The New Nation - Internet Edition

Sports Reporter

Bangladesh Army and Bangladesh Navy won their respective matches of the Total Victory Day Basketball Tournament at the Mirpur Shaheed Suhrawardy Indoor Stadium on Monday.

In the day's first match, Bangladesh Army defeated Bangladesh Police by 93-32 points after completing the first session by 44-14 points.

Amjad of Bangladesh Army top-scored with 27 points and his teammate Abhinas scored 13 points while Nitai pulled off 12 for the losers. In the day's second match, Bangladesh Navy beat Bangladesh Rifles by 81-65 points after finishing the first half with 45-19 points.

Rashed of Bangladesh Navy scored 26 points and his teammate Lutfor netted 15. On the other hand, Murshed of Bangladesh Rifles caged 19 and Aiub scored 15 points.s

UNB, Dhaka

Three Bangladeshi Grand Masters-Abdullah Al Rakib, Reefat Bin Sattar and Niaz Murshed-secured 6.5 points each after the 9th round matches of the Commonwealth Chess Championship held in New Delhi on Monday.

FM Kh Aminul Islam bagged 5.5 points while IWM Rani Hamid 3.5 points after the 9th round matches.

In the 9th round matches, Rakib drew with IM Ponnuswamy Konguvel, Reefat beat IM Lanka Ravi, Niaz defeated Tanveer Gilani, Aminul drew with Rghyadip Das and WIM Rani Hamid drew with Ram Gupta.

Internet

Pakistan 369 for 5 (Younis 80, Butt 68, Misbah 54*, Akmal 32*) trail India 626 by 257 runsPakistan 369 for 5 (Younis 80, Butt 68, Misbah 54*, Akmal 32*) trail India 626 by 257 runs

After their efforts that saved the Kolkata Test, Misbah-ul-Haq and Kamran Akmal staged another rearguard action that brightened Pakistan's chances of avoiding the follow-on in the final Test. Pakistan had slumped to 288 for 5 midway through the afternoon, but their unbeaten 81-run partnership righted the balance somewhat on a day when the Indian bowlers had to work exceptionally hard for little reward. The variable bounce challenged the batsmen, but also took its toll on the Indians, with 31 byes conceded in an astonishing tally of 70 extras.

When Faisal Iqbal's innings of 22 was ended by a nasty lifter from Ishant Sharma, India would have scented an opportunity to finish things off quickly. Sharma was impressive with the second new ball, bowling with good pace and extracting disconcerting bounce. Misbah survived a couple of confident leg-before shouts, and luck was very much on his side on a day when Rudi Koertzen failed to spot a thin edge behind off Harbhajan Singh's bowling. Misbah was on one at the time, and his 151-ball half-century frustrated the Indians all afternoon.

He wasn't all stodge either, playing some lovely cuts and steers when the bowlers dropped short, but the aggressive intent was left to Kamran Akmal, who once again cut and drove beautifully against his favourite opposition. By stumps, Pakistan needed just 58 to ensure India bat again, a healthy position that appeared unlikely when their two main men fell in quick succession before tea.

After Salman Butt had fallen in the morning session, Younis Khan and Mohammad Yousuf added 72 at a fair clip. Younis played a glorious cover-drive off Ishant Sharma, and once again showed his mastery of the reverse sweep with three off Harbhajan. With Yousuf driving Anil Kumble on the up over cover, some of the Indians must have been dreading another marathon partnership between two men who average over 80 together, and an astounding 171.50 against India.

Younis's predilection for the reverse sweep, though, changed the game. When Harbhajan came round the wicket, he went for it again, only to be undone by the low bounce. Soon after, an irked Yousuf walked up to Kumble at gully and exchanged words. He didn't appear to be mollified by the response, and the incident probably had a lot to do with his dismissal - a loose steer to point after Irfan Pathan had angled one well wide of off stump.

Pakistan had enjoyed the better of the morning session too. Butt eased a couple of lovely drives through the covers, though he was also extremely fortunate to survive a vociferous shout for leg before from Pathan. Younis played a superb straight drive off Sharma and a square drive off Pathan, but the inconsistent bounce kept both batsmen on their toes.

Sharma was bowling too many no-balls though, and Kumble turned to Sourav Ganguly to exert some pressure from one end. And the move paid off when Butt, who had been put down at short leg by Gautam Gambhir off Harbhajan, got a thin edge to a delivery that slanted away from him.

Both Younis and Yousuf were lucky to see outside edges fly past the lone slip, and with Kumble bringing himself on 20 minutes before lunch, it was apparent that there would be a serious examination by spin in the afternoon. Instead, it was gentle medium-pace that almost did the trick, but Simon Taufel failed to spot that Younis had glanced one down the leg side off Ganguly. Dinesh Karthik's lukewarm reaction probably made up his mind, and Ganguly was a far from happy chappie as he walked off the field for lunch. It just about summed up a day when India huffed and puffed without being able to blow the house down.

