The New Nation - Internet Edition

ICC U/19 Cricket World Cup: Shameful defeat for Bangladesh

UNB, Dhaka

High flying Bangladesh bowed out early from the ICC U/19 Cricket World Cup in shame with 201-run defeat against South Africa in the quarterfinal at Bayueams Oval in Kuala Lumpur on Sunday.

This was the first defeat for Bangladesh youth team, who reached the quarter-final as Group D champions winning all three group matches -- beating Bermuda by 178 runs, Ireland by eight wickets and strong England by 13 runs.

The Young Tigers also in similar fashion quit from the last U/19 World Cup held in 2004 in Bangladesh losing the lone match to England in the quarterfinal after winning all the group matches.

Sent into bat first in the day's quarterfinal, South Africa scored 242 runs for 8 in stipulated 50 overs and later forced Bangladesh to meekly surrender at 41 for all in 11.4 overs.

South Africa will go into the semi-final with high morale.

The day's total was the ever-lowest for any Bangladesh side at any level of international cricket, and the second lowest total in the ICC U/19 Cricket World Cup after Scotland's 22-run innings against Australia in the last World Cup in Chittagong in 2004.

All-rounder WD Parnell was the hero of the day's spectacular exploit by the young Proteas team. He scored match highest 57 runs off 60 balls with eight fours and later bowled devastatingly to grab six wickets for just eight runs in five overs to be adjudged man of the match.

Middle order Nasir Hossain was the lone Bangladeshi batsman to reach the double figure scoring 17 runs off 20 balls with three boundaries.

In the day's other quarterfinal match, India smartly reached the semi-final eliminating England by seven wickets at the Kinarara Cricket Academy in Kuala Lumpur.

Nazrul, Monalisa fastest swimmers

Sports Reporter

Md. Nazrul Islam of Bangladesh emerged as the fastest swimmer (man) of the Second Indo-Bangladesh Bngla Games while Monalisa Mondol of West Bengal became fastest swimmer (woman) on Sunday.

Hosts Bangladesh and touring West Bengal gained five gold medals each in the swimming competition of the games on the second day at the Mirpur National Swimming Complex.

In the men's 50 metre free style, Md Nazrul Islam captured gold. He set new games record taking 25.31 seconds. His compatriots Jewel Ahmed bagged silver and Md Rafiqul Islam earned bronze.

In the women's 50 metre free style, Monalisa Mondol of West Bengal team grabbed gold while Dolly Akhter of Bangladesh bagged silver and Shalini Banarjee of West Bengal got bronze.

In the men's 100 metre back stroke, Akbor Ali Mir of West Bengal clinched gold, Rubel Rana of Bangladesh collected silver and his compatriot Md Robiul Alam earned bronze.

In the women's 100 metre back stroke, Monalisa Mondol of West Bengal bagged gold and her compatriots Tahrina Nasrin collected silver, Sayanti Chatarjee got bronze.

In the men's 400 metre free style, Akbor Ali Mir of West Bengal gained gold and his compatriot Shivnath Nashkar collected silver while Md Nazmul Haq of Bangladesh earned bronze.

In the women's 200 metre breast stroke, Dolly Akhter of Bangladesh captured gold her compatriot Mahfuza Khatun claimed silver while Monalisa Mondol of West Bengal collected bronze.

In the men's 200 metre breast stroke, Jahangir Alam of Bangladesh bagged gold and his compatriots Niaz Ali collected silver and Karar Samedul Ialam got bronze.

In the women's 100 metre butterfly, Monalisa Mondol claimed gold her compatriots Salini Banarjee and Priyanka Karmaker got silver and bronze respectively.

In the men's 100 metre butterfly, Jewel Ahmed of Bangladesh captured gold while Sumonto Nath of West Bengal collected silver and Niamul Haq of Bangladesh got bronze.

In the men's 200 metre individual medley, Rubel Rana of Bangladesh bagged gold while Akbor Ali Mir of West Bengal gained silver and Md Nazmul Haque of Bangladesh earned bronze.

Bangladesh captured 12 golds in swimming after finishing of the second day while West Bengal claimed nine golds so far.

Bangladesh win gold in Twenty20 cricket

UNB, Dhaka

Combined Divisional Under-22 team of Bangladesh clinched the gold medal in the Indo-Bangladesh Bangla Games Twenty20 Cricket with one match to spare beating Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) Under-22 team by three wickets at the Rajshahi Divisional Stadium on Sunday.

