The New Nation - Internet Edition

Mahfizur, Sonia seal show in national swimming

Bdnews, Dhaka

Mahfizur Rahman Sagar has so far become country's first-ever swimmer to snare all freestyle individual events' gold along with setting three national records in the National Swimming Championship that concluded on Saturday.

Mahfizur, a XI student from Bangladesh Krira Shikkha Protisthan, bagged two gold medals on the final day Saturday setting a new record in the 100m freestyle at National Swimming Complex.

He bettered his previous record of 54.48 seconds to finish the 100m freestyle distance clocking 53.22 seconds. He also put Bangladesh Army's Sujan Ali behind to bag the 400m freestyle gold medal taking 4:39.13 minutes on the same day. Mahfizur, who also set new records in 200m freestyle and 1500m freestyle, bagged gold medal in 50m freestyle on the opening day.

The emerging swimmer also took two bronze medals in the 200x4 freestyle and 4x400 freestyle relays as the Bangladesh Army team finished first in both the events.

"I am really happy after bagging all individual freestyle gold medals, and now want to concentrate on the South Asian Games at home so that I can take my national performance to the SA Games," said Mahfizur, whose favourite event is 200m freestyle.

Amirul Islam, a coach from Bangladesh Ansar and member of the swimming federation, could not remember whether country's any swimmer had earlier snared all individual gold medals in freestyle.

Mahfizur's teammate Sonia Akhter was also in the centre of the four-day meet, setting three national records on her way to bagging six gold medals.

Sonia set new records in 100m butterfly, 200m butterfly and 400m individual medley and also finished first in the 50m butterfly, 100m breaststroke and 4x200 freestyle relay.

On the final day, Sonia bagged gold medal in the 100m breaststroke taking 1:21.80 minutes while Bangladesh Ansar's Sabura Khatun finished second clocking 1:23.13 seconds.

They together bagged 11 gold medals to help the BKSP finish top on the medal table with 16 golds, 12 silvers and 13 bronzes followed by Bangladesh Army, who grabbed 12 golds, 15 silvers and six bronzes.

Bangladesh Ansar finished third with eight golds, nine silvers and six bronzes while Bangladesh Navy became fourth securing six golds, four silvers and eight bronzes.

On the final day, four records including two SAFF records were set up as Mafizur Rahman (400m freestyle), Jahangir Alam of Army (200m breaststroke), the Bangladesh Army 4x100m medley relay team and the Bangladesh Ansar 4x100 medley relay team put records on the electronic board.

Jahangir Alam broke both national and SAFF records to clock 2:27.11 seconds in the 200m breaststroke as the previous best by Karar Samedul Islam achieved 2:27.87 minutes while Indian swimmer Arjun J Jayaprakash took 2:27.12 seconds to set Colombo SAFF record in 2006 in Sri Lanka.

The 23rd National Championship saw two new swimmers come in limelight along with a revival of Shahajan Ali Ronny, who was out of the competition due to hepatitis B since the first Indo-Bangla Bangladesh Games in 2006.

Ronny, who bagged 50m breaststroke gold medal in 2006 SA Games, marked his return with fashion setting two national records in his favourite 50m breaststroke and 100m breaststroke on the third day Friday.

After the competition, the successful swimmers were crying for better training ahead of the SA Games at home in 2009 and urged the organisers to ensure their training aboard.

"I promise you we will start the SA Games camp within 10 days whether we get any support from Bangladesh Olympic Association or the National Sports Council," said federation's new general secretary Mahbubur Rahman.

Rahman also said that he would bring a coach from Chinese or Korean so that the swimmers could learn new technique of swimming.

PCB sticks to hosting India cricket series in Pakistan

AFP, Abu Dhabi

Pakistan cricket officials Saturday termed shifting of their home series against India to neutral venues as "mere speculation", saying preparations are at full swing in their country.

India is scheduled to tour Pakistan in January-February to play a side game, three Tests, five one-day internationals and a Twenty20 but the tour is already in doubt over the security situation in the host country.

But Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chief operating officer Salim Altaf voiced confidence the series would go ahead as per the schedule.

"We have not heard anything from the Indian Board and until we hear something contrary, Indian team will play the first match on the 9th January in Hyderabad and the first Test starts on the 13th in Karachi," Altaf told reporters.

The Indian government cancelled a low-profile junior hockey team's tour to Pakistan over security fears earlier this week, further raising doubts over the cricket series.

But Altaf disagreed that the move would affect cricket.

"The cricket tour is a high profile one, with both the boards guided by what their governments tell them, and normally there is a security assessment tour which will take place before the series," said Altaf.

If Pakistan were forced to shift the series to the neutral venues of Abu Dhabi and Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates or to England in summer, they would endanger their home series against Australia in March and the Champions Trophy in September next

year.

Australia were the first to shun a tour of Pakistan in March this year over security fears. They rescheduled the Tests for March 2009 and one-day matches for 2010.

The International Cricket Council, forced to put off the Trophy over security fears in August this year over security fears, rescheduled the event to September next year but said Pakistan hosting India will be a trial for the elite event.

Altaf said the option of neutral venues would only be considered as a last resort.

