The New Nation - Internet Edition

Messi inspires Barca to victory, Real lose

Reuters, Madrid

Barcelona went six points clear at the top of the Primera Liga with a 3-0 win away to Sevilla on Saturday after second-placed Real Madrid lost 3-1 at Getafe.

Barca's Samuel Eto'o got a typical poacher's goal, bursting into the area to stab a loose ball high into the net after 20 minutes of a pulsating encounter at the Sanchez Pizjuan.

Sevilla's Frederic Kanoute hit the bar just before halftime but there was precious little space for either side to operate.

Barcelona dominated possession but Lionel Messi was closely marshalled until the 79th minute, when he raced on to a long ball and volleyed past Andres Palop.

The Argentine forward scampered after another long ball to round Palop for his second goal in the final minute by which time Sevilla were down to 10 men. Brazilian striker Luis Fabiano was sent off for elbowing in the 86th.

Barca moved on to 32 points from 13 games, six ahead of Real. Third-placed Villarreal, with 25 points, visit bottom club Recreativo Huelva on Sunday.

Champions Real madrid have only won once at the Coliseum and were always second best as Getafe built on last weekend's 1-1 draw in Barcelona with another intelligent tactical display.

Real were trailing from the third minute, when Jaime Gavilan's run and cross from the left was met by a powerful header from Uruguayan forward Juan Albin.

ALBIN BREAKAWAY

The home side were unlucky not to be awarded a penalty just before the break but two minutes after the restart Albin broke away to surprise Iker Casillas by scoring at his near post.

Guti laid the ball on for Argentine Javier Saviola to pull a goal back after an error in the home defence in the 55th minute but Real's resistance did not last long.

Getafe pulled them apart on counter-attacks, and hit the woodwork twice, before Albin squared for Nigeria striker Ikechukwu Uche on the counter in the 82nd to end the visitors' faint hopes of a comeback.

Having started the day with seven first-team regulars out injured, Real were forced to make two first-half substitutions when Wesley Sneijder and Miguel Torres pulled up with injuries. Pepe also finished with a muscle problem.

"Getafe were much better. They played a spectacular game and the scoreline flatters us," Real coach Bernd Schuster said.

"We have a lot of players injured but we could do nothing. From the first moment I saw it would be difficult for us… and I never had the sensation we would win."

Dhaka Mohammedan beat Farashganj 2-1

UNB, Dhaka

Dhaka Mohammedan SC came from behind to register a hard-fought 2-1 win over Farashganj SC in a match of the Citycell 2nd B. League at the Bangabandhu National Stadium (BNS) here on Sunday.

This was the 4th win for Dhaka Mohammedan after three draws and a defeat, while Farashganj SC managed two wins, three draws and three defeats.

With the day's outcome, Dhaka Mohammedan improved their position with 15 points, while Farashganj SC remained at nine points, playing eight matches.

In the day's match, Nigerian striker Alamu Bukola Olalekin and Nasir Hossain scored for the winners after trailing 1-0 in the first half. Enamul Haque Sharif netted for the losers.

Enamul put Farashganj SC ahead in the 28th minute with a powerful shot from 15 yards off Kalu Johnson right wing minus giving no chance to Mohammedan custodian Aminul (1-0).

Bukola restored the parity for Dhaka Mohammedan in the 76th minute with a shot taken from inside the danger zone off Ripon Khan short pass after Hazem did the ground work at the right flank (1-1).

Nasir scored the match-winner for Dhaka Mohammedan one minute before the long whistle with a brilliant side volley from inside the D-box after Hazem's shot, fisted by opponent substitute custodian Al Amin, came his way (2-1).

Earlier, Dhaka Mohammedan launched series of attacks, but failed to utilize some real scoring chances.

The traditional black & white outfit came close to score in the 17th minute, but Bukola's powerful shot from vantage position was gripped by custodian Titu.

Again in the 39th minute, Dhaka Mohammedan striker Sharif's attempt at goal from inside the danger zone went out beside the side bar. Sharif took a placing shot after Mohammad Robin's header off Ripon Khan free kick returned to play hitting the cross bar.

Dhaka Mohammedan was again deprived of a goal in the 55th minute when onrushing Bukola's placing shot off Hazem pass from inside the D-box narrowly missed the target.

Farashganj SC played well in the first half and managed two scoring chances, but they were seen hesitant in front of Dhaka Mohammedan goal in the second half.

Dhaka Mohammedan -- Aminul, Kamal, Rajoni, Saikat, Ripon, Sharif, Hazem, Nasir, Robin, Bukola and Faisal (Komol).

Farashganj SC - Titu (Al Amin), Romjan, Emeka, Mamun, Rajib, Ronny, Kabir, Khokon (Faisal), Enamul, Kalu, and Rintu.

Referee - Azad Rahman

Monday's match: Dhaka Abahani vs Brothers Union (BNS 4:30 pm).