Bangladesh team, which took 1-0 lead in the three-match series beating the CAB team by 15 runs in the first match in Bogra on Saturday, will play their third and last match on Tuesday (Feb 26) at the Narayanganj Osmani Stadium in Fatullah.

Sent in to bat first in the day’s match, CAB Under-22 scored 160 for 5 in stipulated 20 overs with skipper Soham Ghosh scoring team highest 54 runs off 46 balls that included seven fours.

Delwar grabbed two wickets for 28 runs while Mahmudullah and Kamrul Islam took one wicket apiece.

In reply, Bangladesh team easily reached their target making 162 in 18.5 overs for the loss of seven wickets with wicket keeper cum lower order batsman Dhiman Ghosh hammering 38 runs off 25 balls that featured four fours and a six.

Besides, another lower order batsman Ziaur Rahman blasted 37 runs off 22 balls with two fours and three sixes while opener Nazmus Sadat made 33 off 20 balls with three fours and two sixes.

Later, Dhiman Ghosh and Ziaur Rahman of Bangladesh were declared joint man of the match.

Beijing dreaming of a smoke-free Games

AFP, Beijing

Chinese health officials view the Beijing Olympics as a golden opportunity to step up the battle against smoking, a habit that kills about a million people in China every year.

Despite ongoing attempts to catch up with much of the developed world, where tobacco use in public places is banned or increasingly frowned upon, in China the waft of cigarette smoke remains an ever-present fact of life.

China boasts up to 360 million smokers, 26 percent of its population and a third of the global total, and the nation is dependent on the tobacco industry for huge tax revenues.

Offering a cigarette remains an ice-breaker at formal and informal social and business occasions and, until recently, refusing to take up such an offer was considered impolite.

Even top Chinese athletes such as Liu Xiang, world and Olympic champion in the 110m high hurdles, advertises for Chinese tobacco company Baishan, while some football and basketball professionals still enjoy a smoke at half-time.

But despite these factors the tide shows signs of turning, with people such as communications expert Ren Mengshan openly advocating the Olympics as "a good platform for the government to promote non-smoking and the benefits of good health."

Besides declaring the Beijing Olympics "smoke-free," organisers have also banned tobacco from public places where athletes and Olympic officials are likely to meet during the August Games.

The capital has further mandated that 70 percent of all hotel rooms be non-smoking and since October last year, has banned taxi drivers from smoking in their cars.

"We support and congratulatet the authorities here in Beijing for taking these very important steps," said Hans Troedsson, the China-based representative of the World Health Organisation (WHO).

"It is very important that the Olympics have been declared smoke-free and a tobacco-free Olympics. It is sending a very important message not only here in China but to the rest of the world."

Last year, the WHO said the death toll from diseases associated with tobacco use was about one million a year in China, a figure that is expected to increase to 2.2 million per year by 2020 if smoking rates remain unchanged.

Bangladeshi shooters continue domination

Sports Reporter

The shoters of Bangladesh totally dominated over the shooters of West Bengal on the second day of the Second Indo-Bangladesh Bangla Games at the BKSP Shooting Range on Sunday.

The shooters of Bangladesh clinched four golds out of four gold medals.

In the men's 10 metre air rifles, Gundhan Sing of Bangladesh clinched gold scoring 685.6 points. His compatriot Anjan Kumar gained silver scoring 684.3 points. Banglsdesh earned gold in this team's event.

Bangladesh clinched gold making 498.8 score while Runa Shengupta of West Bengal earned silver scoring 487.2 points. Bangladesh team bagged gold in this team event while West Bengal got silver in the same event.

After second day's competition, Bangladesh bagged nine gold medals while West Bengal got three golds.

Bangladesh clinch gold in Kabadi

Sports Reporter

Bangladesh Kabaddi team clinched gold in the kabaddi competition of the Second Indo-Bangladesh Bangla Games when they hosts defeated West Bengal team by 37-23 points including two lonas at the Kabaddi Ground on Sunday.

Vice-President of Bangladesh Olympic Association Mizanur Rahman Manu was present as the chief guest.

A huge number of spectators came at the ground to watch the entertaining match.

Bangladesh win gold in Basketball

Sports Reporter

Bangladesh Basketball team won the gold medal in the basketball competition of the Second Indo-Bangladesh Bangla Games when the hosts defeated West Bengal team of India by 82-68 points at the BKSP Basketball Court on Sunday.

