Dhaka, Mar 23 (UNB) – MA Hamid Independence Day Handball (Men’s & Women’s) Tournament began on Saturday at Shaheed Capt (retd) M Mansur Ali Handball Stadium here with Border Guard-Bangladesh (BGB) and Bangladesh Police making flying start in the men’s competition.

Acting Secretary of Youth and Sports ministry Dr Mohammad Zafar Uddin inaugurated the meet, organized by Bangladesh Handball Federation (BHF), on Saturday afternoon.

The programme was chaired by BHF President AKM Nurul Fazal Bulbul in presence of its general secretary Asaduzzaman Kohinoor. 

In the men’s competition, BGB outplayed Quantum Foundation by 36-20 goals after leading the first half by 15-7 while Bangladesh Police Handball Club beat Bangladesh Ansar by 25-20 goals after dominating the first half 16-11.  

In the women’s group, BJMC outplayed Quantum Foundation by 48-10 goals (first half 28-5), Bangoladesh Ansar defeated Jamalpur Sports Academy by 33-15 goals (first half 15-10) while Bangoladesh Ansar again beat Police Handball Club by 30-22 goals (first half 12-8) at the same venue. 

Dhaka, Mar 23 (UNB) – Eyeing on semifinals, a 17-member Bangladesh National Archery team will leave here for Thailand on Sunday (March 24) to compete in the Stage-1 competition of the 2019 Asia Cup World Ranking (Archery) Tournament beginning in Bangkok on Monday (March 25).

Bangladesh team will fly for Bangkok on Sunday, in two batches, the first batch at noon and the 2nd at night.

The City Group, the main sponsor of Bangladesh Archery Federation, is also the major sponsor of the tour under its “Teer Go For Gold” project. National Sports Council and Bangladesh Army are also the partial sponsor of the tour.

Bangladesh Archery team comprises of 12 archers including six men and six women will compete in 10 events--men’s team, women’s team, men’s singles, women’s singles and mixed doubles of both the recurve and compound divisions in ranking and elimination rounds.

In a pre-tour press conference at the Dutch-Bangla Auditorium of BOA on Saturday, the head coach of Bangladesh Martin Fedrick said, “We have prepared our team focusing on World Championship and Asian Championship this year and our initial target is to reach the semifinals of the Asia Cup World Ranking meet.”

General Secretary of Bangladesh Archery Federation Kazi Razibuddin Ahmed Chapal, Executive Director of the meet’s sponsor City Group Zafaruddin Siddique and Deputy Secretary General of BOA Asaduzzaman Kohinoor also spoke on the occasion.

Federation Vice-president Anisur Rahman Dipu, Joint Secretary Rashid Serniabad and convener of the federation’s media committee Rafiqul Islam Tipu were also present on the occasion.

Bangladesh Archery team has secured two gold, eight silver and eight bronze medals from the meet since 2009.

Members of Bangladesh Archery team are Ruman Shana, Imdadul Haque Milon, Hakim Ahmed Rubel, Beauty Boy, Nasrin Akhter, Diya Siddiqui, Sheikh Sajib, Ashim Kumar Das, Abul Kashem Mamun, Sushmita Bonik, Bonnya Akhter and Shymoly Rai

Team Officials: Kazi Razibuddin Ahmed Chapal (team leader), Rubaiyet Ahmed, Shaila Sharmin (officials), Martin Fedrick (head coach) and Mohammad Zaiul Haque (assistant coach).

Dhaka, Mar 23 (UNB) - Saif Hassan’s back-to-back-century in the ongoing Dhaka Premier Division Cricket League (DPDCL) helped Prime Doleshwar to beat Khelaghar Samaj Kallyan Samity on Saturday by seven wickets in Savar.

Prime Doleshwar won the toss and decided to bowl first. Khelaghar posted 257/9 in 50 overs with the fifties of Mahidul Islam Ankon and Sadikur Rahman.

Besides, Robiul Islam Robi (17), Ashok Menaria (21), Amit Majumder (18) and Moinul Islam (21) also struck double-digit.

Farhad Reza, the captain of Prime Doleshwar, bagged three wickets while Abu Jayed and Shykat Ali took two wickets each.

In reply, Prime Doleshwar won the game in 46.4 overs (258/3) with seven wickets hand. Saif Hassan, the right-handed top-order batsman, hit unbeaten 132 with nine fours and three sixes and won the award of man of the match.

Along with Saif, Marshall Ayub (40) and Saad Nasim (34*) also contributed with the bat.

It was the fourth win of Prime Doleshwar in five rounds of the league while Khelaghar suffered the fourth loss.

In the other match of the day, Shinepukur Cricket Club beat Uttara Sporting Club by eight wickets in a low-scoring affair in Fatullah, which was Shinepukur’s first win of the season while Uttara suffered the fourth loss.

Shinepukur won the toss and opted to bowl first. They have restricted Uttara for 145 all-out in 44.4 overs.