Pakistan chief Butt warns of split in world cricket

Reuters, London

World cricket is in danger of a damaging split if countries like England and Australia refuse to tour Asia after this week's bloodshed in India, Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Ejaz Butt warned on Saturday.

England cut short their one-day series in India after nearly 200 people died in the Mumbai attacks. Captain Kevin Pietersen said there was still doubt whether they would return to play two tests before Christmas.

Pakistan have also suffered from teams refusing to tour because of security threats, most recently when the ICC Champions Trophy was postponed in September.

"It's a mutual thing. If they don't come we won't go t you can't have separate pockets with people playing over here and England playing only Australia, that's not the essence of the game," Butt told BBC radio.

"You can't have two separate groups t because to continue to not participate in cricket in this part of the world in India and Sri Lanka, then it will be very difficult."

ICC MEETING

Butt said cricket could ease its troubles but said there needed to be co-operation between all the test-playing nations.

"I think we will come out of it t we talked about it at the last ICC (International Cricket Council) meeting but these problems are there and they need to be tackled," he added.

"It will be very difficult if there are two sets of rules for two sets of countries and there become two blocks (of countries) in the ICC. That would be a very dangerous thing."

On Friday, Pietersen said England would not return for the tests in India unless their safety was guaranteed.

"We will make every effort to come back and play in the tests but at the end of the day if it's not safe we won't be coming back," Pietersen told the BBC.

Magpies to give Viduka time to ease back in

AFP, Esbrough

Mark Viduka will not be rushed back into Newcastle United's starting line-up after the striker made his long-awaited return from injury.

Viduka twice came close to snatching a late winner in a tense derby stalemate at his former club Middlesbrough as the Australian international emerged unscathed as a second-half substitute in his first appearance for more than six months.

Newcastle will not risk the 33-year-old breaking down as he works his way back to full match fitness after a career-threatening Achilles problem, and coach Chris Hughton said: "We know Mark's qualities as a player but he's not had so many minutes of match play. "He's available and has done a fair amount of training but he just hasn't had the match play. For us the most important thing now is to get him to a fitness level."

Despite an understandable lack of match sharpness, Viduka was only denied a match-winning contribution by David Wheater's desperate point-blank block, before Ross Turnbull kept out the former Leeds forward's injury-time effort.

Hughton added: "Mark's a player you can play off and into, he has that quality but he hasn't had so much match play recently. As each day goes by and with each training session by he'll get fitter and fitter and we've got to make sure we use him right."

Newcastle leap-frogged local rivals Sunderland and out of the bottom three as they earned a point in their first game since interim manager Joe Kinnear signed a new contract until the end of the season.

Hughton played down a display of petulance from Obafemi Martins, Newcastle's most potent attacking threat who struck the bar before the break, but who stormed down straight down the tunnel after being hauled off for Viduka with 25 minutes left.

Hughton insisted: "Oba's okay. Any issues like that are always dealt with in-house and that's the correct way to do it.

"What we have at the moment is a little more competition for places up front, which is what we've been striving for in the last few months. You want players to be disappointed at coming off and certainly not to be happy."

Gareth Southgate backed out of touch Middlesbrough striker Afonso Alves to come good sooner rather than later after the club record 12-million-pound signing drew his latest blank.

The Brazilian international has scored just three times this season with his last goal arriving more than a month ago.

But the Boro manager, who expects to welcome midfielder Gary O'Neil back from a hamstring strain for this Saturday's trip to Hull City, said: "Afonso wants to score and he's desperate to do well.

"He got eased out too easily a couple of times but he looked a real threat and it's coming for him. He's got the hunger to do well and he'll do well."

Southgate welcomed his former team-mate Viduka back to the Riverside Stadium, and joked: "We're upset with Mark, he hasn't played all year and then he's suddenly fit to face us, I thought he was my mate! I'm sure he'll poke his head in and will have a

drink before he goes."

Dinajpur reach semifinals

Sports Reporter

Dinajpur District team reached the semi-finals of the National Cricket Championship when they defeated Moulvibazar District team by four wickets in their quarterfinal match at the Jessore Shamsul Huda Stadium on Sunday.

Chasing Moulvibazar's paltry total of 64 off 34.1 overs, Dinajpur romped home and dry in 18.3 overs making 65 for the loss of six wickets.

None of Moulvibazar batsmen could reach double-digit figures.

Mr Extra contributed 18 runs to the Moulvibazar total.

Minhaz Reza and Atif Chowdhury of Dinajpur grabbed three wickets each giving away 13 and 23 runs respectively while Sayem Hossain bagged a couple of wickets at the cost of six runs.

Besides, Forhadul Raza and Jamil Lavlu took one wicket each.

Later, opener Rezaul Islam of Dinajpur hit 21 off 19 balls including four shots beyond the ropes.

Bappy Das remained undefeated with 19 off 60 balls while Minhaz Reza hit 13 (not out ) off 14 balls.

Mokkamal Ali of Moulvibazar bowled a devastating spell and finished as 9-2-18-5.

Tomorrow Dinajpur will face Rangpur in the second semi-final.

