The New Nation - Internet Edition

Army Sports Association clinches top slot

UNB, Dhaka

Army Sports Association clinched the top slot in the 22nd National Shooting Championship securing three gold, one silver and one bronze medal in the five-day meet concluded on Saturday at the BKSP shooting range at Savar.

Kushtia Rifles Club finished second with three gold, one silver while Dhaka Rifles Club secured third position collecting two gold, four silver and two bronzes.

Olympian shooter Sabrina Sultana of Dhaka Rifles Club and promising shooter Tripti Dutta of BKSP emerged as individual champions jointly securing two gold and one silver medal each.

Sabrina Sultana earned two gold medals in the Women's 10-meter Air Rifles and .22 Rifles Prone while Tripti Dutta won gold medals in the women's 50-meter three position and Women's 10-meter Air Rifles (junior Group) with new national record scoring 393.

Nuruddin Salim of Chittagong Rifles Club also made a national record scoring 116 in Skeet shooting.

President of Bangladesh Shooting Federation and GOC of the 9th Infantry Division Major General Mohammad Ahsabuddin distributed the prizes at a function at the National Shooting Complex at Gulshan Saturday evening.

Earlier in the last day's event, Commonwealth gold winning shooter Atiqur Rahman of Chittagong Metropolitan Shooting Club won the gold medal in his favorite Men's 10-meter Air Pistol scoring 645.8.

Meherdra Kumar Singh of Army Sports Association finished second scoring 642.8 while Mohammad Alamgir of Chittagong Rifles Club became third scoring 642.6.

In the Men's .22 Rifles three position, Nahiyan Towfique Shahriar Chowdhury of Kushtia Rifles Club won the gold medal scoring 1107 in the day's other event today.

SAF Games gold winning shooter Saiful Alam Chowdhury Rinku and Golam Shafiuddin, both from Gulshan Shooting Club, finished second and third scoring 1106 and 1101 respectively.

Netherlands beat France 4-1

AP, Switzerland

The Dutch always had beauty. Now they have clinical efficiency, too. Just ask France. Or Italy.

Creative sparkle and clinical finishing set the Netherlands up for a 4-1 win over France on Friday and sent the rapidly aging French team tottering toward a game they must win against world champion Italy to stand a chance of staying in the European championship.

Wesley Sneijder, Arjen Robben and Robin van Persie all got on the scoresheet against France, while Lilian Thuram and Thierry Henry looked old and dull.

With a second classic performance in as many games, the Dutch again produced the genius any championship craves, compiling a total of seven goals against the two World Cup finalists. Les Bleus had not conceded that many goals or lost by that wide a margin since 1982. The Netherlands beat Italy 3-0 Monday for their worst loss in a quarter century.

"We have had two fantastic wins with this team," Netherlands coach Marco van Basten said.

The Dutch had been outsiders to reach the quarterfinals with Italy and France in their group, yet qualified with a game to spare. The only goal the 1988 champions have conceded came from Henry, who scored his record 45th goal for France in the 71st minute.

The second Dutch goal will be cherished by the Netherlands for years and will haunt the aging French defense. After Kuyt gave the Netherlands the lead in the ninth minute with a header from a corner kick, Van Persie finished off an attack in the 59th.

Ruud van Nistelrooy spun some magic with close footwork to send Robben down the left and the counter was on. The winger outran opposition, bided his time and saw Van Persie make a run on the right. The Arsenal winger pushed it past Gregory Coupet for the second goal.

After Henry had put the game within French reach with a subtle deflection from a cross from the right by Willy Sagnol, the tension in the 30,000-capcity stadium suddenly was electric.

One minute later, Robben was loose on the left, with France's once-great defender Lilian Thuram ahead of him. Working at twice the pace, he created space and rifled the ball past Coupet high in the net. At 36, Thuram didn't know what happened to him.

In injury time, another great goal to rub it in. Van Nistelrooy served Van Persie, who served Sneijder in the center. The Real Madrid midfielder turned his defender and with a curling shot from 20 meters (yards) capped another perfect evening.

"Lets have a party now. Not too much because we still need to play the quarterfinals," Sneijder said.

For some spells, France at least proved it could still play great football. The French didn't want to be lulled into another bad result like the scoreless draw against Romania, but coach Raymond Domenech failed to come up with the magic formula for goals.

"Really this hurts," Domenech said. "Our defense was always our strength. t We were unlucky at times. But they have quality and we were missing something.

"We were not efficient and that has been our recurring problem for a while now. You can't do much about that," Domenech added. "Every time we came back into the match they scored, and that's what killed us."

Even with the return of Henry, the thousands of blue-clad fans in the stands of the Stade de Suisse were left wanting. Henry had his first major action in the 43rd minute and it was well off the mark.

And when the Dutch started to look brittle for the first time in the championships, up stepped standout goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar. Ever since making the vital penalty stop to give Manchester United the Champions League title, it seems he can do no wrong. In a five-minute spell late in the half, the 37-year-old Van der Sar saved the team three times.

In the second half, the French immediately piled on pressure and appealed for a penalty in the 49th when a shot from close range from Henry appeared to hit Andre Ooijer's arm as he was falling down to block the shot.

"We were lucky," Van Basten admitted. "We stayed strong because of our guts. They walked through fire alongside one another and for one another."

Bangladesh makes flying start beating Brunei 6-1

UNB, Dhaka

Bangladesh Hockey team off to a flying start in the 3rd Men's AHF Cup Hockey beating Brunei Darussalam by 6-1 goals in Singapore on Saturday.

Vice captain Russell Mahmud Jimmy scored three goals, Mohammad Zahidul Rajan struck twice and Mohammad Musa netted one goal for the winners after leading the 1st half 2-1. Shalizan Akim scored a consolation goal for the losers.

