United News of Bangladesh

Bangladeshi Archer Abdur Rahman Alif win the gold medal in the recurve men’s singles of the 2025 Asia Cup World Ranking Tournament, Stage-2 beating Japanese rivals Miyata Gakuto by 6-4 sets in the event’s final in Singapore on Friday (June 20). The 19 years old Alif is the second Bangladeshi archer to win an Asian level archery gold medal for Bangladesh after the country celebrated archer Roman Shana, who clinched the country's first archery gold medal in the Asia Cup Archery, Stage 3  in 2019. Asia Cup Archery: Alif will battle for recurve men’s singles gold medal on Friday On way to the recurve men’s singles final, Alif eliminated his Chinese rival Aline by 6-2 sets, beat Busthamin Muhammad Syafiq of Malaysia by 6-4 sets, defeated Liu Tai Yen of Chinese Taipei by 7-3 sets and eliminated Chen Pa-An also of Chinese Taipei by 7-3 sets in the semifinal. Bangladesh team completed their Asia Cup Archery assignment and will return home on Saturday (tomorrow) at 6:05pm by a Biman Bangladesh Airlines flight.

Bangladeshi Archer Abdur Rahman Alif will battle for the prestigious recurve men’s singles gold medal of the 2025 Asia Cup World Ranking Tournament, Stage-2 against Japanese archer in the event’s final in Singapore on Friday. On way to the recurve men’s singles final, Alif eliminated Busthamin Muhammad Syafiq of Malaysia by 6-4 sets, defeated Liu Tai Yen of Chinese Taipei by 7-3 sets and eliminated Chen Pa-An also of Chinese Taipei by 7-3 sets in the semifinal. Another Bangladesh archer Himu Bachar will play bronze medal deciding match of the compound men’s singles against Sachin of India also on Friday. Bangladesh finish 4th in two team events at Asia Cup Archery in Singapore In the compound men’s singles, Himu reached the semifinal beating Thirumuru Ganesh Mani Ratnam of India by 145-144 score in the quarterfinal, but he conceded 143-147 score defeat against another Indian Dalal Kushal in the semifinal

Bangladesh secured fourth place in both the recurve men’s team and compound women’s team events at the 2025 Asia Cup World Ranking Archery Tournament (Stage-2) held in Singapore on Wednesday. In the recurve men’s team event, the Bangladesh trio of Abdur Rahman Alif, Ram Krisna Saha and Mohammad Rakib Miah narrowly missed out on a podium finish after a 3-5 defeat to Chinese Taipei in the bronze medal match. Earlier in the competition, the Bangladeshi recurve team displayed strong performances, blanking the Philippines 6-0 in the round of 16 before edging past Kazakhstan in a tense tiebreaker, winning 27-26 to reach the semifinals. However, they fell short against India, losing 1-5 in the semifinal clash. Meanwhile, in the compound women’s team event, the Bangladeshi side comprising Puspita Zaman, Bonnya Akter and Kulsum Akter Moni also settled for fourth place, going down 224-230 to Kazakhstan in the bronze medal decider. Asia Cup Archery: Bangladeshi archer Abdur Rahman Alif enters gold medal race, Himu Bachar battle for bronze medal They reached the last four by defeating Hong Kong China 230-221 and then outclassing Indonesia 230-225 in the quarterfinal and semifinal, respectively. But they narrowly lost to Malaysia 221-224 in the semis, ending their hopes of a medal. In the compound men’s team event, the Bangladeshi trio of Himu Bachar, Newas Ahmed Rakib and Sohel Rana were eliminated in the quarterfinals after a 218-222 defeat to Bhutan. Bangladesh will continue their campaign on Thursday, participating in the recurve mixed team and compound mixed team events. A total of 204 archers — 105 men and 99 women — from 20 Asian countries are competing in the tournament.