Victory Day Hockey starts today

Sports Reporter

Bangladesh Hockey Federation will arrange the Victory Day Hockey Tournament, which starts today at the Moulana Bhasani National Hockey Stadium.

A number of six teams will take part in the single-league basis hockey competition.

The two highest point taker teams will get the tickets of the final. The winner of the final will be the champions of the hockey meet.

BKSP, Bangladesh Air Force, Sonali Bank SRC, Barnak Samaj, Bangladesh Navy, Bangladesh Army will participate the eight-day long hockey competition.

The final will be held on December 18.

Sports Reporter

Bangladesh Badminton Federation will launch the Victory Day Open(Under-19) Badminton Competition from December 28 at the Dhaka Wooden Floor Gymnasium.

The badminton competition will come to an end on January 1.

The events of the competition are :Boy's singles, boy's doubles, girl's singles, girl's doubles.

Interested players have been requested to collect their entry forms and submit the entries by December 26 at the office room of Bangladesh Badminton Federation.

UNB, Dhaka

Ridding on a double hattrick by Sukhi, Narayanganj DSA crushed Sirajganj DSA by 15-0 goals in the 2nd Inter-District Women's Football Competition at the Dhanmondi Women's Sports Complex.Sukhi, who was adjudged woman of the match, scored hattrick with seven goals, Eti scored three goals while Munni, Putul, Tumpa, Bithi and Ananya netted one goal each for the winners.

In the day's other matches, Dhaka DSA moved into the semifinal eliminating Rangpur DSA by 4-0 goals while Gaibandha DSA drubbed Shariatpur DSA by 3-0 goals, both at the same venue.

Reuters, Madrid

A perfect home record and a gritty win at the weekend make Real Madrid confident of wrapping up qualification for the knockout stage in their final Champions League Group C match against Lazio on Tuesday (1945 GMT).

A draw at the Bernabeu is enough to ensure Real's progress into the last 16 for the 11th successive season, while it would take a defeat by two goals or more to put the nine-times champions out of the competition.

Real have won all their matches at the Bernabeu this season and have lost only once in their last 24 home games in the Champions League, a 1-0 defeat by Arsenal in the first knockout round in February 2006.

The team's Achilles heel in recent seasons has been their defensive frailty and momentary lapses of concentration but Saturday's hard-nosed 1-0 victory at Athletic Bilbao provided further evidence that they are now more resilient.

Real matched a combative Bilbao throughout and put the Basque side to the sword with a superb strike from Ruud van Nistelrooy early in the second half.

"I was delighted with the attitude and fighting spirit showed by the team," said coach Bernd Schuster.

"There are two ways to win a game: by playing spectacularly and scoring loads of goals or through hard work and suffering and that's what we did tonight."

Midfielder Julio Baptista, who returned to the starting line-up after a fine display against Racing Santander, said the victory was the perfect preparation for the Lazio match.

"This win was absolutely vital so that we can face the final against Lazio with strength and optimism," the Brazilian told reporters.

Lazio have struggled in Serie A this season, although they gained a morale-boosting 2-0 victory over Catania on Saturday thanks to goals by strikers Tommaso Rocchi and Goran Pandev. Coach Delio Rossi admitted it was a tough ask to beat Real on their home ground but he remained positive.

"We'll need a miracle in Madrid, but I'm a believer," he told Mediaset television.

"We'll have to play better than we did against Catania. In Madrid we'll need something special," Rocchi told reporters. "But we'll be 11 against 11 and we have nothing to lose".

Brazilian defender Cribari is available after serving a one-match suspension but Swiss right back Valon Behrami is unlikely to travel to Madrid because of a leg-muscle problem.

Probable teams:

Real: 1-Iker Casillas; 4-Sergio Ramos, 5-Fabio Cannavaro, 3-Pepe, 12-Marcelo or 16-Gabriel Heinze; 23-Wesley Sneijder, 19-Julio Baptista or 6-Mahamadou Diarra, 14- Guti; 10-Robinho, 7-Raul, 17-Ruud van Nistelrooy.

Lazio: 32-Marco Ballotta; 6-Lionel Scaloni, 2-Guglielmo Stendardo, 25-Cribari, 8- Luciano Zauri; 26-Gaby Mudingayi, 24-Cristian Ledesma, 5-Massimo Mutarelli, 11- Stefano Mauri; 19-Goran Pandev, 18-Tommaso Rocchi.

Referee: Massimo Busacca (Switzerland)