The New Nation - Internet Edition

Messi scores in Argentina victory

BBC Online

Striker Lionel Messi starred for Argentina in their opening Olympic victory after his club Barcelona cleared him to play.

The 21-year-old put the champions ahead and created another goal in the 2-1 win over the Ivory Coast on Thursday.

A day earlier, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas) ruled that Barcelona, Schalke and Werder Bremen could recall their players from the Games.

But as the tournament began, all three were included in their national sides.

Barcelona had not officially announced any decision on Messi's participation before Argentina's match kicked off.

Officials later confirmed they would not be recalling the player after he expressed his desire to remain at the Games during talks with the club late on Wednesday.

A smiling Messi brought a huge roar from the Shanghai crowd as his name was announced ahead of the Group A game.

And he bagged a goal with two minutes of the first half left, neatly sidefooting home to put his side one ahead.

The Ivory Coast equalised through a powerful Sekou Cisse header seven minutes after the break, but Messi set up an 85th minute winner for Lautaro Acosta.

Schalke and Werder Bremen allowed Brazilians Rafinha and Diego to stay with their squad and both featured in a 1-0 defeat of Belgium.

Cas made its decision on Wednesday, which had initially appeared to rule the trio out of the tournament.

Fifa, which had ruled that clubs must release players aged 23 or under if a nation requests them, said it was "surprised and disappointed" by the decision and appealed to the clubs to let the players take part.

Cas found that Fifa's position was based on custom rather than law, meaning clubs could not be forced to release their players.

The court ruled there was "no specific decision of the Fifa executive committee establishing the obligation for the clubs to release players under 23 for this tournament".

Fifa president Sepp Blatter has already said a review of Olympic football regulations would be conducted to ensure the London Games in 2012 are not hit by more club-versus-country rows.

Football's world governing body ruled on 30 July that clubs must release players aged 23 or under for the Olympics if a nation requests them.

GP-BCB Academy team starts South Africa tour 4-day match today

UNB, Dhaka

Touring GP-BCB Academy team starts their campaign in South Africa with a four-day match against South Africa Academy team on Friday at Tukkies in Pretoria.

Earlier, on Monday, a 14-member GP-BCB national cricket academy team left here for South Africa to play two four-day and three one-day matches.

All-rounder Suhrawardy Shuvo is leading the Bangladesh team on a three-week tour to South Africa, with Sahagir Hossain Pavel as his deputy.

The 2nd four-day match between the two academy sides will be held August 14-18 at Laudiam in Pretoria.

The GP-BCB Academy team will play the first one-day match against their South African counterpart on August 20 at Dobsonville in Johannesburg, the second one-day match on Aug 22 at Tukkies in Pretoria, and the third and last one day match on Aug 24 at Lenasia in Johannesburg.

The Academy team, which is due to return home on August 25, would later tour Sri Lanka.

GP-BCB Academy team: Suhrawardy Shuvo (captain), Sahagir Hossain Pavel (vice captain), Farhad Hossain, Shamsur Rahman, Marshall Ayub, Nadif Chowdhury, Imrul Kayes, Jahurul Islam, Nasir Hossain, Raihan Uddin, Mahbubul Alam, Shafaq Al Zabir, Ziaur Rahman and Delwar Hossain.

Koreas refuse to march together

BBC Online

The Olympic teams from North and South Korea will not march together at the Games' opening ceremony in Beijing, IOC President Jacques Rogge has said.

Rogge said leaders from the North and South could not agree on a joint march.

Athletes from the two countries marched under a "unification flag" in 2000 and 2004, wearing the same uniforms.

But relations have soured this year since South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak turned away from his predecessors' "sunshine policy" towards the North.

Rogge said the failure of last-ditch talks in Beijing aimed at bringing the two teams together for the opening ceremony was a "setback for peace and harmony and reunification".

He told a news conference in Beijing that there had been a "great willingness" among the two national Olympic committees to march together.

The two teams will walk one after the other at the ceremony, Rogge said, according to the usual way of ordering the teams alphabetically.

The frosty relations have forced China to drop a plan to have President Lee sit next to North Korean deputy leader Kim Yong-nam at a welcome lunch on Friday.

Relations had been slowly improving between the two countries until President Lee took office in February, promising to take a tougher line against the North.

And things took a further turn for the worse in July when a South Korean tourist was shot and killed by a Northern soldier after she allegedly strayed into a military zone near Mount Kumgang, a special tourist zone in the North.

Earlier this week, Pyongyang announced it would expel some of the South Korean workers at the resort, blaming President Lee for the downturn in relations.