Bangladeshi archer Abdur Rahman Alif entered the gold medal race of the recurve men’s singles while Himu Bachar battle for the bronze medal of the compound men’s singles in the 2025 Asia Cup World Ranking Tournament, Stage-2 held in Singapore on Tuesday. In the recurve men’s singles gold medal match, Abdur Rahman will play a Japanese archer on June 20. In the day’s event’s elimination round, Abdur Rahman reached the recurve men’s singles final beating Chen Pa-An of Chinese Taipei by 7-3 sets in the semifinal  Earlier, he eliminated Busthamin Muhammad Syafiq of Malaysia by 6-4 sets in the round of 8 and defeated Liu Tai Yen of Chinese Taipei also by 7-3 sets in the quarterfinal. In the compound men’s singles, Himu Bachjar reached the semifinal beating Thirumuru Ganesh Mani Ratnam of India by 145-144 score in the quarterfinal, but he conceded 143-147 score defeat against another Indian Dalal Kushal in the semifinal. 20 nations urge Israel-Iran de-escalation Himu Bachar will play the bronze medal match against Indian rival C Sachin, also on June 20. In the compound women’s singles, Bangladesh archer Puspita Zaman eliminated from the event losing to Indian archer Thokal Tanishka Nilkumar by 134-146 score in the round of 8. The elimination round of the team event will be held on Wednesday from 9 am.

A 14-member Bangladesh Archer team left Dhaka for Singapore on Saturday to compete in the 2025 Asia Cup World Ranking Tournament, Stage-2 beginning there on Monday (June 16) through qualifying round. The official practice session of the participating teams, team managers meeting and team’s equipment inspection will be held on Sunday. A 14-member Bangladesh team comprises 11 archers and three officials. Members of Bangladesh Archery team : Recurve Men’s Archer- Abdur Rahman Alif, Ramkrishna Saha, Rakib Mia and Mohammad Sagor Islam, Recurve Women’s Archer – Monira Akter. Tigers to fly for Sri Lanka on Friday with eye on World Test Championship place Compound Men’s Archer-Himu Bachar , Newas Ahmed Rakib and Sohel Rana. Recurve Women’s Archers- Bonnya Akhter, Puspita Zaman and Mst. Kulsum Akhter Moni. Three officials are: Team Manager-Martin Frederick, Trainer: Mohammad Hasan and Rina Chakma.  

Former French Open champions Justine Henin and Andre Agassi will present the women's and men's singles trophies at Roland-Garros, organizers said Saturday. Henin won the clay-court Grand Slam four times. Agassi lifted the Coupe des Mousquetaires trophy in 1999. He was also twice runner-up in Paris. Top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka takes on No. 2 Coco Gauff later Saturday in the women's final, with the winner receiving the trophy from Henin. Top-ranked Jannik Sinner will be up against defending champion Carlos Alcaraz in the men's final on Sunday.

The proposed budget for the Ministry of Youth and Sports for the fiscal year 2025-26 has been allocated at Tk 2423 crore, Tk 842.32 crore more than last year's revised budget. Finance Adviser Dr Salehuddin Ahmed presented the budget Monday afternoon. Of the total budget Tk 2423 crore, operating cost will be Tk 983 crore and development expenditure will be Tk 1440 crore. The revised budget for the last 2024-25 fiscal year was 1581 crore--953 crore for operating expenditure  and Tk  628 crore for the development expenditure. The main sports program for the  fiscal year 2025-26  featured organising and participating in sports at national and international level as well as rendering national sports award, hunting sports talents, creating sports environment in rural areas, preparing skill sports persons, construction, improvement and maintenance of sports infrastructure, providing grants in aid to various sports organisations and providing welfare grants-in aid to insolvent sports persons.

