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Railways shot putter Manpreet Kaur today became the latest Indian athlete to qualify for next year's Olympics when she shattered an 18-year-old national record en route to a sixth title at the 55th National Open Athletics Championship today.

The Patiala-based shot putter threw 17.96 metres in her second attempt to claim the gold medal, a hat-trick of titles at the National Open after she returned to field in 2013 following a three year hiatus because of the birth of her daughter Jasnoor.

The 25-year-old, who had the previous best of 16.39 at last year's Delhi National Open, said she was confident of breaking the 19m-mark before next year's Olympics so as to give herself some chance at the quadrennial extravaganza.

"The target is to make the country proud in Olympics, it's a long way to go and today I just got the start," Manpreet said after her gold medal winning performance. Having improved her personal best by one and a half metre in one year's time, Manpreet said she can break into 19 metres by Rio next year.

"Getting into 19 metres is not a big deal, it's about translating your performance in the practice into competition. Today morning only I threw 18.60," Manpreet said after she broke Harbans Kaur's earlier record of 17.43 that came in 1997.

The IAAF entry standard for 2016 Rio Olympics in women's shot put is 17.80m, while the top three in London 2012 threw 20m plus.

It was also an emotional moment for Manpreet as the previous record holder too worked in the same department of Railways where she's currently posted.

"She too worked in DCDW, Patiala, so it's a matter of great pride that we continued to the trend."

Trained by her husband Karamjeet Singh, an university level shotputter, Manpreet said: "The advantage of getting trained by your husband is he's constantly after you. Whenever I don't follow the regimen, he screams at me, so it helps me in a way."

She also gave credit of her achievement to her in-laws who take care of her four-year-old daughter Jasnoor while she's away.

"They look after her and ensure that I remain focussed on training."

Congratulating his wife, Karamjeet said: "She's gifted and is a natural talent. The way she has improved in one year speaks volumes about her talent."

The Champions League season is only one match day old, but it will be tough for anyone to better Alessandro Florenzi's eye-popping strike that gave Roma a 1-1 draw with defending champion Barcelona on Wednesday.

Florenzi launched an audacious 60-yard (meter) lob from near the sideline and watched it sail over Barcelona goalkeeper Andre-Marc ter Stegen to cancel out Luis Suarez's opening goal.

"It will be something to remember," Florenzi said. "It's not something that happens often."

Bayer Leverkusen hammered BATE Borisov 4-1 in the night's other Group E match.

Arsenal slumped to a 2-1 loss at Dinamo Zagreb in a match it finished with 10 men, while its Group F rival Bayern Munich needed second-half goals to beat hosts Olympiakos 3-0.

Chelsea was a 4-0 winner over Maccabi Tel Aviv and took the early lead in Group C after Porto drew 2-2 at Dynamo Kiev.

Zenit St. Petersburg went to the top in Group H after winning 3-2 at Valencia and nine-man AA Ghent's 1-1 draw with Lyon.

Here is a closer look at each match on Wednesday:

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Group E

After Suarez headed in Ivan Rakitic's pass in the 21st, Florenzi's memorable equalizer in a 1-1 draw came just after the half-hour mark.

Two strides after dribbling past the halfway line on the right flank, Florenzi saw Ter Stegen far out of his goal and let loose a shot from more than 60 meters (yards) over the German's head that went in off the post.

In Germany, Javier "Chicharito" Hernandez scored his first goal for Leverkusen as it comfortably beat BATE 4-1.

Admir Mehmedi opened the scoring with the outside of his boot in the fourth, nine minutes before Serbian defender Nemanja Milunovic drew the visitors level with a deflected header.

Hakan Calhanoglu restored Leverkusen's lead with another deflected goal two minutes after the break, and Hernandez struck in the 59th.

Calhanoglu rounded off the scoring with a penalty in the 76th.

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GROUP G

Chelsea set aside its troubles in the Premier League with an easy 4-0 win in Europe.

Willian gave Chelsea the lead in the 15th, his free kick from the left looping past his teammates in the penalty area and beyond the reach of goalkeeper Pedrag Rajkovic.

Oscar doubled the advantage on the stroke of halftime from the penalty spot after Diego Costa was fouled.

Substitute Costa then settled the match in the 58th minute, brilliantly turning in a cross from Cesc Fabregas off the underside of the crossbar before Fabregas added the fourth from close range on 78 minutes.

In Ukraine, Oleh Gusev put Kiev ahead after 13 minutes but a double from Vincent Aboubakar gave Porto the lead — only for Vitali Buylaksy to equalize in the 89th for a 2-2 draw.