The mountain resort had been regarded as one of the symbols of reconciliation between the two Koreas.

They have been technically at war since the 1950-53 conflict ended without a peace treaty.

The North has sent 60 athletes to China, its closest political ally; while the South has sent about 260.

Sri Lanka to bolster pace attack

BBC Online

Sri Lanka are set to make one bowling change for the third Test decider with India, which starts on Friday.

India levelled the series 1-1 in Galle and Sri Lanka hope some added pace will help them at the more seamer-friendly P Saravanamuttu Stadium in Colombo.

Nuwan Kulasekera is likely to make way for either left-armer Thilan Thushara or the uncapped Dammika Prasad.

Sri Lanka are still without fast bowlers Dilhara Fernando, Lasith Malinga and Farveez Maharoof.

Out-of-form opener Michael Vandort, who has scored 17 runs in three innings, is expected to play after receiving the backing of his captain Mahela Jayawardene.

"Michael has been one of the consistent bats in the last six months," said Jayawardene. India's preparations have been hampered by the departure of coach Gary Kirsten, who left the tour to be with his critically ill mother.

Paddy Upton, the mental conditioning coach, has taken over as head coach and will work alongside bowling coach Venkatesh Prasad and fielding coach Robin Singh.

Upton was confident that Kirsten's sudden departure would not have a negative impact on preparations.

"Each person knows their role," he stated. "It's a case of just doing what we've always been doing and doing that well."

India's only selection dilemma is whether or not to make a wicketkeeper change, with Dinesh Karthik being replaced by Parthiv Patel.

Karthik grassed several important chances during the first two Tests and has scored only 36 runs in four innings.

Sri Lanka (from): Mahela Jayawardene (capt), Kumar Sangakkara, Malinda Warnapura, Thilan Samaweera, Michael Vandort, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Chamara Silva, Chamara Kapugedera, Thilan Thushara, Chaminda Vaas, Prasanna Jayawardene (wk), Muttiah Muralitharan, Ajantha Mendis, Nuwan Kulasekera, Dammika Prasad.

India (from): Anil Kumble (captain), Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Saurav Ganguly, VVS Laxman, Rohit Sharma, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Parthiv Patel (wk), Harbhajan Singh, Ishant Sharma, Zaheer Khan, RP Singh, Munaf Patel, Pragyan Ojha.

I will stay at Man Utd : Ronaldo

BBC Online

Cristiano Ronaldo has confirmed that he will remain a Manchester United player for "at least one more year".

The 23-year-old Portugal winger had frequently expressed his desire to leave for Spanish champions Real Madrid this summer.

But he told Portuguese paper Publico: "Manager Sir Alex Ferguson heard my arguments, I heard his and it was felt the best thing would be for me to stay.

"I can confirm that next season I will play for Manchester United."

Ferguson, speaking after the club's goalless friendly with Juventus on Wednesday, said he was "pleased" Ronaldo was staying.

And Ferguson gave a revealing insight into how he dealt with the Ronaldo transfer saga, which resulted in two months of frenzied speculation over whether the player would leave.

"I flew to Portugal some weeks ago and we cleared the air and he spoke to some of the players," Ferguson told MUTV.

"The boy has been through a troubled time in terms of the approaches from Spain but once he knew my stance, he then settled down.

"The fans have got to understand; it's very difficult when a young boy is tempted by all this money.

"We can put this to bed now. It's finished and the boy is a Manchester United player and that's the most important thing."

Ronaldo, under contract with United until 2012, is currently recovering from surgery on an ankle injury and is likely to be sidelined until the end of September.

But the Portuguese star used the interview to underline his desire to achieve the heights of last season in which he was the club's top scorer with 42 goals.

"Before rumours emerge saying that I will play against my will, I want to make this clear - whoever says or writes that is lying," Ronaldo told Publico.

"I will play for Manchester with all my heart and soul. I will fight and honour that shirt with the same commitment and dedication as always."

Ronaldo also conceded that he played his part in fuelling the speculation and that he was guilty of fracturing United's relationship with Real Madrid.

"I was responsible for all this controversy," he added.

"I was the one who publicly expressed my desire to go to Real Madrid. I ended up being, even involuntarily, responsible for the poor relationship between the two clubs."

Yet the Portuguese winger, reigning double footballer of the year in England after helping Manchester United to the Premier League title and a Champions League triumph last season, did not rule out an eventual move to Real at some point in his career.

"I knew Real Madrid were interested in signing me and that they had allegedly made a very high offer to Manchester United," he stated.

"My desire was, for some time, that Manchester had accepted my transfer to Madrid. Saying otherwise would be to trick people and my own consciousness."

