China's League of Legends team hung on Friday to take bronze in the Asian Games esports event, overcoming a strong challenge from Vietnam.

Once talked about as possible contenders for the gold, China's team was blanked Thursday by South Korea. The South Korean team was powered by Lee "Faker" Sang-hyeok, a 27-year-old player known to most as the League of Legends GOAT — Greatest Of All Time.

Lionel Messi couldn't play, and the Houston Dynamo took full advantage to win a trophy on his home field.

Griffin Dorsey and Amine Bassi scored first-half goals and Houston — with NBA star James Harden, part of the team's ownership group, looking on from the stands — topped Messi-less Inter Miami 2-1 on Wednesday night to win the U.S. Open Cup.

China blew past the 150-medal mark Thursday on Day 5 of the Asian Games, more than double the number of second-place South Korea as the home nation continued its decades-long domination of the event.

The hosts were bolstered by multiple golds in a home sport on Thursday, as Chinese athletes won the men's 70-, 60- and 56-kilogram finals in Wushu martial arts, as well as the women's 60- and 52-kilogram finals.

If you're looking for another kind of esport to follow from the Asian Games, try the centuries-old card game of bridge.

Here the "e" would stand for "elderly" to represent the game's aging demographic — not for "electronic" as in the youth-driven online gaming that's proving to be one of the most popular events of the Asian Games, generating billions in annual revenue worldwide, and producing a new breed of global icons like South Korean League of Legends star "Faker."

She's the youngest member of the nearly 900-strong delegation from China, and the 13-year-old skateboarder is now going home with a gold medal.

She's also already thinking about being a force at next year's Paris Olympics.

Atletico Madrid happily made sure Real Madrid wasn't perfect anymore.

Atletico ended its rival's perfect start Sunday with a 3-1 win in their first Spanish league derby of the season.

China has dominated the Asian Games for the last 40 years, and the 2023 edition will be the same.

The host country won 20 gold medals — 30 overall — on Sunday, just hours after Saturday's opening ceremony overseen by President Xi Jinping and watched by 80,000 at Hangzhou Olympic Sports Center Stadium.

The Asian Games offer a preview of what could soon be coming to the Olympics. That's surely the case with cricket, which seems headed to the Olympic program as soon as the 2028 Los Angeles Games or the 2032 Brisbane Games.

India's women won the gold medal on Monday at the Asian Games, defeating Sri Lanka in the 20-overs format. India scored 116-7 to beat Sri Lanka by 19 runs. The Sri Lankans scored 97-8.

Germany hired Julian Nagelsmann to lead the men's national football team on Friday, entrusting the former Bayern Munich coach with doing a better job than the last Bayern Munich coach who tried.

The German football federation said Nagelsmann was taking over on a short-term contract through next year's European Championship. Germany is hosting the tournament.

It was already clear that Manchester City and Real Madrid are the best teams in Europe right now.

The first round of Champions League group games this week confirmed the fact, even if the standout performance was by an unheralded goalkeeper in Italy.