United News of Bangladesh

Two Bangladesh athletes -- swimmer Samiul Islam Rafi and teenaged archer Mohammad Sagor Islam-- will compete in their respective swimming and archery events of the Paris Olympics 2024 on Tuesday (July 30).  Bangladeshi swimmer  Samiul Islam Rafi will start their campaign in the ongoing Paris Olympics Swimming competing in the men's 100-meter freestyle heats at the Paris La Defense Arena on Tuesday (July 30).  Samiul, who trained in Thailand ahead of the Paris Olympics, will compete in lane number 6 of the heats number 2, will start at 11am local time on Tuesday. Mohammad Sagor Islam, who directly qualified for the Olympics as the 3rd Bangladeshi athletes after golfer Siddikur Rahman and archer Ruman  Shana,  will compete in the elimination round (Round of 1/32) of men's recurve singles against the Tokyo Olympics silver medalist Mauro Nespoli also on Tuesday (July 30) at Invalides. Thirty two archers will qualify for the next round of the event. Earlier on last Thursday, teenaged Sagor Islam competed in the ranking round of the  men's recurve singles and was placed 45th among 64 participants scoring 652 at the same venue.   Another Bangladesh swimmer Sonia Khatun will compete in the women's 50-meter freestyle heats at the same venue on August 3. Bangladeshi fastest man Imranur Rahman will compete in Bangladesh's last Paris Olympics event men's 100- meter sprint heats on Wednesday  (August 4) at the Stade de France. Earlier on Sunday, Bangladeshi shooter Mohammad Robiul Islam eliminated from the qualifying round of the men's 10-meter air rifles  showing a dismal performance in Paris Olympics shooting at the Chateauroux Shooting Complex. He was placed 43rd among the event's 49  competitors scoring 624.2 to worse his previous best  score of 628. A 13-member contingent, consisting of five athletes and eight officials, are representing Bangladesh in the Paris Olympics 2024, the biggest sports carnival in the world. Leading athletes from 206 countries around the world are competing in 32 disciplines of sports  in a battle for 329 gold medals. Five Bangladeshi athletes are taking part across four disciplines of sports-- archery, athletics, swimming, and shooting. 

The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) High Performance (HP) team secured a thrilling 5-run victory against Pakistan "A" in the second four-day match of their series in Darwin, Australia. BCB HP, led by Mahmudul Hasan Joy, batted first and posted 258 runs, while Pakistan "A" were bowled out for 179, giving BCB HP a significant lead. In the second inning, BCB HP managed 216 runs, setting a target of 296 for Pakistan "A". Despite a strong start from Pakistan "A" openers, BCB HP bowlers, especially Mahmudul Joy (5 wickets), turned the game around. Joy's crucial wickets in the middle and lower order restricted Pakistan "A" to 290 runs, falling agonisingly short of victory. This win secured a series draw for BCB HP, showcasing their resilience and ability to perform under pressure.

A brilliant hattrick by Roman helped Arambagh Krira Sangha to earn a facile 5-1 goals victory over Mugda Samaj Kallyan in the Bashundhara Group Senior (First) Division Football League at the Bir Shrestha Shaheed Mostafa Kamal Stadium in Kamalapur here on Sunday. The winners were trailing by 0-1 goal in the first half as Mahbubul Biswas Munna scored the first for the Mugda team in just the 8th minute. Mohammad Roman made a hattrick scoring three goals three goals in the 57th, 60th and 90+4 minutes while Abid Hasan Abir and Shafiqul Islam scored the remaining two goals for the Arambagh KS in the 55th and 58th minutes respectively. In the day's another match, Mohakhali Ekadosh defeated Bashabo Torun Sangha by 1-0 goal at the same venue. Sabbir Ahmed Aporba scored the match winning goal for Mohakhali Ekadosh in the 33rd minute.