Musda put Bangladesh team ahead in the 16th minute with a field goal (1-0), while Jimmy doubled the winners' margin in the 22nd minute also with a field goal (2-0).

Akim pulled one back for Brunei with field goal in the 28th minute (2-1), while Jimmy widened the margin for Bangladesh converting a penalty corner in the in the 38th minute (3-1).

Rajan scored the 4th goal for Bangladesh in the 51st minute (4-1) and the 5th goal for his team in the 52nd minute, both from field goal (5-1).

Jimmy completed the winners' tally scoring his 3rd and 6th for Bangladesh with a field goal in the 58th minute (6-1).

Bangladesh will play the 2nd group match against Chinese Taipei on Sunday at 5 pm (BST).

Ref gets the blame as Italy teeter on the brink

AFP, Switzerland

Italy coach Roberto Donadoni has hit out at Norwegian referee Tom Henning Ovrebo after a 1-1 draw with Romania left his side on the brink of elimination from Euro 2008.

A 1-1 draw left the Italians bottom of group C and no longer masters of their own destiny. Even if they beat France in their final match, the world champions will be going home early if Romania beat already-qualified Holland in their final match.

On Friday night's evidence that is a distinct possibility, particularly as the Dutch, already certain of winning group C after thrashing France 4-1, are certain to rest key players.

Only Gianluigi Buffon's late penalty save from Adrian Mutu prevented the Italians from going down to defeat against a spirited Romanian side that took four points out of six against the Dutch in qualifying for the finals.

The scale of the disarray in the Italian camp was underlined by the fact that Donadoni felt the need to make five changes from the side that had lost 3-0 to Holland in their opening match.

But the head coach nevertheless refused to criticise his players over their failure to get the victory they needed, preferring instead to launch a scarcely-justified broadside against the Norwegian officials that, as a good example of creating a distraction from reality, suggested he might have a future as a political spin doctor.

"I am not used to discussing referee's performance in detail but this was not his finest day," Donadoni said in post-match comments that were distinctly measured in comparison to the tirade he unleashed to more receptive audiences on Italian television.

Despite admitting he had not seen the incident clearly, Donadoni suggested Ovrebo had made a "gross" error in chalking off a Luca Toni effort for offside in first-half stoppage time.

The Italian coach may also have been unhappy when Ovrebo awarded Romania a late penalty when Christian Panucci and Adrian Mutu tussled for a cross.

But as the resulting spot-kick was saved, that decision did not affect the outcome of the match.

The under-pressure Italian coach added: "We knew Romania would be a team to be reckoned with and we suffered at times but I'm pleased with our performance. "We were sorry for hurting so many Italian fans after the first game (a 3-0 defeat by Holland) and we are sorry in a way tonight because we did not get the three points we wanted to take.

"But I think Italy played better than Romania. They defended well but we created more chances and I think the boys deserve to be praised for that."

The Italians must now prepare for a rematch of the 2006 World Cup final against France knowing that both sides could easily be eliminated, regardless of the outcome.

"It is a key game and the beginning of that game is going to be really important," Donadoni said. "We have to prepare properly. We have three days and we will be able to use the adrenalin that has been built up. It is going to be decisive for our future, we know that."

Romanian coach Victor Piturca voiced his delight over the result, although the celebrations were tempered by a serious injury to midfielder Mirel Radoi, who faces eye surgery after being stretchered off after a clash of heads with team-mate Razvan Rat.

The Romanians will also be without key defender Dorin Goian for the match with the Dutch after he needlessly picked up a second card for throwing the ball up in the air to waste time after conceding a free- kick.

Piturca said: "I think we gained a point rather than dropped two. We controlled the match and were in the lead and had the penalty but I think we should be satisfied.

"We could say Italy was lucky of course. When you have a penalty and the player does not manage to score obviously that is a lucky thing for Italy."

Piturca was less concerned by Mutu's penalty miss, however, than by the poor defending of a corner which resulted in his side conceding an equaliser to Christian Panucci within a minute of Mutu having given them the lead, ten minutes into the second half.

"Penalties have been missed on many occasions in so many tournaments. It is nothing new. I am more upset by the way they managed to score against us," Piturca said.

"I think maybe Mutu was influenced by the fact Buffon is one of world's great goalkeepers but actually he did not miss-

Buffon saved it."

Bangladesh finishes 7th in the 2nd Asian Grand Prix Archery

UNB, Dhaka

Bangladesh finished 7th in the 2nd Asian Grand Prix Archery losing to India by 216-205 points in the re-curb event of the quarter-final in the keenly contested match held in Iranian capital of Tehran on Saturday.

India emerged champion while hosts Iran became runners-up. Bangladesh team expected to return home on June 17.

China president says quake recovery key to Olympic spirit

AFP, Beijing

Chinese President Hu Jintao has said that looking after survivors of the Sichuan earthquake is key to the country being a good host of the Olympic Games, media reports said Saturday.

The quake on May 12, measuring 8.0 on the Richter scale, killed more than 69,000 people, with another 17,500 still missing.

Tribunal reduces Akhtar ban

AFP, Lahore

An appeal tribunal Saturday reduced Pakistan fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar's five-year ban to 18 months and imposed a seven million rupee (105,000 dollar) fine.

"We have in consensus decided that the ban on Akhtar is reduced to one-and-a-half years and impose a fine of seven million rupees," the three-member tribunal chief Justice Aftab Farrukh told reporters.

He said one member of the tribunal suggested scrapping the ban but increasing the financial penalty to 20 million rupees.

The 32-year-old paceman was banned for five years on a series of discipline charges on April 1 this year. The ban was last month suspended for 30 days to allow the fiery paceman to play in a domestic event in India.