The New Nation - Internet Edition

MSC, Sonali Bank earn third consecutive wins

UNB, Dhaka

Mohammedan SC and Sonali Bank SRC earned third consecutive wins in the Green Delta Insurance Metropolis Premier Division Hockey League at Maulana Bhasani National Hockey Stadium on Wednesday.

In the day's match, Mohammedan SC beat all-loser Wari Club by 2-0 goals in the first match, while Sonali Bank defeated another all-loser Bangladesh SC by the same margin in the other match.

With the day's wins, both Mohammedan SC and Sonali Bank joined the top slot in the league table with two joint league champions Abahani Limited and Usha KC having all win record. All four teams secured full nine points from three matches.

After a barren first half in the day's first match, Zahid Bin Talib Shuvo put the traditional black and white Mohammedan ahead in the 44th minute by a field goal, while Quamruzzaman Rana doubled the margin in the 63rd minute from a penalty corner.

In the day's second match, Alamgir Hossain and Krishna Kumar scored for the bankers' team -- first a field goal in the 33rd minute and the second from penalty corner in the 52nd minute.

Today's matches: Abahani Limited vs Azad SC (2:30pm), Usha KC vs Sadharan Bima KS (4pm).

BKSP takes absolute supremacy in 24th National Junior Athletics on first day

UNB, Dhaka

Bangladesh Krira Sikkha Protisthan (BKSP) took absolute supremacy in the 24th National Junior (Age Group) Athletics Championship that began here on Wednesday at the Bangabandhu National Stadium.

The national sports training institute team BKSP has secured nine-gold and five silver medals to dominate the meet on the first day of the two-day competition.

Kishoregong DSA was in distant second position with one gold, one silver and three bronze medals while Noakhali, Mymensingh and Comilla DSAs were in the third place jointly collecting one gold and bronze medal each.

Kurigram and Chandpur DSAs have earned one gold medals each.

Some 400 junior athletes including 257 boys and 143 girls from 42 teams are taking part in the meet, organised by Bangladesh Athletics Federation.

Bangladesh to take part in 3rd Int'l Goju-Ryu Karate Do Championship

UNB, Dhaka

Bangladesh will take part in the two-day 3rd International Goju-Ryu Karate Do Championship to be held in India on June 7-8.

The Championship will be held in 22 weight categories -- 14 for men and 8 for women.

Meanwhile, Karate Federation has requested the medalists in the National Karate Competition to send their entries with one copy passport photograph by May 15 to the Federation office.

Four committees formed in BFF meeting

UNB, Dhaka

Four fresh committees were formed today (Wednesday) in the first executive committee meeting of Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF).

The committees are Emergency Committee (EC), B. League Committee, National Team Management Committee (NTMC) and Finance committee.

This was informed by BFF president Kazi Salahuddin after the meeting in the afternoon.

The 10-member emergency committee is headed by BFF president Kazi Salahuddin. The other members are Abdus Salam Morshedi, Manjoor Hossain Malu, Badal Roy, Saukat Ali Khan Jahangir, Kazi Nabil Ahmed, Harunur Rashid, Anwarul Haq Helal, Golam Rabanni Helal and Sirajul Islam Bacchu.

Abdus Salam Morshedi is chairman of the B. League Committee while Kazi Nabil Ahmed is vice-chairman.

The chairman has been assigned to appoint other members of the committee.

The meeting also appointed Badal Roy as chairman of the NTMC while Anwarul Haq Helal as chairman of the Finance Committee.

Meanwhile, Kazi Nabil Ahmed had been appointed as team leader while former national footballer Sheikh Mohammad Asalm as team manager of the national team ahead of the SAFF Championship to be held June 3-14 co-hosted by Sri Lanka and the Maldives.

The legendary footballer Salahuddin informed that they decided to keep the previous date of the inter club player transfer for the B. League from May 15 to June 20 and to roll the 2nd B. League in the field on September.