Sri Lanka won the final of the ACC Women’s Asia Cup, beating India by an eight-wicket margin. This is their maiden title after being runners-up five times. Kavisha Dilhari hit a six off Pooja Vastrakar off the fourth ball of the 19th over and ensured the win for Sri Lanka. Following this shot, Sri Lankan players ran into the ground and started to celebrate their maiden Asia Cup title. Women’s Asia Cup: Bangladesh to face India in first semifinal Friday India won the toss and opted to bat first. Smriti Mandhana scored 60 to provide India a good start. Despite losing some quick wickets in the middle overs, Jemimah Rodrigues and Richa Ghosh provided late impetus, which helped India to post a challenging total of 165 runs in 20 overs. For Sri Lanka, Kavisha Dilhari was the best bowler taking two wickets. Women’s Asia Cup: Bangladesh beat Malaysia by 114 runs  In reply, Chamari Athapaththu and Harshitha Samarawickrama scored a fifty each and set the stage for Sri Lanka’s historic win. After Athapaththu’s dismissal to Deepti Sharma, Kavisha Dilhari scored 30 of 16 balls with one four and two sixes and guided Sri Lanka to its maiden Asia Cup title with eight balls to play. Women’s Asia Cup: Bangladesh endure shocking defeat to Sri Lanka While Sri Lanka won their maiden Asia Cup title, India became runners-up for the second time. In the other editions, India won a record number of titles.  

The 2024 Olympics are underway. Australia leads the medal standings after the first day of competition, but more winners will join the list every day from July 27-Aug. 11. See which countries lead the medal count. Below is a list of all the medal winners, day by day. Sunday, July 28 SHOOTING Men's 10m air pistol Gold: Xie Yu, China Silver: Federico Nilo Maldini, Italy Bronze: Paolo Monna, Italy Women's 10m air pistol Gold: Oh Ye Jin, South Korea Silver: Kim Yeji, South Korea Bronze: Manu Bhaker, India Saturday, July 27 CYCLING Men's individual time trial Gold: Remco Evenepoel, Belgium Silver: Filippo Ganna, Italy Bronze: Wout van Aert, Belgium Women's individual time trial Gold: Grace Brown, Australia Silver: Anna Henderson, Britain Bronze: Chloe Dygert, United States DIVING Women's synchronised 3m springboard Gold: Chang Yani and Chen Yiwen, China Silver: Sarah Bacon and Kassidy Cook, United States Bronze: Yasmin Harper and Scarlett Mew Jensen, Great Britain FENCING Women's epee individual Gold: Man Wai Vivian Kong, Hong Kong Silver: Auriane Mallo-Breton, France Bronze: Eszter Muhari, Hungary Men's saber individual Bronze: Luigi Samele, Italy JUDO Women 48kg Gold: Natsumi Tsunoda, Japan Silver: Baasankhuu Bavuudori, Mongolia Bronze: Shirine Boukli, France, and Tara Babulfath, Sweden Men 60kg Gold: Yeldos Smetov, Kazakhstan Silver: Luka Mkheidze, France Bronze: Ryuju Nagayama, Japan and Francisco Garrigos, Spain RUGBY SEVENS Gold: France Silver: Fiji Bronze: South Africa SHOOTING 10m air rifle mixed team Gold: Huang Yuting and Sheng Lihao, China Silver: Keum Jihyeon and Park Hajun, Korea Bronze: Alexandra Le and Islam Satpayev, Kazakhstan SWIMMING Men's 400m freestyle Gold: Lukas Maertens, Germany Silver: Elijah Winnington, Australia Bronze: Woomin Kim, Korea Men's 4x100m freestyle relay Gold: United States Silver: Australia Bronze: Italy Women's 400m freestyle Gold: Ariarne Titmus, Australia Silver: Summer McIntosh, Canada Bronze: Katie Ledecky, United States Women's 4x100m freestyle relay Gold: Australia Silver: United States Bronze: China