Minhazul Abedin was the only batsman of Uttara to offer some batting prowess as he hit 51. Besides, Tanzid Hasan (25) and Mohimenul Haque (21) contributed with the bat.

For Shinepukur, Sabbir Hossain bagged three wickets and Rakibul Hasan took two.

In reply, Sabbir was out for 99 off 72 balls to help Shinepukur register a big win of eight wickets. He failed to record a ton but helped his team to a comfortable win (149/2 in 15.1 overs).

Sabbir was adjourned Man of the Match.

Dhaka, Mar 23 (UNB) — Bangladesh Krira Shikkha Protishtan (BKSP) stunned Brothers Union in the ongoing Dhaka Premier Division Cricket League (DPDCL) on Saturday by two runs.

Brothers needed 16 runs in the last two overs with five wickets in hand, but they made only 13 runs losing four wickets. Mukidul Islam and Sumon Khan bowled the last two overs for BKSP.

BKSP won the toss and decided to bat first at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium. It was the first instance of this league for a team to bat first after winning the toss in the venue.

They posted 267/9 in 50 overs in spite of losing three wickets in just 25 runs. Shamim Hossain, Akbar Ali and Parvez Hossain Emon hit fifties. While Shamim scored 71, Akbar and Parvez posted 56 and 69 respectively.

Veteran pacer Mohammad Sharif bagged three wickets for Brothers while Ebadat Hossain took two.

In reply, Brothers ended up at 265 for nine in 50 overs. Chirag Jani, the Indian recruit of Brothers, narrowly missed a century after getting out at 96. Junaid Siddique (52), Yasir Ali (38) and Sharifullah (42) also batted well.

Right-arm pacer Mukidul Islam bagged four wickets for BKSP while Shamim took two.

It was the third loss for Brothers while BKSP registered their second win in five rounds of the league.

Dhaka, March 23 (UNB) — Bangladesh Youth team will play stronger Palestine in their 2nd Group B match of the AFC U-23 Championship Qualifiers on Sunday (March 24) at 7 pm Bangladesh Time at Khalifa Sports City Stadium in Isa Town, Bahrain.

Bangladesh (FIFA ranking 192) could never manage a win against Palestine (FIFA ranking 100) since their first meeting in AFC Challenge Cup in Dhaka in 2006.

Hosts Bangladesh national team (ranked 192) played to a 1-1 in their first match in 2006, suffered 0-2 goals defeat in the FIFA International Friendly in 2011 and conceded 0-1 defeat in the AFC Asia Cup in 2013. Bangladesh U-23 team suffered 0-3 defeat against hosts Palestine in 2017.    

Touring Bangladesh conceded a narrow 0-1 goal defeat against upper ranked and hosts Bahrain in one of the two opening day’s matches Friday night (March 22) while Palestine made a flying start in the four-team Group B outplaying Sri Lanka by 9-0 goals Friday afternoon at the same venue.

Captain Mohamed Yusuf Handan scored the match-winner for Bahrain in the 21st minute of the match against Bangladesh. 

The youthful Bangladesh team, which put in four-team Group B of the Asian Youth Football with hosts Bahrain, Palestine and Sri Lanka, will play Sri Lanka on Tuesday (March 26) at 10pm (Bangladesh time) in the remaining group match.

Forty-four teams, split into eleven groups, are taking part in the AFC U-23 qualifiers, a qualifying meet of the Tokyo Olympics 2020.

Later, 11 group champions with four best group runners-up and hosts Thailand will play in the 16-team final round of the meet slated for January next year. The top three teams will qualify for Tokyo Olympics.

Ahead of the tough match against Palestine, the Head Coach of Bangladesh team Jamie Day said, “Palestine and Bahrain are best teams in the group. So, the match against Palestine will be another tough one (After 0-1 defeat against Bahrain), but we're up for the challenge. We'll give it our best to get something out of the game hopefully.”

“We need to get something from the match after losing yesterday (Friday). It's going to be similar to what we've done before. We want to obviously start the game well. We want to be compact to give ourselves a chance of getting something out of the match. And hopefully we can capitalize on the mistakes they make” Jamie Day added.

“We'll have a discussion tonight (Saturday) and decide which will be the best formation to play tomorrow (against Palestine),” he further said.

Bangladesh goalkeeping coach Dean May said, “The performance of our custodian Zico was good in the last night. He kept the team in the game with some of his saves. He has been trying to implement some of the match related training in the game.”

Meanwhile, Bangladesh did not have any training on Saturday apart from a gym and pool session at 11:00am local time. There will be class with all the players for video analysis and match related discussion for tomorrow's game.

Earlier, Bangladesh went to Bahrain with high morale taking 10-day intensive training camp in Qatar, where they beat Al Shahania Club by 1-0 goal and played to a goalless draw with Al Arabi Club in two preparatory matches in the gulf country.

Bangladesh football team, studded with 11 youthful U-23 players, recently beat hosts Cambodia by 1-0 in the FIFA International Friendly in Phnom Penh.