Touring Bangladesh Women's Football team will play their last match in the three-nation tournament against their 69th ranked higher host Jordan on Tuesday (June 3) at 10 pm Bangladesh time at the King Abdullah Stadium in the Jordanian capital Amman during the FIFA international window. Earlier, Bangladesh women’s team (ranked 133) played their higher ranked Jordan (ranked 74) in a lone match in the Women’s Asian Cup Qualifier on September 19, 2021 and suffered a 0-5 goals defeat. Bangladesh National Women's Football team, which was inspired after playing goalless draw with their 39th ranked higher Indonesian in the first match last Saturday, now morally boost up to beat their giant rivals Jordan in Tuesday's match. Meanwhile, Bangladesh women’s team made their final training session at the Salt Stadium in Amman on Monday from 1 pm to 2:30 pm Bangladesh time. In the day’s training session, the inspired Bangladesh team focused on their ability following their goalless draw with Indonesia and expressed their high hope of winning the match against the hosts after displaying good football. Bangladeshi experienced campaigner and midfielder Maria Manda said, “we completed  a good practice session today (Monday), we will play Jordan tomorrow (Tuesday), we are now are ready and wants to leave the field with a win against Jordan after playing a good match”.     Bangladesh is playing two international friendly matches against two tough Asian opponents as part of their preparation for the AFC Women's Asian Cup Qualifiers, which begin in Myanmar on June 29. Bangladesh has been placed in Group C of the Asian tournament along with hosts Myanmar, Bahrain, and Turkmenistan. In Group C matches, Bangladesh will face Bahrain on June 29, Myanmar on July 2, and Turkmenistan on July 5, all at the Thuwunna Stadium in Yangon.  

French authorities reported Sunday that two people died and a police officer was left in a coma following large-scale celebrations across the country after Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) won the Champions League—Europe’s most prestigious soccer tournament. A 17-year-old was fatally stabbed in Dax during PSG celebrations following Saturday night’s final in Munich, according to the national police. In Paris, a man died when his scooter collided with a car during the festivities, the Interior Ministry stated. Investigations into both incidents are ongoing. In Coutance, northwest France, a police officer suffered serious eye injuries from a firework accident and has been placed in an induced coma, the police reported. Although most of the celebrations were peaceful, some turned violent, leading to hundreds of arrests. PSG’s squad is set to return to a hero’s welcome on the Champs-Élysées Sunday, after defeating Inter Milan 5-0 to win their first-ever Champions League title. Authorities deployed a water cannon near the Arc de Triomphe to secure the Place de l’Étoile. Police said a large crowd not watching the match attempted to breach a barricade to confront officers. By 2 a.m. Sunday, police had made 294 arrests, including 30 individuals who broke into a shoe store on the Champs-Élysées. Two cars were also set on fire near Parc des Princes. At Place de la Bastille, fans gathered in high spirits—singing, dancing, and lighting flares as they celebrated on and around the base of the iconic column. Motorbikes circled the area to cheers from the crowd. With no police present, the scene remained lively and peaceful as the night went on. Anticipating potential unrest, officials had stationed 5,400 officers across the Champs-Élysées, other key locations in Paris, and surrounding suburbs.

Former captain of the Bangladesh national cricket team, as well as the country's first Test centurion, Aminul Islam Bulbul, was declared the new president of the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) on Friday. Bulbul, who had a reputation as one of cricket's nicest guys, was announced as the 16th president of BCB at a meeting of the BCB board of directors Friday (May 30) afternoon. Nazmul Abedeen Fahim and Fahim Sinha were elected as senior vice president and vice president respectively. BCB director Iftekhar Rahman Mithu, officially made this announcement at a press conference after the BCB directors’ meeting on Friday evening. Earlier, National Sports Council (NSC) appointed Bulbul as a BCB director on Friday afternoon after cancelling Faruque Ahmed’s nomination after eight directors submitted a no-confidence letter against Faruque Ahmed on Thursday (29 May) . 8 out of 9 active BCB directors submit no confidence letter against Faruque as walls close in Later, BCB’s board of directors elected Aminul Islam as the president in a board meeting on Friday evening. Bulbul represented Bangladesh in 13 Tests and 39 ODIs and became the first Bangladeshi to score a Test century in the country's inaugural Test against India. After retiring from international cricket in 2002, Bulbul served the International Cricket Council (ICC) and the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) in various capacities over the past decade. He also served as the development manager for ICC’s Asia region before joining the BCB.