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GROUP F

While London rival Chelsea got a much-needed win, Arsenal made a dismal start to its European campaign with a 2-1 defeat in Zagreb.

A goal by Josip Pivaric in the 24th and a sending-off for Arsenal striker Olivier Giroud after a second yellow card in the 40th swung the game Dinamo's way.

Chilean forward Junior Fernandes headed Dinamo's second goal from a corner in the 58th.

Though substitute Theo Walcott pulled a goal back for Arsenal in the 79th, it was too little too late for Arsene Wenger's side.

In Greece, Thomas Mueller scored twice and substitute Mario Goetze added another for Bayern as Olympiakos fell apart late in a 3-0 win for the visitors that was marred by scuffles in the stands before kickoff.

Mueller spotted goalkeeper Roberto off his line and expertly lobbed the ball home in the 52nd.

Goetze added the second a minute from time with a diagonal shot past Roberto before Muller struck again from close range in injury time.

In brief clashes before game, riot police used batons to confront a small group of Bayern fans.

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GROUP H

Hulk scored twice before Axel Witsel got the winner as Zenit beat Valencia 3-2 in a thriller.

Hulk drove in his first goal on the run in the ninth, and bettered that with a ferocious drive from outside the area to stun Mestalla Stadium three minutes before halftime.

Valencia responded after the restart and Joao Cancelo was helped by Yuri Lodygin's poor goalkeeping to pull one back in the 54th before substitute Andre Gomes briefly equalized at 2-2 in the 73rd.

But three minutes later Witsel scored from long distance to restore the Russian's advantage for good.

AA Ghent came back from behind with a goal from Danijel Milicevic and survived being down to nine men in the closing stages to earn a 1-1 draw with Lyon.

After midfielder Brecht Dejaegere was sent off for a high tackle in the 41st, the Belgian champion still got the equalizer in the 68th. Thomas Foket was then sent off for a foul in the area three minutes from time, but goalkeeper Matz Sels saved the penalty from Lyon star Alexandre Lacazette.

Lyon looked set for an easy victory when Christophe Jallet dipped in at the near post to head home a corner from veteran Mathieu Valbuena in the 58th when it was already a man up.

Rohit Sharma, the much criticised India batsman, recently received some support from India batting coach Sanjay Bangar, who urged the critics to compare Rohit’s record to those of others at the same stage of their careers.

"If you look at the numbers, he has played 13 Test matches and scored 800-900 (870 runs) runs at an average of 40 with two centuries, four half-centuries. I think if his critics can go back and compare the first 13 Test matches of any other cricketer who has played for a while, I think they would probably be less harsh on Rohit," Bangar told ESPN Cricinfo.

Since Bangar asked, we obliged. We compared Rohit’s record to four of his contemporaries – Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Virat Kohli and Suresh Raina – as well as to a number of his predecessors to identity whether Bangar’s statement stands up to scrutiny.

As you can see from the table below, Rohit’s record at this stage of his career is similar to Kohli’s and much better than Raina’s, who is no longer part of India’s Test side. Pujara is the obvious outlier here and the table doesn’t capture his subsequent slide that cost him his place in the team.

It was only a matter of time before the murmuring began.

With an historic series win in Sri Lanka under his belt, Virat Kohli, India’s Test captain, is reportedly being considered for the one-day captaincy as well. Considering that MS Dhoni’s aura shines brightest in the 50-over game, where he is still a formidable player, the idea instinctively seems premature. Waiting until Dhoni steps down seems the more prudent approach.

It may not be the right approach, though. There is a powerful case to be made for Virat ascending to the one-day throne as well. It begins with the 2019 World Cup. Dhoni is currently 34 and will turn 38 during the tournament in England. There haven’t been many 38-year-old batsmen-wicketkeepers in world cricket, leave aside 38-year-old batsmen-wicketkeepers who also lead their side. Dhoni’s game is also built on hand-eye coordination, which takes a beating as a player ages. Just making the team will take a huge effort for Dhoni.

Therefore it would, in theory, make for a smoother transition if Kohli was appointed by choice rather than by circumstance. Having Dhoni still be part of the team would allow him to play the role of the elder statesman, much like Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid did for Dhoni.

Secondly, Dhoni and Kohli have opposite leadership styles, and consequently prefer different team combinations. Kohli prefers pace and aggression while Dhoni likes control and patience. Giving Kohli more time to test and groom the side he would want in 2019 makes more sense than going with Dhoni’s team for two or three years and then suddenly, with the World Cup looming, have to switch midstream.