He said that the Federation Cup Football would be held in July-August and they also are trying to organise another tournament in the next three-month gap.

The BFF boss said: "We are trying to roll football in the field and bring back the glory of football as early as possible."

BFF Sr. vice President Abdus Salam Morshedi, vice-presidents Manjoor Hossain Malu, Badal Roy, mamber Anwarul Haq Helal among other were president in the meeting.

Hosts Sylhet emerge zonal champions beating Moulvibazar by 35 runs

UNB, Dhaka

Hosts Sylhet DSA emerged zonal champions to reach the final round of the 28th National Cricket Championship beating Moulvibazar DSA by 35 runs in the zonal final at the Sylhet Stadium on Wednesday.

Batting first, Sylhet DSA scored 218 runs for all in 49.3 overs with Roman Ahmed contributing 68, Polash 46 and Azad 44 runs.

Saiful picked up three wickets for 44 runs while Munna took two for 31.

In reply, Moulvibazar DSA were all out for 183 in 47 overs with Saiful scoring 61 runs and Ruhul Amin 30 runs.

Tanhar claimed three wickets for 33 runs while Rumel captured two for 28.

Sylhet batsman Roman Ahmed, who scored match highest 68 runs off 105 balls with three fours and two sixes, was adjudged man of the match.

Four teams -- Bogra, Tangail, Rajbari and Chittagong DSAs --advanced to the zonal finals winning their respective semifinals at different venues today (Wednesday).

At the Bogra Stadium, hosts Bogra (175/10 in 48.3 overs) smartly booked a seat for the zonal final with a comfortable 82-run victory over Joypurhat DSA (93/10 in 37.3).

At the Tangail Stadium, hosts Tangail (143/3 in 28.2) beat Gazipur DSA (142/9 in 50) by seven wickets.

At the Faridpur Stadium, Rajbari (168/5 in 42) defeated Munshiganj DSA (167/10 in 47.1) by five wickets.

At the Comilla Stadium, Chittagong (135/10 in 33.5) beat Brahmanbaria DSA (123/10 in 46.3) by 12 runs.

Besides, three more teams -- Jhalakati, Pabna and Jhenidah DASs -- advanced to the zonal semi-finals eliminating their rivals at different venues across the country on Wednesday.

Jhalakati DSA (121/5 in 29.1) defeated Pirojpur (143/10 in 36.2) in a curtailed over match at the Patuakhali Stadium,

Jhenidah DSA (194/6 in 45.5) upset hosts Jessore (191/10 in 49.2) beating them by four wickets at the Jessore Stadium while Pabna DSA (243/8 in 50) beat Chapainawabganj (209/10 in 48.1) at the Rajshahi Divisional Stadium.

Bangladesh Under-15 team returns home

UNB, Dhaka

Bangladesh Under-15 team returned home Wednesday after taking part in the eight-team CLICO International Under-15 Cricket Championship in West Indies.

The junior tigers finished 3rd in the championship with an emphatic 9-wicket win over Malaysia in the play-off match on May 2 in Trinidad.

Earlier, Bangladesh suffered a six-wicket defeat to Pakistan in the semifinal at La Sagesse Park in Grenada.

Before that the junior tigers made the semifinal berth beating Ireland by five wickets.

Bangladesh U-15 team also secured an emphatic 187-run win against Kenya U-15 team in the second round league match after losing to hosts West Indies by 37 runs in the first round match.

Bangladesh face Pakistan in Asia Cup today

UNB, Dhaka

Bangladesh plays against Pakistan in a return league match of the first Women Asia Cup at the Dambulla Stadium on Thursday.

Bangladesh eves will play their last return league match against Sri Lanka on May 9, also at the same venue.

On Tuesday, Bangladesh conceded a five-wicket defeat against India in the return league match.