"Our chairman (Ijaz Butt) has a flexible approach and if that situation arises we have the option of the UAE and England but what we have seen in the past is that revenues earned at neutral venues are not encouraging," said Altaf.

"Pakistan this year had no international cricket and the ardent admirers have missed Australia and so India should come so that we have other teams and other events in our country," said Altaf, a former Pakistan paceman.

Bangladesh President XI leaves for Hariana today

Sports Reporter

Bangladesh President XI leaves the city for Hariana today to take part in the upcoming 45th Jawaharlal Nehru Cup scheduled to be held in Hariana of India from November 14 to November 25. The first round of the hockey meet is now in underway. Bangladesh President XI will straightly participate in the second round of the hockey competition. Pakistan and other six teams of India will compete in the second round of the hockey tournament.

Dhaka Bank Limited will sponsor the hockey team. The expenditure for the participation to the hockey meet has been estimated at Tk 11 lakh 68 thousand while Dhaka Bank Limited, the sponsor of the team has been agreed to give Tk 10 lakh to Bangladesh Hockey Federation (BHF).

General Secretary of BHF Khondker Jamil Uddin disclosed all the matters related to the participation of the hockey meet. He spoke at a press briefing held at the conference room of BHF on Saturday.

Khondker Jamil Uddin said, "Our target is to reach the semi-finals. Our team will play without our seven key players."

He added that the team took part in a month-long practice session for the preparation to participate in the prestigious hockey meet.The fixture is yet to be finalised. Bangladesh wil play their first match on November 18.

He said after taking over the posts of the new executive committee of BHF, this is for the first time a team of Bangladesh are going to take part in a hockey competition.

The players, who have been selected, are : Zahid, Chandan, Biplob, Shamsuddin, Taposh, Shakil, Ferdous, Pintoo, Titu, Rana, Ashiquzzaman, Jamal, Nannu, Bin Talib, Krishna, Rimon.

The officials are : Air Commodore (Retd) Shahjahan Sarkar (Manager), Suvash Chandra Das (Assistant Manager), Azizullah Haidar Jamal (Coach), Abdullah Piru (Assistant Coach).

Faridpur meet Shariatpur today in zonal final of national cricket

BSS, Faridpur

Faridpur cricket team will meet Shariatpur team in the zonal final of the 29th National Cricket Championship at Faridpur Stadium today.

In the second semi-final played today Faridpur team beat Madaripur by three wickets.

Winning the toss Madaripur elected to bat and scored 58 runs for all wickets in 25.5 overs.

In replay, Faridpur reached the target losing seven wickets in 14-1 overs. Sajib of Faridpur claimed five wickets for 13 runs.

Sajedul to replace Rasel

Bdnews, Kimberley

Left-arm pacer Sajedul Islam was called to South Africa on Saturday to join the national squad in place of injured paceman Syed Rasel ahead of the two Test series against the Proteas.

Sajedul is expected to reach Johannesburg on Monday before joining the team in Bloemfontein, which will host the first Test on Nov 19-23.

Left-arm pacer Rasel, who has been suffering from a back injury he sustained during the tour of England with the Bangladesh A team last year, is also due to fly out of Johannesburg on the same day.

The team management had earlier decided to keep Rasel in South Africa to nurse him, but later changed their mind due to a similar worry over pace spearhead Mashrafee Bin Mortaza.

Div I Hockey: Farashganj beat Bachelors

Sports Reporter

Farashganj SC beat Bachelors SC by two goals to one in the Green Delta Insurance First Division Hockey League at the Moulana Bhasani National Hockey Stadium on Saturday.

The first half was locked 1-1.

Sagor of Farashganj SC put his team ahead in the 11th minute of the first half.

after three minutes Saeed of Bachelors SC equalised the margin.

After the lemon-break Rubel of Farashganj SC scored the match-winning goal in the 55th minute of the game.

Div II Football: T&T Club, Euro Famous post wins

Sports Reporter

T&T Club of Motijheel and Euro Famous Club posted wins in the Second Division Football League on Saturday.

In the day's first match, T&T Club of Motijheel blanked Matuail Udayan Sangsad 3-0 at the Kamalapur Bir Sreshtha Shaheed Sepoy Mohammad Mostafa Stadium.

Arman of T&T Club scored two goals and his teammate Jalil netted one.

T&T Club of Motijheel secured 27 points from 13 matches while Matuail earned 17 points from as many matches.

In the day's other match, Euro Famous Club beat Bassabo Tarun Sangha by a solitary goal at the same venue.

Hanif of Euro Famous scored the all-important goal.

Today Kadamtala Sangsad will take on Little Friends Club while Karwan Bazar Progoti Sangha will play against Uttar Baridhara Club at the same venue.

Second Orient Bread Tokai Kabaddi from Nov 18

Sports Reporter

Bangladesh Kabaddi Federation will arrange the Second Orient Bread Tokai Kabaddi Competition under auspices of Orient Bread at the Dhaka Kabaddi Stadium from November 18.

A total of nine teams will participate in the kabaddi meet. They are : Jatrabari Tokai team, Matuail Tokai team, Dholpur Tokai team, Goran Tokai team, Khilgaon Tokai team, Mirpur Tokai team, Stadium Tokai team, Gulistan Tokai team and Paltan Tokai team.