Argentina got its Olympic men's soccer campaign back on track by beating Iraq 3-1 on Saturday in Lyon. Argentina, one of the pre-tournament favorites, suffered a shock 2-1 loss to Morocco in its Group B opening game marred by a pitch invasion from Moroccan fans and a two-hour delay. While Iraq threatened to pull off another surprise when Aymen Hussein leveled the game in first-half stoppage time, goals from Luciano Gondou and Ignacio Fernandez sealed victory for Argentina. Thiago Almada, who Argentina coach Javier Mascherano said had a watch stolen when the team's training base was robbed earlier this week, opened the scoring with a volley in the 14th minute at Stade de Lyon. But Hussein's header in the fifth minute of first half-time added time evened the game before the break. Gondou's far-post header in the 62nd restored Argentina's lead and Fernandez curled in a long-range shot from the edge of the box in the 85th. The win leaves Argentina level with Iraq and Morocco on three points. Morocco was playing Ukraine in a later kick off. Spain 3, Dominican Rep. 1Spain reached the quarterfinals with a 3-1 win over the Dominican Republic in Bordeaux. Goals from Fermín Lopez, Alex Baena and Miguel Gutierrez made it two wins from two for Spain in Group C. Lopez — one of Barcelona’s rising stars — scored in the 24th, but Angel Montes de Oca evened the game in the 38th. The Dominican Republic's Edison Azcona was sent off before halftime. Baena restored Spain’s lead in the 55th and Gutierrez sealed the win in the 70th. Spain’s men are aiming to add to a golden period for its nation’s soccer teams after the women’s team won the World Cup last year and the men won the European Championship earlier this month. END/AP/UNB/SIS

The current SAFF Women’s champions Bangladesh Football team won the two-match FIFA International Women’s Football (Tier-1) Series 2-0 beating hosts Bhutan by 4-2 goals in a keenly contested 2nd and last match at the Changlimithang Stadium in Thimphu Saturday evening. Touring Bangladesh Women’s Football team  played the two-match FIFA International Series against Himalayan nation Bhutan as a part of their preparation for the upcoming SAFF Women’s Championship 2024 to be held in Nepal next October. This was the 4th consecutive victory for the Bangladesh National Women’s team against Bhutan after beating them by 2-0 goals in the SAFF Women’s Championship at Biratnagar in Nepal in 2019, beat them by 8-0 goals in Kathmandu in 2022 on way to clinch their first-ever  SAFF Women’s Championship title, apart from their 5-1 goals victory in the first friendly last Wednesday. In that match, the youthful Bangladesh Women's team fell behind but soon assumed one-way traffic  in a flying start, outplaying the hosts by 5-1 goals at the same venue, featuring a hattrick by Sagorika. Today's match between new English head coach Peter James Butler-groomed Bangladesh and Bhutanese women's team was locked in 2-2 goals in the first half of the day's match. Like the previous match on Wednesday, coming from behind, Bangladesh won the match and series.  This time Bangladesh were forced to field an youthful women’s team without key players like Tohura Khatun, Shamsunnahar Jr, Afeida Khondakar, Shaheda Akter Ripa for the HSC exam and Krishna Rani Sarkar and Aklima Khatun for injury. Earlier, Bangladesh Women’s team, under the new British Head Coach Peter James Butler, played a two-match preparatory series in Dhaka against the Chinese Taipei in last May and June and lost both the matches by 0-4 and 0-1 goal respectively.

