in Women’s T20 Asia Cup finals, registering figures of 4/20 against Sri Lanka in Dubai. Her spell placed her among the few bowlers to take a four-wicket haul in a final, joining Poonam Yadav (4/9 vs Bangladesh, 2018) and Sana Mir (4/13 vs India, 2012).

India’s all-round dominance, backed by explosive batting, disciplined bowling and record-breaking individual performances, underlined their status as the strongest team in the Women’s T20 Asia Cup 2026.

India Women produced a commanding all-round performance to clinch the eighth Women’s Asia Cup title, defeating Sri Lanka by 72 runs in the final in Dubai.

After Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma powered India to 183/5 with a record 129-run opening stand, Sree Charani led the attack with an impressive 4/20 from four overs, while Deepti Sharma chipped in with 3/19 from her four-over spell.

Chasing 184 in the high-pressure final, Sri Lanka endured an early setback in the opening over. Imesha Dulani began with a boundary, but Indian pacer Kranti Gaud responded strongly, bowling her on the fourth delivery to put the chasing side on the back foot.

After the 129-run opening stand between Smriti and Shafali, Indian batting fell flat, with skipper Harmanpreet Kaur (14 in 14 balls) and Richa Ghosh (17 in 13 balls) failing to score big. A cameo from Bharti Fulmali (15* in five balls, with a four and a six) took India to 183/5 in 20 overs.

Mithali Ayodhya (1/33 in four overs) and Chamari Athapaththu (1/34 in four overs) were top bowlers for Sri Lanka. (ANI)

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