The New Nation - Internet Edition

Bangladesh Hockey team leaves for Singapore tonight

UNB, Dhaka

Bangladesh national hockey team leaves here for Singapore Thursday night to take part in the 3rd Men's AHF Cup Hockey.

Bangladesh will compete in the qualifying round of the Asia Cup Hockey to be held in Singapore June 14-22 eyeing for the title of the nine-team Championship.

Bangladesh team is yet to get visa from the Singapore Embassy here, but have been assured of visa Thursday morning to fly for Singapore the same night.

General Secretary of Bangladesh Hockey Federation Sajed AA Adel told UNB, "We are expecting visa today (Thursday) morning, and I hope our team will fly the same night."

"We are very lucky this time that the flight schedule of Bangladesh Biman has been rescheduled for Thursday night (12:00 hrs) changing its morning schedule (10:30 am). This gives us an opportunity to fly the same night," he added.

Dhaka Bank Limited, who signed a deal with Hockey Federation recently to be the "partner in progress" of Bangladesh Hockey for one year, also sponsored the national team's trip to Singapore providing Tk 20 lakh of the estimated cost of Tk 24 lakh.

Earlier, President of Bangladesh Hockey Federation and Air Force Chief Air Marshall SM Ziaur Rahman at a press conference on Monday expressed his determination saying, "Our team will go for the championship."

He had said, "I hope Bangladesh will be the champions, at least they finish runners-up in the meet."

Bangladesh have been placed in Pool A of the Asia Cup Hockey with hosts Singapore, Chinese Taipei, Uzbekistan and Brunei Darussalam while Pool B team comprises Hong Kong, Sri Lankan, Oman and Thailand.

Bangladesh will play Brunei Darussalam on June 14, Chinese Taipei on June 15, Sinapore on June 18 and Uzbekistan on June 18.

Of the nine teams taking part in the meet, four will qualify for the Asia Cup Hockey.

Bangladesh Squad: Mahbub Ullah Shakil,, Mehrab Hossain Kiron, Mamunur Rahman Chayan, Isa Mia, Asaduzzaman Chandan, Moshiur Rahman Biplob, Ferdous Goldar, Shahidullah Titu, Musa Mia, Kh. Hasan Ahmed, Sheikh Mohammad Nannu, Maksud Alam Habul, Russell Mahmud Jimmy, Zahidul Islam Rajan, Rimon Kumar Ghosh and Krishna Kumar.

Team Officials: Kamrul Islam Kismat, (manager), Shahidullah Dolon (assist. Manager), Mahbub Harun (coach), Barkat Ullah Chapal (assist. Coach), Mirza Farad Ahmed (judge) and Mahbubul Haq Mitu (umpire).

Golam Mostafa Lane KS crush Dhaka Mahanagar JK 12-2

UNB, Dhaka

Riding on a Azizur Rahman hattrick, Golam Mostafa Lane Kishore Sangha crushed Dhaka Mahanagar Jubo Kishore Football by 12-2 goals in a West Zone match of the Metropolis Pioneer Football League at the Outer Stadium on Wednesday.

Azizur made the hattrick with four goals, Shamim Rana, Hasanuzzaman and Saimon scored two goals each, while Monir and Javed Ali netted one goal each for the winners. Faisal and Habib scored one goal each for the losers.

In a Central Zone match at Basabo Tarun Sangha Club ground, Khilgaon Progoti Sangha beat Khilgaon Jubo Sangha by 4-0 goals.

In a North Zone match at Mohakhali T&T ground, Tejgaon Nabataranga edged past Gazipur Ekadash by a solitary goal.

Chittagong, Dhaka DSAs book semifinal in Pepsi Inter-district Volleyball

UNB, Dhaka

Chittagong and Dhaka DSAs booked seats in the semifinal of the 13th Pepsi Inter-district Volleyball Competition eliminating their respective rivals in the quarterfinals at the Volleyball Stadium here Wednesday.

In the day's 1st quarterfinal, Chittagong DSA beat Kustia DSA by 3-1 sets while Dhaka DSA defeated Gazipur DSA by 3-2 sets in the 2nd quarterfinal.

The semifinal matches will be held today (Thursday) at 4 pm at the same venue.

Beckham leads MLS All-Star fan balloting

AFP, New York

Major League Soccer fans' love affair with English import David Beckham shows no sign of fading.

The Los Angeles Galaxy superstar midfielder is the overwhelming leader in fan voting for the 2008 MLS All-Star Game, almost a month into online balloting.

The voting, which closes July 2, accounts for 25 percent of the MLS All-Star first team selections, with coaches and general managers (25 percent), players (25 percent) and media (25 percent) also having a say on which players are named to the starting lineup.

Those selected will play in the 13th annual MLS All-Star Game against English Premiership club West Ham United in Toronto on July 24.

Beckham, who has scored four goals for the Galaxy this season, isn't the only Los Angeles player fans are backing.

Teammate Landon Donovan, who leads the league with nine goals, leads the group of forwards. The coach of the MLS team with the most points as of June 30 will guide the All-Stars. New England Revolution coach Steve Nicol is the front runner with 1.92 points per game.

Southee suffers Twenty20 setback

AFP, London

New Zealand pace bowler Tim Southee is doubtful for the one-off Twenty20 against England after suffering a sprained right ankle, a statement issued by team management said on Tuesday.

