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Spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has ended his Indian Premier League (IPL) career but says he will be available to play other competitions of franchise cricket around the world.

The 38-year-old began and ended his IPL career with his home team, Chennai Super Kings, and also represented Rising Pune Supergiant, Delhi Capitals, Rajasthan Royals and Kings XI Punjab in between.

“They say every ending will have a new start, my time as an IPL cricketer comes to a close today, but my time as an explorer of the game around various leagues begins today,” the 38-year-old posted on X on Wednesday.

“Look forward to enjoying and making the most of what’s ahead of me,” he added.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) does not allow any current player in Indian international or domestic cricket to feature in overseas leagues.

Ashwin is the IPL’s fifth-highest wicket-taker with 187 wickets from 221 matches with an economy rate of 7.2.

The off-spinner quit international cricket in December 2024, having taken 537 Test wickets, 156 one-day international wickets and 72 wickets in T20 internationals.

Only Anil Kumble’s 619 wickets stood ahead of Ashwin in Test cricket for India.

Ashwin made his Test debut in 2011 against West Indies and was named Player of the Match, with match figures of 9-128 across the game.

The Chennai-born bowling all-rounder would go on to take eight 10-wicket match hauls, while hitting six centuries in his 106 Tests.

The final Test was in the second match of a five-Test tour of Australia, which resulted in a 3-1 series defeat for India. Ashwin’s last T20 international was in November 2022.

A New Zealand rugby player who had wanted his brain to be studied after suffering from the effects of multiple concussions has died aged 39, police said.

Police were called early on Wednesday morning to the Nelson home of Shane Christie, who played for the Highlanders in Super Rugby and for New Zealand Maori, where he was found dead.

Police said “the death will be referred to the coroner and we have no further information or comment we can provide”.

Christie suspected he was suffering from Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE), a degenerative brain disorder that has been linked in the United States to a number of suicides among players in the National Football League. The NFL in 2016 acknowledged a connection between American football and CTE.

The condition can only be detected post-mortem. Christie had indicated he intended to leave his brain to researchers for study in the hope of making rugby a safer game.

“Without brain donations, we’re not going to be able to identify how long it takes to get this disease. It’s important to help the research in New Zealand,” Christie said in a recent interview.

Christie was a friend and teammate of Billy Guyton, who died of suicide in 2023 and became the first New Zealand rugby player to be diagnosed with CTE. Christie helped to establish the Billy Guyton Foundation, which attempts to foster a better understanding of the consequences of concussion.

“Bill motivated me to have the courage to speak my mind about what I see,” Christie said last year at a foundation event.

Christie reported several concussions during his playing career and, since his retirement, said he’d suffered headaches and memory lapses. CTE is known to cause mood and behavioural changes and cognitive impairment.

“It feels like a bruise in your head and when you’re walking, it hurts. So when you’re thinking it hurts, when you’re trying to exercise, the pressure hurts, and you’re not as fast and can’t think as quick,” he was quoted as saying.

CTE has been cited in a number of violent deaths involving former NFL players.

A 2023 study by the Boston University CTE Center said that of 376 brains of former NFL players, 345 of them were found to have CTE.

New Zealand Rugby said that in the wake of his playing career, Christie became passionate about coaching.

“Any time the rugby community loses a member it is felt deeply,” New Zealand Rugby said. “Shane’s passion for the game will be remembered always. Our thoughts are with Shane’s whanau (family), friends, former teammates, and community at this incredibly difficult time.”

In June, the number of former rugby players taking legal action against sporting governing bodies on claims they suffered brain injuries during their careers was reported to be more than 1,000 by British law firm Rylands Garth.

It said more than 520 ex-players from rugby union and rugby league joined the lawsuit before the case potentially goes to trial in 2026.

Claimants are seeking compensation from World Rugby, the English Rugby Football Union and Welsh Rugby Union – governing bodies in 15-a-side rugby – and the English Rugby Football League and British Amateur Rugby League Association – from 13-a-side rugby league – for lost earnings, medical bills and care costs associated with their injuries, the firm said.

“Rylands Garth is also calling for urgent and substantive reform of the game to better protect the safety of current and future players – including the creation of an independent brain health ombudsman for the sport,” it said.