This was the third defeat for the Bangladeshi eves in their maiden Asia Cup and the second successive loss against India in the ongoing meet after conceding a humiliating 182-run defeat in their first appearance over their giant neighbor on Friday.

Earlier, Bangladesh came to limelight beating Pakistan by four wickets in the second match on Saturday to register their first victory against any ODI side. But they lost to Sri Lanka by eight wickets on Monday.

Pioneer Football League begins May 10

UNB, Dhaka

The Dhaka City Corporation Metropolis Pioneer Football League' will begin on May 10 (Saturday) at 4 pm at the Bangabandhu National Stadium with Red Sun KC taking on Sat Rowja Nabin Sangha.

Seventy teams including 18 new clubs, split into five zones -- East, West, North, South and Central -- will initially compete on league basis.

Later, top 20 teams -- four each from five zones -- will earn the right to play in the super league. Finally, two teams will earn promotion to the Metropolis third division football league.

Roundtable conference about Bangladesh's cricket held

Sports Reporter

Cricketers Welfare Association of Bangladesh yesterday arranged a roundtable conference at the VIP Lounge of Jatiya Press Club. The subject of the conference was-'Bangladesh's cricket remedy of this time and what do in future.'

The organizers of Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB), former organizers of BCB, former captains of Bangladesh National Cricket team, former national cricketers, renowned sports journalists, cricket coaches, cricket umpires and a good number of audience took part in the conference.

The speakers tried to show the way to overcome the present debacle of Bangladesh's cricket. Most of the speakers sought the development of domestic cricket tournaments. Some of them gave emphasis to make bouncy and turning wickets and sought to the coach to habituated his players with those wickets.

The organizers assured the audience not to be frustrated. They expect that the darkness would be removed soon.

Some speakers sought combined attempt to develop Bangladesh's cricket. Some speakers need proper planning and follow the plan to develop cricket.

Brazil police say prostitutes lied when they accused Ronaldo

AP, Sao Paulo

Cross-dressing prostitutes lied when they accused AC Milan striker Ronaldo of using drugs and having sex with them during a motel encounter last week, police said Tuesday.

The prostitutes told police they lied because Ronaldo did not want to pay them after finding out they were men, police inspector Carlos Augusto Nogueira said.

When first interrogated by authorities after the April 28 encounter with Ronaldo, the prostitutes said the player had sex with them and asked one of them to buy drugs for him.

Ronaldo vehemently denied the accusations and said one of the prostitutes tried to extort money from him to keep the story out of the media. He said he offered to pay the prostitutes even after finding out they were men, but one of them demanded more than offered.

"There was no sex or drugs that night," Nogueira said, adding that one of the prostitutes might still be charged with extortion.

Nogueira said the prostitutes fabricated details of the encounter to try to take advantage of Ronaldo's fame.

In a nationally televised interview on Sunday, Ronaldo said he was sorry, embarrassed and ashamed for his "stupid act."

The three-time FIFA Player of the Year said he "made the stupidest mistake ever."

The case quickly made front-page headlines across Brazil and led to speculation that Ronaldo could lose some of his sponsors.

UNICEF issued a statement Monday saying Ronaldo - who is in Brazil recovering from knee injury - has never been one of its ambassadors, contrary to what the striker had said in the television interview.

FIFA wants tighter rules on changing citizenship

AP, Zurich

FIFA president Sepp Blatter wants to tighten the rules on players changing nationality.

Blatter is alarmed by the number of Brazilians who have become eligible to play for a different country after living there as little as two years.

"I am not a prophet, but I would say we could have half the players in the 2014 World Cup (in Brazil) could come from Brazil,"

he said Wednesday. "That is why we have to introduce a hurdle which is higher."

FIFA will ask its 208 member federations to introduce a five-year residency rule at a May 29-30 meeting in Sydney, Australia.

More than 1,000 Brazilians currently play professional soccer in other countries.

Some, including Deco of Portugal and Alex of Japan, have represented their new nations at the World Cup.