Southee injured his ankle during fielding practice in

Nottingham on Monday, but a scan in London on Tuesday cleared him of serious injury.

However, he has been withdrawn from the team to play Worcestershire in Wednesday's warm-up match at New Road and was described by a team spokesman as a "doubtful starter" for Friday's Twenty20 against England at Old Trafford. Southee, 19, played in the drawn first Test at Lord's before illness and the form of Iain O'Brien kept him out of the side for the remaining matches of a series England's innings victory at Trent Bridge on Sunday saw them win 2-0.

After the Twenty20, England and World Cup semi-finalists New Zealand play five one-day internationals with the first match at north-east county Durham's Riverside Ground on Sunday.

Olympian Sabrina Sultana clinch top slot in .22 Rifles Prone

UNB, Dhaka

Olympian shooter Sabrina Sultan of Dhaka Rifles Club clinched the top slot in the Women's .22 Rifles Prone on the 2nd day of the 22nd National Shooting Championship at the BKSP shooting range in Savar on Wednesday.

Sabrina, who represented Bangladesh in the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000, scored 568 to win the top slot today.

Tripti Dutta of BKSP Shooting Club and Nahid Sultana of Ansar- VDP Shooting Club became second and third scoring 567 and 564 respectively.

But Commonwealth and SAF games gold winning shooter Asif Hossain Khan of Dhaka Rifles Club finished third in his favorite event - men's 10 meter Air Rifles - scoring 677.2.

Imam Hossain of Army Shooting Association clinched the event's gold scoring 685.3, while Azizur Rahman Ujjal of Narayanganj Rifles Club became second scoring 682.6.

Imran Hossain of Kushtia Rifles Club and Mahendra Kumar Singh of Army Shooting Association won the top slot in the men's 10 meter Air Rifles (Juniors) and 50 meter Air Pistol respectively on Wednesday.

Women's 10 meter Air Rifles, Men's 22 Rifles Prone, women's 25 meter Pistol, and 10 meter Air Rifles for Juniors will be held today (Thursday).

Country's football needs fresh start to bring it on track: Aminul

UNB, Dhaka

Bangladesh national football team captain Aminul Haque has said the country's football would have to start again from the beginning to bring it back on track.

"The two practice matches in Bangkok boosted our inspiration before the SAFF Championship, but we failed to play well in Sri Lanka," he told the reporters after returning from Sri Lanka on Wednesday.

Aminul, the number one custodian in the country, expressed his surprise about their performance in the opening group match against Bhutan, saying: "We could have lost that match."

He, however, admitted that there preparation for the SAFF Championship was well, but they could not play as per their ability.

The Bangladesh skipper said they should have played better against Bhutan and Afghanistan as they got several scoring chances against both. But he admitted that their performance against Sri Lanka was the worst.

He also found lack of skilled strikers in the team. "Except Emily there was no other good striker in our SAFF squad," he said.

The national booters returned home Wednesday at 12:20 pm from Sri Lanka after a frustrating performance in the 5th SAFF Championship being held in Maldives and Sri Lanka.

Bangladesh made early exit from the championship after making a 1-1 draw with lowly Bhutan, 2-2 draw against Afghanistan and finally losing to hosts Sri Lanka 1-0 in their do-or-die last Group B engagement.

France hold clear the air talks ahead of Dutch test

AFP, Switzerland

France hope post mortem talks between players and manager Raymond Domenech on Monday's uninspiring goalless draw with Romania will breathe much needed life into their Euro 2008 campaign.

The two time winners face Holland on Friday in what has become a must win encounter if they are to have a realistic chance of escaping the group of death.

And the players are counting on the summit meeting with Domenech to right the wrongs in evidence in Zurich ahead of the meeting with Marco van Basten's impressive 3-0 winners over world champions Italy.

"We're all used to having these meetings, to sort out what's going right and what's going wrong," said Eric Abidal, the Barcelona defender whose place is under threat from Manchester United's Patrice Evra.

Abidal added: "In a group like ours discussions are important. You have to be able to say things."

His fellow defender William Gallas agreed.

"For an opening game we weren't able to let go, but that's completely normal.

"But we know well the French team, they fell better and better, one shouldn't be alarmed by this.

"We're waiting for the meeting with the manager to talk about what went wrong.

"During these talks every player will say what he has to say.

"Perhaps the coach is going to ask us what's not going right, perhaps he's already spoken about it with some players.

"It's imperative though that we hold talks."

Abidal said there was a mood of frustration in the French camp after Monday's unsatisfactory result.

"We would have liked to have left the pitch with a victory but it wasn't easy against a side happy to wait and get us on the counter attack.

"We didn't deal with our chances well.

"It's hard to know what the game will be like against Holland. Every game is different. Romania played very deep, waited for us to come and made life very hard for us.

"The Dutch will probably play differently, but we just need to focus on our own qualities.

"The next two matches are all important. We have to get good results, we don't have a choice now."

He insisted he wasn't concerned about the prospect of Domenech choosing Evra in his place.

"If there are changes it won't worry me. When I arrived I wasn't the first choice and so I worked for it. As fas as players are concerned you have to accept the manager's choice."

On a personal front Abidal denied rumours circulating about a possible departure from Barcelona for Serie A.

"I'm going to stay at Barcelona. I signed for four years, I've got three left. The press say I'm off to Italy but I don't think so."