Former US Open champion Coco Gauff has stumbled into the second round of the tennis Grand Slam, squeezing past Australia’s Ajla Tomljanovic in an error-strewn three-hour battle.

Third seed Gauff punched her ticket to the second round on Tuesday, after overcoming a litany of self-inflicted errors to win 6-4, 6-7 (2/7), 7-5 in a match that lasted 2hr 57min.

“It was a tough match. Ajla was tough; she was getting so many balls back,” 2023 winner Gauff said after her win.

“It wasn’t the best but I’m happy to get through to the next round.”

Gauff, the reigning French Open champion, had prepared for the US Open by shaking up her coaching team on the eve of the tournament in an effort to fix her shaky service game, replacing coach Matt Daly with Gavin MacMillan, a biomechanics specialist.

However , on the evidence of Tuesday night, the 21-year-old American still has plenty to work on if she is to have any realistic chance of mounting a deep run in New York.

Gauff finished with a whopping 59 unforced errors and 10 double faults, and her serve was broken six times. She heads to the second round knowing that a more ruthless opponent than Tomljanovic might have punished those mistakes.

As it was, Tomljanovic had her own problems, suffering eight breaks of serve and making 56 unforced errors before bowing out.

Gauff admitted that her unsettled build-up to the tournament had been draining.

“Honestly it’s been really tough, mentally exhausting,” Gauff said. “But I’m trying. It wasn’t the best today, but it was an improvement on last week [in Cincinnati]; I’m just trying to improve with each match.”

There were no such problems for the reigning Wimbledon champions Iga Swiatek and Jannik Sinner, though, as they recorded emphatic victories.

World number one Sinner began his bid for back-to-back US Open titles by waltzing to a 6-1, 6-1, 6-2 win over Czech world number 89 Vit Kopriva, needing just 1hr 38min to advance to the next round.

“It feels great to be back here. Obviously it’s a very special tournament,” said Sinner, who is attempting to become the first man to repeat as US Open champion since Roger Federer won five in a row from 2004-2008.

Sinner, 24, faces Alexei Popyrin in the third round.

“I’m very happy that I’m healthy again,” said the Italian, who was forced to retire from last week’s Cincinnati Open final against Carlos Alcaraz.

Sinner’s blistering start on the Arthur Ashe Stadium court was matched by Poland’s Swiatek, who was similarly emphatic in a 6-1, 6-2 rout of Colombia’s Emiliana Arango.

The 24-year-old from Poland was always in control against 84th-ranked Arango, overwhelming the Colombian with some powerful groundstrokes mixed with some deft work at the net.

The win makes Swiatek the first woman in history to win 65 consecutive WTA-level first round matches, surpassing Monica Seles’s previous record of 64.

The six-time Grand Slam singles champion – a winner in New York in 2022 – will face the Netherlands’ Suzan Lamens in the second round.

IGA SWIATEK WORLD RECORD‼️

Iga Swiatek breaks Monica Seles’ record for most consecutive opening matches won in the Open Era. pic.twitter.com/iS9VFjfSLB

— US Open Tennis (@usopen) August 26, 2025

Meanwhile , two-time former champion Naomi Osaka had no difficulty in dispatching Belgium’s Greet Minnen 6-3, 6-4.

The Japanese former world number one revelled in returning to a venue that she regards as a home from home.

“Whenever I play here the atmosphere feels like home, and it is home for me,” said Osaka, who is seeded 23rd and will next face American Hailey Baptiste.

In other women’s draw results on Tuesday, Ukrainian 27th seed Marta Kostyuk took down Britain’s Katie Boulter 6-4, 6-4. Eighth seed Amanda Anisimova of the United States ousted Australia’s Kimberly Birrell 6-3, 6-2.

Brazil’s 18th seed Beatriz Haddad Maia advanced with a 6-3, 1-6, 6-1 win over Britain’s Sonay Kartal. But there was disappointment for rising French star Lois Boisson. Boisson, who captivated her homeland with a run to the semifinals of the French Open in June, exited in three sets to Switzerland’s Viktorija Golubic, losing 3-6, 7-6 (7/3), 6-2.

Elsewhere, 10th seed Lorenzo Musetti outlasted big-serving Frenchman Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard 6-7(3) 6-3 6-4 6-4 at the Louis Armstrong Stadium and will face Belgian David Goffin.