The winners led the first half 40-35.

Rashed of Bangladesh top-scored with 17 points and his teammate caged 17 while Amalendu Singh of West Bengal pulled off 14.

Bangladesh lead medals table

Sports Reporter

Bangladesh totally dominated over West Bengal of India in the Second Indo-Bangladesh Bangla Games after finishing the second day of the competition.

Bangladesh bagged 35 gold medals while their opponents West Bengal earned 17 golds.

Bangladesh gained 22 silver medals and 16 bronze medal while West Bengal claimed 30 silver medals and 19 bronze.

After completing of the second day (Sunday) games Bangladesh clinched all-together 73 medals while their counterpart bagged 66 medals.

Bangladesh play goalless draw with West Bengal in men’s football

UNB, Dhaka

Bangladesh played to a goalless draw with West Bengal in men’s football of the Indo-Bangladesh Bangla Games at the Narsingdi Stadium on Sunday.

In women’s football, Bangladesh conceded a 1-0 defeat to West Bengal at the Narayanganj Stadium.

Soma Bira scored the all-important goal for West Bengal women’s team in the 65th minute.

Volleyball

Bangladesh also won the gold medal in volleyball with one match to spare beating West Bengal by 3-0 sets at Gazipur today. The home side earlier took 1-0 lead in the three-match series beating the visitors on Saturday.

Kho Kho

Bangladesh won the gold beating West Bengal by 18-13 points in the second match of men’s kho kho competition at the Outer Stadium ground today. Earlier, on Saturday, Bangladesh also won the first match.

Three teams emerge zonal champions to reach final round

UNB, Dhaka

Three teams -- BKSP, Bhola and Moulvibazar DSAs -- emerged zonal champions to move into the final round of the 4th JFA Cup Under-15 Football Championship winning their respective zonal final at separate venues on Sunday.

At the Jamalpur Stadium, BKSP beat Tangail DSA by 4-1 goals in the zonal final.

At the Bhola Stadium, hosts Bhola beat Bagerhat DSA by 6-5 goals in tiebreaker after the stipulated time ended goalless in the day's zonal final.

At the Moulvibazar Stadium, hosts Moulvibazar defeated Sylhet DSA by 4-2 goals, also in tiebreaker following a scoreless regulation period, to reach the final round.

Besides, Kushtia DSA edged past Naogaon DSA by a solitary goal at the Pabna Stadium while Feni DSA crushed Chandpur DSA by 4-0 goals at the Cox's Bazar Stadium.

Orient SC notch 7-wicket win over Dhaka Wanderers

UNB, Dhaka

Orient SC registered an emphatic seven-wicket win over Dhaka Wanderers Club in a match of the Metropolis First Division Cricket League at the Dhanmondi Cricket Stadium on Sunday.

Batting first after winning the toss, Dhaka Wanderers made 145 for 4 in 42 overs with Sony scoring 51 runs. Rahat captured four wickets for 13 runs.

In reply, Orient SC cantered to victory scoring 149 runs in 30.2 overs for the loss of 3 wickets with Rubel contributing not out 69. Pappa took one wicket for 10 runs.

Results of the day's other matches: Brothers Union Club (172/6) beat Dhaka Mariner Youngs Club 171/10) by four wickets at the BKSP-2; Azad SC Club (234/6) defeated Young Pegasus-B (192/10) by 42 runs at the Jahangirnagar University ground; Bangladesh Boys Club (213/9) defeated Agrani Bank Cricket Club (192/10) by 21 runs at the BKLS-1 and Khelaghar SKS (212/10) outplayed (Lalmatia Club (207/10) by five runs at the Dhaka University ground.

Liza upset Rani Hamid

UNB, Dhaka

Shamima Akter Liza of Narayangonj upset reigning champion Rani Hamid beating her in the 3rd round final phase match of the 29th Aromatic Gold National Women Chess championship at the Chess Federation on Sunday.

In the day’s 3rd round match, Liza played with black piece in a Timanov variation of Sicilian defense game and won the match in 47 moves.

Nazrana Khan Iva of Manikgonj and Sharmin Sultana Shirin of Narayangonj are jointly leading the points after the 3rd round matches securing 2.5 points each.

In the day’s 3rd round matches, Iva drew with Syeda Shabana Parveen Nipa, Shirin drew with Roxana Titli, Masuda Begum of Barisal beat Zakia Sultana while Arifa Khatun Moni beat Jahanara Haque Runu.