Real Madrid coach Bernd Schuster said: "You have to respect his decision.

"He was free to do what he wanted and it's a shame that he isn't coming to us because he's a player who would really have improved this great group.

"But hey, it doesn't matter. We've got a great group to get started on an important league campaign and fight for all the objectives we've set.

"It's a decision we have to accept."

Beijing Olympics will be successful, says China's Vice President

Xinhua, Beijing

Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping on Thursday told visiting foreign dignitaries that the Beijing Olympics would be a unique and high-level sports event.

Xi met separately with Iranian Vice president and head of Physical Education Organization Muhammad Aliabadi, Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew and the president of India's ruling Congress Party, Sonia Gandhi.

Xi described the Games as a great sports gathering for people of the whole world, which would serve as a "bridge for peace and friendship.

"With the support of the big Olympic family and the joint efforts of athletes and coaches from around the world, we will make the Beijing Olympic Games a unique and high-level sports gathering," said Xi.

The Games start on Friday. More than 80 heads of states and governments and royals will attend the opening ceremony in the National Stadium, better known as the Bird's Nest.

Swadhinata KC face Rampura KC in first semis today

UNB, Dhaka

Swadhinata KC face Rampura KC in the first semifinal of the Dhaka City Corporation Pioneer Football League today (Friday) at 4 pm at the Bir Shrestha Sepoy Mohammad Mostafa Stadium in Kamalapur in the city.

In the other semis, Tangail Football Club will meet BKSP on Saturday (Aug 9) at 4 pm at the same venue.

Fed Cup TT from August 28

Sports Reporter

Bangladesh Table Tennis Federation will arrange a four-day long Federation Cup Invitational Table Tennis (TT) Tournament from August 28 at the Wooden Floor Gymnasium, which is adjacent to Paltan Maidan.

The teams, which will take part in the men's team event, are: Bangladesh Ansar & VDP, Biman Bangladesh Airlines, Feni District, Pabna District, Dinajpur District, Narail District, Bagerhat District, and Gaibandha District.

The teams, which will participate in the women's team events, are: Bangladesh Ansar & VDP, Biman Bangladesh Airlines, Dhaka District, Rajshahi District, Gaibandha District, Narail District, Jessore District and Gazipur District.

The teams, which will compete in the boys' team event, are: Chittagong District, Narail District, Biman Bangladesh Airlines, Gaibandha District, Khulna District, Rangpur District, Dinajpur District.

The events of the competition are: men's team event, men's singles, women's team event, women's singles, girls, singles.

The competition will come to an end on August 31.

Amal, Ranjan Ram pair emerge champions in men's doubles

UNB, Dhaka

Amal Roy and Ranjan Ram pair of NTC emerged champions in the men's doubles of the Dhaka Open Tennis Competition beating Niranjan Ram-Mahmudul Huq pair 6-2, 7-6 in the final at the National Tennis Complex here Thursday.

In the boy's Under-14 singles, Biplob Ram of NTC clinched the title defeating his teammate Sajib Pasi 6-3, 7-5.

Meanwhile, the final matches of the men's and women's singles will be held on Friday.

After the finals, Bangladesh Tennis Federation president AMM Nasiruddin will distribute prizes among the winners as chief guest. Federation vice president and tournament sponsor Mohammad Selim will be present as special guest.

BCB reveals Australia tour itinerary

UNB, Dhaka

Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) has revealed the itinerary of the ensuing Australia tour for a three-match ODI series.

The national team will leave here for Australia on August 14.

Ahead of the three ODIs, the national cricketers will play five one-day practice matches in Australia.

Bangladesh team will play the first four practice matches against the Australian Institute of Sports -- Aug 18, 20, 23 and 25 -- and the 5th against Northern Territory Chief Minister's XI on Aug 27, all at the Garden's Oval. All the five one-day practice matches will start at 6:30 am BST.

After a two-day recess, the three ODIs between the Tigers and the current world champions are slated for Aug 30, September 3 and Sept 6 at the TIO Stadium at Darwin. The three ODIs will begin at 6:00 am BST.

The national side will leave Darwin Sept 7 on way home.

Former basketball player Syed Shiadat Hossain pass away

UNB, Dha ka

Former basketball player Maj. (retd) Syed Shiadat Hossain died of cardiac arrest at his New Eskaton residence at about 6 am on Thursday. He was 49.

In a condolence message, Bangladesh Basketball Federation has expressed deep shock at the sudden demise of Maj (retd) Shiadat and conveyed sincerest sympathy to the family members.