BDR Inter-Sector Cycling begins today

Sports Reporter

Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) Inter-Sector Cycling Competition begins today in Dinajpur.

A number of 12 sector teams will participate in the cycling meet. They are : Dhaka, Rajshahi, Khulna, Dinajpur, Sylhet, Comilla, Kushtia, Mymensingh, Rangpur, Chittagong, Rangamati and Khagrachari.

The competition will be held in seven events. They are :1000 metre (individual ) time trial, 4000 metre (individual), 1600 metre team trial, 4000 metre team trial, 15000 metre scratch race, 1500 metre elimiation race and 30 kilo metre (individual ) time trial road race.

The cycling meet will be come to an end on Decmber 4.

Satirtho Club clinches 4th Monwar Smriti Kho Kho title

UNB, Dhaka

Satirtho Club won the 4th Monwar Smriti Kho Kho Tournament beating Old Ideals Club 12-8 points in the final at the Outer Stadium Kho Kho ground on Sunday.

Earlier, in the league basis matches, Old Ideals Club beat Satirtho Club by 17-11 points, Satirtho Club defeated Bangla Club 13-10 and Old Ideals beat Bangla Club 5-4.

President of Bangladesh Kho Kho Federation and Shipping Secretary Sheikh AK Motahar was the chief guest at the closing function of the daylong meet and distributed the prizes.

India cancels Pakistan tour

AFP, New Delhi

India's government has refused permission to send a cricket team for a full tour of Pakistan early next year following the deadly Mumbai attacks, Indian television reported on Sunday.

The tour was cancelled amid a government probe into Pakistani links to the assaults on the country's financial capital by heavily-armed militants that left nearly 200 people dead.

The NDTV and CNN-IBN news channels, quoting unnamed government sources, said the matches were also unlikely to be played at neutral venues.

India tour must go on, says Yousuf

Reuters, Karachi

India must tour Pakistan in January despite this week's bloodshed in Mumbai, senior batsman Mohammad Yousuf said on Saturday.

Yousuf and nine other Pakistanis who were playing in the rebel Indian Cricket League have returned home after their matches were cancelled in the wake of the Mumbai attacks in which nearly 200 people died.

"Cricket is a big thing and a binding force for the people of Pakistan and India. The Indian team must play in Pakistan or it will only encourage the terrorist elements," Yousuf told reporters at Karachi airport. "It is also important to continue cricket activities," added the veteran of 79 tests. "What happened in Mumbai was horrifying but authorities must not allow terrorists to derail cricket activities."

On Friday, Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Ejaz Butt said he was uncertain over India's 2009 visit.

England have cut short their one-day series in India and captain Kevin Pietersen said there was doubt whether they would return to play two tests before Christmas.

Former Pakistan captain Moin Khan expressed fears the Mumbai attacks could mar relations between India and his country. "Cricket has always played its role in normalising relations between the two countries and I feel it is now all the more necessary for India to tour Pakistan and vice versa," Khan said.

England waiting for security report on India

Reuters, London

England's cricket team could decide by Monday if they will return to India for two scheduled test matches following this week's attacks in Mumbai that killed nearly 200 people.

"Clearly, we are committed to go back to play another test series if it is safe to do so," England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) managing director Hugh Morris told a news conference at Heathrow airport on Saturday after the team arrived back having cut short their one-day series.

Morris said a security report would be compiled within the next 48 hours and that fringe players were ready if required to replace any team members not wishing to return to India.

"I would not, if somebody felt strongly, force their arm," Morris said. "They would have the necessary information to make an informed decision but that would be a personal choice.

"We have to give them the most up-to-date security information and then clearly it will be a decision for the players to make.

"The first test match starts on December 11 and clearly it is a very short time scale but, assuming the safety and security is OK, we would be returning in a short time."

STILL SHAKING

England captain Kevin Pietersen summed up the mood of the players, saying his blood had run cold after watching events in Mumbai unfold.

"I'm still shaking from the atrocities in Mumbai," Pietersen was quoted as saying in Sunday's News of the World.

"Every time I see the footage of the carnage in the Indian city, I realise how close we were to death.

"I haven't slept thinking about the three-day rampage and siege. We were 800 miles from the attack, but suddenly we felt very vulnerable, especially as we had stayed at the targeted Taj Mahal Hotel just two weeks ago.

"It makes my blood run cold."

The decision to return home with two one-day internationals still to play was made following the bloodshed in Mumbai where luxury hotels, including the landmark Taj Palace, cafes and railway stations were targeted.

"The players, unsurprisingly, have been hugely affected by this," Morris told reporters. "We actually stayed at the Taj Palace hotel some two and a half week ago. We ate in those restaurants. We were served by the people there."

Earlier, Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) vice-president Lalit Modi said the test matches would definitely go ahead but the second match in Mumbai would be moved.

The sixth one-day match was scheduled for Guwahati on Saturday and the final game in New Delhi on Dec. 2. India were 5-0 up in the series.