After Daniil Medvedev’s chaotic exit on Sunday, Marin Cilic became the latest former champion to be knocked out as 23rd seed Alexander Bublik beat the Croat 6-4 6-1 6-4 on Grandstand, while American 14th seed Tommy Paul made short work of Denmark’s Elmer Moller 6-3 6-3 6-1 to book a second-round clash with Portugal’s Nuno Borges.

Third seed Alexander Zverev closed out the evening’s action on the main showcourt by beating Chile’s Alejandro Tabilo 6-2 7-6(4) 6-4 to set up a meeting with Jacob Fearnley.

Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas will be back on the Formula One starting grid next season after Cadillac announced the signing of the multiple race winners as the team’s debut driver pairing.

The Mexican and Finn both have multiyear deals, the General Motors-backed outfit said on Tuesday without providing further details.

Perez, a six-time race winner, and Bottas, who took 10 victories for Mercedes, are both 35 and have unfinished business after being dropped by the Red Bull and Sauber teams, respectively, in 2024.

The announcement was expected, although some younger prospects had been touted.

“We believe their experience, their leadership and their technical acumen are really what we need,” team CEO Dan Towriss told reporters in a video call.

“It’s the right combination – the right drivers at the right time – and we’re humbled by their belief in us in this project.”

Both spent years alongside two of the sport’s greats – Perez with four-time world champion Max Verstappen at Red Bull and Bottas as sidekick to seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes.

They also have more than 500 race starts between them – Perez 281 and Bottas 246 – and a combined 106 podium appearances.

Towriss said Perez, in particular, was eager to put “in the rearview mirror” his last season with Red Bull when he suffered a dramatic slump in performance.

“We had questions, we had scepticism … and he answered all of our questions, passed our tests with flying colours,” he added.

Cadillac, who will use Ferrari power units until 2029 when General Motors hopes to have its own, face a steep learning curve as the 11th team at the start of a new engine era.

Perez and Bottas – the latter serving as Mercedes reserve this season – said they were excited to be starting afresh.

“This isn’t just a racing project; it’s a long-term vision. It’s not every day that you get a chance to be part of something being built from the ground up and helping shape it into something that truly belongs on the F1 grid,” said Bottas.

“I’ve had the honour of working with some of the best teams in the world, and I can already see the same professionalism and hunger here.”

“I’m proud to be part of such an ambitious and meaningful project from the very beginning,” Perez said. “Together, I believe we can help shape this team into a real contender.”

Rio Ngumoha made history on Monday by becoming the youngest goal scorer for the famous England side Liverpool.

The winger came on as a substitute for the defending Premier League champions and scored the winning goal to secure the 3-2 win against Newcastle United at St James’ Park.

Ngumoha is only the fourth 16-year-old to score a Premier League goal.

Here is all to know about the promising teenage footballer.

Why is everyone talking about Rio Ngumoha?

Four days short of his 17th birthday, Ngumoha made his Premier League debut for Liverpool on Monday night, sensationally scoring the match-winning goal for the Reds in the 100th minute on the road against Newcastle at St James’ Park.

Ngumoha’s stylish strike, which came in the closing moments of a high-pressure match, was made all the more special as debutant teenagers – due to their inexperience – rarely play at the end of important fixtures.

Why did Rio Ngumoha leave Chelsea for Liverpool?

Ngumoha was just eight years old when he joined the Chelsea academy as a talented youngster and had been with the London-based club for nearly half his life when he moved to Liverpool in the 2024 off season.

It’s been widely reported that Ngumoha left Chelsea after Liverpool scouts offered a clearer route to Premier League exposure and first-team play.

What nationality is Rio Ngumoha?

Ngumoha was born on August 29, 2008 in London, to Nigerian parents.

Lionel Messi and Neymar are listed as his football heroes.

Who are the youngest scorers in Premier League history?

Ngumoha sits behind three other players as the youngest goal scorer in Premier League history: James Vaughan, James Milner and Wayne Rooney.

Vaughan, who made his debut for Everton, is the youngest goal scorer in history at 16 years, 8 months and 27 days old when he scored his maiden goal against Crystal Palace on April 10, 2005.

UNBELIEVABLE!!!! 🤯 pic.twitter.com/P60Iq2kQdY

— Liverpool FC (@LFC) August 25, 2025