Bangladeshi shooter Mohammad Robiul Islam will compete in the qualifying round of the men's 10-meter air rifles of the Paris Olympics' 2024 Shooting at the Chateauroux Shooting Complex on Sunday (July 28). He will be the 2nd Bangladeshi athlete to appear in the ongoing Paris Olympics after teenager archer M Sagor Islam. Bangladesh started their campaign in the 33rd Olympic Games, Paris 2024, with archer Sagor Islam competing in the ranking round of the  men's recurve singles last Thursday.  Archer Sagor Islam, who directly qualified for the Olympics as the 3rd Bangladeshi athlete after golfer Siddikur Rahman and archer Ruman Shana, ranked 45th among 64 archers scoring 652 in the ranking round of the games men's recurve singles archery on Thursday. Event's Olympics gold medalist South Korean archer Kim Woo-Jin finished top in the ranking round scoring 686.  Archer Sagor was in the top 10 position after throwing first 30 arrows, but failed to finish as per expectation, scoring zero in the last attempt. Sagor Islam will compete in the men's individual elimination round (Round of 1/32) against the Tokyo Olympics 2021 silver medalist Mauro Nespoli on Tuesday (July 30) at the same venue.  Thirty-two archers will qualify for the next round of the event on Tuesday. Besides, Swimmer Samiul Islam Rafi of Bangladesh will compete in the men's 100- meter freestyle heats at the Paris La Defense Arena also on Tuesday (July 30).  Another Bangladesh swimmer Sonia Khatun will compete in the women's 50-meter freestyle heats at the same venue on August 3. Bangladeshi fastest man Imranur Rahman will compete in men's 100-meter sprint heats on the following day (August 4) at the Stade de France. A 13-member contingent, consisting of five athletes and eight officials, are representing Bangladesh in the Paris Olympics 2024, the biggest sports carnival in the world. Leading athletes from 206 countries around the world are competing in 32 disciplines of sports  in a battle for 329 medals. Archer Mohammad Sagor Islam, who directly qualified for the Paris Olympics, carried the Bangladesh national flag in the march past the Friday's opening ceremony. Five Bangladeshi athletes are taking part in four disciplines of sports-- archery, athletics, swimming, and shooting. 

The Paris Olympics look likely to get off to a soggy start. Meteo-France, the French weather service, is predicting “flooding rains” Friday evening when the opening ceremony is set to unroll along the Seine River. But the show is set to go on as planned, starting at 1:30 p.m. EDT/7:30 p.m. CEST and should last more than three hours. Already in the late afternoon, skies were gray with intermittent drizzle. There was a silver lining, though, with temperatures expected to stay relatively warm throughout the evening. Instead of a traditional march into a stadium, about 6,800 athletes will parade on more than 90 boats on the Seine River for 6 kilometers (3.7 miles). Though 10,700 athletes are expected to compete at these Olympics, hundreds of soccer players are based outside Paris, surfers are in Tahiti and many have yet to arrive for their events in the second week, organizers said Thursday. Hundreds of thousands of people, including 320,000 paying and invited ticket-holders, are expected to line the Seine’s banks as athletes are paraded along the river on boats.

Bangladesh started their campaign in the 33rd Olympic Games, Paris 2024, with archer Sagor Islam competing in the ranking round of the men's recurve singles at Invalides on Thursday (July 25). Bangladesh's teenage archer Sagor, who directly qualified for the Olympics as just the 3rd Bangladeshi ever (after golfer Siddikur Rahman and archer Ruman Shana), today (Thursday) ranked 45th among 64 archers scoring 652 in the ranking round of the games men's recurve singles archery. He will compete in the men's individual elimination round of 1/32 on July 30, according to a message received from the Bangladesh Archery Federation. Bangladeshi shooter Rabiul Islam will appear in the qualification round of the men's 10-metre air rifles on July 28 at the Chateauroux Shooting Complex. Swimmer Samiul Islam Rafi of Bangladesh will compete in the men's 100-metre freestyle heats at the Paris La Defence Arena also on July 30. Another Bangladesh swimmer, Sonia Khatun, will compete in the women's 50-metre freestyle heats at the same venue on August 3. Bangladesh's fastest man, Imranur Rahman, will compete in his favourite men's 100-metre sprint heats on the following day (August 4) at the Stade de France Stadium. A 13-member contingent, consisting of five athletes and eight officials, is representing Bangladesh in the Paris Olympics 2024, the biggest show on earth. The opening ceremony of the 17-day biggest sports carnival of the world will be held on Friday (July 26) on the River Seine in Paris, first of its kind, through a colourful ceremony, will start at 11:30 pm Bangladesh time. Leading athletes from 206 countries around the world will compete in 32 disciplines of sports in the battle for 329 medals. Meritorious archer Mohammad Sagor Islam, who directly qualified for the Paris Olympics, will carry the Bangladesh national flag in the march past the opening ceremony. Five Bangladeshi athletes are taking part in four disciplines of sports: archery, athletics, swimming, and shooting. Sagor Islam is competing in archery, M Samiul Islam Rafi and Sonia Khatun in swimming, and Bangladesh's fastest man, Imranur Rahman, in athletics.