ceremony

Tokyo: The Asian Games began in Japan on Thursday when Qatar beat Iran in the men’s basketball opening group game, the first action in the continental multi-sport showpiece that has more participants than the Olympics.

Over 17,000 athletes and officials are expected to take part in 43 sports at the Nagoya-Aichi Games — which do not officially start until the opening ceremony on September 19 and will run until October 4.

Several events such as basketball, football, cricket, hockey and modern pentathlon will get under way before the opening ceremony.

Qatar held off a comeback from Iran to win their Group B encounter 59-35 at the Aichi International Arena in Nagoya in the first match of a men’s basketball competition that will hold medal finals on September 20, the day after the opening ceremony.

Los Angeles 2028 Olympics qualifying spots are up for grabs in several sports at the Asian Games, which are returning to Japan for the first time since 1994.

Organisers hope the athletes will have a “unique experience” staying in eye-catching accommodation ranging from a cruise liner and wooden containers to standard hotel rooms.

Officials are confident that the plan will not be affected by Japan’s typhoon season, which is usually in full swing in September-October.

Weather has already caused disruptions, with record rainfall on Tuesday forcing hundreds of athletes briefly to evacuate their accommodation.

Rainwater also leaked into some competition venues, with more wet weather forecast for the coming days.

Among those in action at the Games will be Philippine tennis sensation Alexandra Eala and a pair of world-class teenage talents in 15-year-old Indian cricketer Vaibhav Sooryavanshi and 13-year-old Chinese swimmer Yu Zidi.

It’s been a remarkable year for Bad Bunny, one of pop music’s biggest stars. After winning multiple trophies earlier this year at the Grammys, including album of the year for “Débi Tirar Más Fotos,” he can add another accolade: Emmy winner.

The Puerto Rican rapper and singer, also known as Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, won his first Emmy for variety special (live) on Saturday for his historic Super Bowl halftime show. It was the first Spanish-language halftime show, a 13-minute spectacle that transformed a football field into a variety of scenes including a sugar cane field, bodega, wedding party and casita, like the one in his 2025 San Juan residency. It also featured performances by Lady Gaga and Ricky Martin. Mikael Wood, The Times’ pop music critic, called it “a busy and colorful performance that drew lines between the traditional folk forms of his native island and the throbbing reggaeton beats that have made him an icon to young people around the globe.”

Bad Bunny served as a producer on the show. It won seven Emmys overall, including for directing for a variety special and music direction.

Also honored at Saturday’s ceremony was Mariska Hargitay for her documentary “My Mom Jayne,” about her mother Jayne Mansfield, a Hollywood actor who died in a car accident when Hargitay was 3 years old. Hargitay also received an Emmy for directing the film and Tony Hardmon won for cinematography. The movie, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival last year, had a limited theatrical run before being released on HBO in June 2025. Hargitay won an Emmy in 2006 for lead actress in a drama for playing Det. Olivia Benson in “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.”

In an interview with The Times last year, Hargitay said, “Making this film has been so extraordinary to me and totally reframed the narrative for me,” about Mansfield and the struggles she encountered over her brief but celebrated career. The film also revealed that Hargitay’s biological father was Nelson Sardelli, a former entertainer, and not Mickey Hargitay, the man who raised her and Mansfield’s second husband.

Mariska Hargitay will host the Primetime Emmy Awards on Sept. 14 in Los Angeles.

The first pair of Emmy ceremonies, formerly called the Creative Arts Emmys, are held over two nights, two weekends before the Primetime Emmy Awards, and honor many of the behind-the-scenes workers and craftspeople in television. An abridged version of the ceremonies will be broadcast Sept. 12 on FXX and stream on Hulu the following day.

Here is a list of winners from Saturday’s ceremony:

Variety special (live)
“The Apple Music Super Bowl LX Halftime Show Starring Bad Bunny”

Variety special (pre-recorded)
“The Muppet Show”

Documentary or nonfiction series
“Mr. Scorsese”

Documentary or nonfiction special
“My Mom Jayne: A Film by Mariska Hargitay”

Unstructured reality program
“Love on the Spectrum”

Structured reality program
“Antiques Roadshow”

Host for a reality of reality competition program
Alan Cumming, “The Traitors”

Game show
“Jeopardy!”

Game show host
Jimmy Kimmel, “Who Wants to be a Millionaire?”

The complete list of winners for Saturday’s ceremony can be found at televisionacademy.com.