Sports summary: Evans wins the rally championship, Argentina's friendly win, and the stars of the Asian Games

British Toyota driver Elfyn Evans finally won the World Rally Championship title on Sunday, ending years of being second place.

The Welsh driver finished second in the overall standings five times over the past six years, but emerged victorious after an exciting competition in the final stage with his teammate Oliver Solberg in the final Italian round of the season in Sardinia.

Evans is the first British driver to win the World Rally Championship since Englishman Richard Burns in 2001, and only the third since Scottish driver Colin McRae became the first British champion in 1995.

Swede Solberg, son of 2003 world champion Norwegian Petter Solberg, won the rally and finished the season in second place.

The Argentine team defeated its guest, Burkina Faso, 7-0 today (Sunday), in a friendly match that witnessed unusual circumstances, after the African team was forced to play the match with a squad of under-23 players, and arrived in Buenos Aires only 6 hours before the start of the match, after an 11-hour flight from Casablanca.

The participation of the under-23 team came after the first team refused to travel to Argentina, due to problems related to organizing the trip, in addition to financial disputes.

Lautaro Martinez scored the first goal for Argentina in the third minute after missing a penalty kick, before following the rebound from the goalkeeper into the net.

Moumouni Diallo added the second goal for Argentina by mistake against his own team in the eighth minute, then Gianluca Pristiani scored the third goal in the 12th minute.

Nicolas Paz added the fourth goal in the 35th minute, and one minute later Julian Alvarez scored the fifth goal, bringing the Argentine team to the end of the first half with a 5-0 lead.

Franco Mastantono scored the sixth goal in the 57th minute, before Giuliano Simeone concluded the scoring in the first minute of stoppage time.

The Argentine national team took complete control of the match, having 75 percent possession of the ball and making a large number of attempts, while Burkina Faso had only one shot on goal.

The website of the Spanish newspaper “Marca” quoted Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni as saying: “We want to thank Burkina Faso and everyone who attended for this effort. They brought dignity to football. We tried to play the match as if it was a final; Because this is the only way to respect these players.”

Scaloni made wholesale changes in the second half, giving 3 players their first international participation with Argentina: Mattia Sole, Thomas Palacios, and Santiago Castro.

Argentina is now preparing for Lionel Messi's farewell match for the national team, when it faces Benin on Tuesday at the Monumental Stadium in Buenos Aires.

The Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games brought the curtain down on Sunday on two weeks of competition that saw some record-breaking performances.

Agence France-Presse reviews five athletes who excelled at the Games and appear to be strong candidates to leave their mark at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

Yu Zidi, Swimming (China): The 13-year-old Chinese prodigy took gold in all three of her individual events with ease, all with new Games records.

She won the 200m (butterfly), 200m (medley) and 400m (medley), and her times were among the fastest in the world this year.

Yeo will be 15 years old when the Los Angeles Olympics are held, and is likely to pose a real threat for medals with the world's eyes on her.

Last year, when she was twelve years old, she won bronze in the relay and became the youngest medalist in the history of the World Swimming Championships.

Zhang Junshuo, Swimming (China): In the spotlight on Yu, Zhang has somewhat slipped under the radar.

But the 19-year-old returned home with seven gold medals, the most achieved by any swimmer in the history of the Asian Games.

He did this in a remarkable manner as well, as he sat on the barrier of the water lane and slowly counted his seven gold medals on the fingers of his hand after winning the last one.

Zhang won the 400m (freestyle) title with a new Games record time, and also won the 200m, 800m and 1500m (freestyle) titles, in addition to three gold medals in the relay.

Shin Ohashi, Swimming (Japan): The 17-year-old said he wanted to break a world record at a home tournament, and he did.

Ohashi, who confesses his love for fast food, recorded an amazing time of 2 minutes and 04.83 seconds, and broke by more than half a second the previous world record for the 200m breaststroke race, set by the Chinese name Chen Haiyang.

This number confirmed Ohashi's amazing rise, and made him the man to beat in Los Angeles, where he may face French star Leon Marchand.

Yan Ziyi, Athletics (China): The powerful Yan will have just turned 20 when the Los Angeles Games begin, but the Chinese javelin thrower already looks on her way to the top.

She swept the Asian Games competition with her first and only throw of 70.46m, breaking the Games record. That was the sixth best throw in history.

Yan recorded a huge throw of 71.74 meters in May, bettered only by the world record of 72.28 meters set by the Czech Barbora Šputakova in 2008.

Ri Sung-geum, Weightlifting (North Korea): The young weightlifter has given North Korea a strong start in the sport, and she will soon be looking to claim the only achievement missing from her record: an Olympic medal.

The 140 cm (4 feet 7 inches) athlete set three new world records in the 49 kg category, and entered the record book as the first woman to win three consecutive golds in weightlifting at the Asian Games.

She is also a two-time world champion, and has not found any real competition at her weight class since North Korea returned from Covid isolation in 2023.

North Korean weightlifters have not competed in the last two Olympics, so the Los Angeles Olympics may be the 28-year-old's only chance at Olympic glory.