Far better to set course now and leave plenty of time for correction as Kohli grows in the job. It also leaves time to make changes in case Kohli fails. After all, there’s no guarantee he will succeed.

The younger players in the side also seem to have embraced Kohli’s philosophy of playing for a win no matter what and it would be hard on them to toggle back and forth between Kohli and Dhoni over the next few years. Given that there is a fair amount of overlap between the Test and ODI teams, the difference in approaches could end up confusing the players mentally.

Team politics shouldn’t be ignored either. As Pradeep Magazine writes in Hindustan Times, “pragmatism demands that for the sake of continuity and not creating two power centres in the team, he [Kohli] should be made One-day captain as well.”

Dhoni should, of course, remain in charge for the T20s since the World T20 is only six months away and will be played in India.

It is an unusual situation, to be sure. Typically a player becomes captain in the shorter formats before graduating to Tests. That’s the road MS Dhoni took and it has a certain logic to it. Just like we learn to walk before we can run, it appears simpler for captains to learn how to handle a limited-overs game before enlarging their horizons to five days.

But there has never been anything typical about Dhoni. He surprised everyone, including his wife, by retiring from Test cricket in Australia last December, leaving India no alternative but to promote Virat.

Dhoni is one of India’s greatest limited-overs players and quite likely the best captain but this isn’t about him. This is about the team. The one caveat is whether Dhoni can adapt to following rather than leading at this stage of his career. Unlike Dravid or Tendulkar, so much of his identity is tied up in being India captain. It won’t be easy to shed that skin.

Even Roger Federer is wowed by how well he's playing at 34 — and the ease with which he's winning at this U.S. Open.

Federer is into his 10th semifinal at Flushing Meadows, and record 38th at all major tournaments. To get back to his first final in New York since 2009, he'll have to beat someone he knows quite well: Swiss Olympic and Davis Cup teammate Stan Wawrinka.

The No. 2-seeded Federer and No. 5 Wawrinka won quarterfinals about as handily as can be Wednesday night.

Federer never faced a break point, compiled a remarkable 50-8 advantage in winners, and needed less than 1 1/2 hours to dismiss 12th-seeded Richard Gasquet of France 6-3, 6-3, 6-1 in Arthur Ashe Stadium.

"It's nice to play this way," Federer said. "And, maybe at my age, to run through five opponents the way I have done here at the U.S. Open, I don't consider that normal, to be quite honest, even though I expect it in some ways."

Not only has Federer won all 15 sets he's played, he has only dropped 44 games. He has won 67 of his 69 service games. And he's done it while playing attacking tennis; against Gasquet, he won the point on 22 of 28 trips to the net.

"I don't feel like I'm as old as I am. I still feel young," Federer said. "So it's nice to get rewarded with the hard work and (know) that, actually, I'm able to play sort of 'fun' tennis."

He hasn't won a major title since Wimbledon in 2012, losing finals there to No. 1 Novak Djokovic last year and this July.

"It's just nice to see how he's moving," Wawrinka said about Federer. "You think he's flying on the court."

And make no mistake: Wawrinka has been watching.

He even pulled out one of Federer's tricks — a recently developed tactic of charging to the service line for a second-serve return — while eliminating 15th-seeded Kevin Anderson of South Africa 6-4, 6-4, 6-0.

Moved from Ashe to Louis Armstrong Stadium because of two lengthy women's quarterfinals plus a 1 1/2-hour rain delay earlier, the match took 1 hour, 47 minutes in all, but the third set, in particular, was dominated by Wawrinka, who won 24 of its 29 points.

Wawrinka solved the 6-foot-8 Anderson's serve, converting 5 of 8 break points. Anderson had been broken a total of four times through his first four matches combined, including his surprise of 2012 U.S. Open champion Andy Murray.

Anderson called that victory, which put him into the quarterfinals at a major for the first time after previously going 0-7 in fourth-round matches, "a big moment."

"I felt I did a good job of resetting myself and getting ready for this next match," Anderson said. "Wasn't meant to be today. Stan didn't make it easy."

Most of his career, Wawrinka has lived in the shadow of his older — and far more successful — countryman, Federer. Wawrinka didn't break through with his first Grand Slam title until the 2014 Australian Open. He added No. 2 this year at the French Open, beating Federer in the quarterfinals along the way.

Still, that was only Wawrinka's third victory in 19 career matches against Federer. They're good friends and paired up to win a gold medal in doubles at the 2008 Olynpics.

"Stan played a wonderful match against me in Paris, and I was very happy for him that he went on to win the tournament. He deserved it. He's been such a great player throughout his career. He always improved a lot, kept on working really hard," Federer said.