Dhaka, Sept 13 (UNB) – Bangladesh National Basketball team, now in Bahrain to compete in the 2nd phase pre-qualification round of West zone in the FIBA Asia Cup Basketball, conceded 60-63 point defeat against Sri Lanka in their 2nd match recently. 

Touring Bangladesh is due to play hosts Bahrain in the 3rd match on Thursday.
 

Tokyo, Sep 13 (AP/UNB) — Amanda Anisimova advanced to the quarterfinals of the Japan Women's Open by beating seventh-seeded Zheng Saisai 6-1, 6-1 Wednesday.

The 17-year-old American won 51 points to only 27 for Zheng to reach her first WTA quarterfinal match.

"I was playing a really good player, so I was just preparing myself well mentally," Anisimova said. "I was just going out there without pressure and trying to have fun."

Anisimova's only other professional appearance outside her home country was at an ITF event in Curitiba, Brazil, in March 2017. She reached the final before losing to Anastasia Potapova.

Also, fifth-seeded Ajla Tomljanovic beat Zhu Lin 7-5, 6-4. The 25-year-old Australian had 23 winners, including six aces, against Zhu.

Dhaka, Sep 12 (AP/UNB) - The chair umpire who penalized Serena Williams a game in the U.S. Open final has been assigned to officiate the Davis Cup semifinal matches between the United States and Croatia, The Associated Press has learned.

International Tennis Federation spokeswoman Heather Bowles confirmed to the AP on Tuesday that Carlos Ramos was chosen to work at the best-of-five series between the countries that begins Friday and concludes Sunday in Zadar, Croatia.

The U.S. team includes Jack Sock, Sam Querrey, Steve Johnson, Mike Bryan and rookie Frances Tiafoe.

Ramos was in the chair at Flushing Meadows last Saturday when Naomi Osaka won her first Grand Slam title by beating 23-time major champion Williams 6-2, 6-4. That match descended into chaos — with thousands of spectators booing and both players crying during the trophy ceremony — after Williams confronted Ramos about his rulings.

Williams, a 36-year-old American, was fined a total of $17,000 by the U.S. Open's tournament referee the next day for three code violations.

On Monday, the ITF, which oversees the Davis Cup, issued a statement defending Ramos, saying his "decisions were in accordance with the relevant rules" and that his rulings were "reaffirmed by the U.S. Open's decision to fine Serena Williams for the three offenses."

"Ramos undertook his duties as an official according to the relevant rule book and acted at all times with professionalism and integrity," the ITF statement added.

The governing body's support for Ramos came after the WTA, which operates the women's tour, was critical of the way things went between him and Williams in New York.

"The WTA believes that there should be no difference in the standards of tolerance provided to the emotions expressed by men vs. women and is committed to working with the sport to ensure that all players are treated the same," the tour's CEO, Steve Simon, said in a statement. "We do not believe that this was done last night."

Williams was cited by Ramos for getting coaching signals; for breaking her racket, which automatically cost her a point because it was her second code violation of the match; and for calling Ramos a "thief," which cost her a game because it was her third code violation.

New York, Sep 11 (AP/UNB) — When Serena Williams told the umpire at the U.S. Open final that he owed her an apology, that he had stolen something from her, and then she got penalized for her words, Breea Willingham could relate to her frustration and anger.

Willingham isn't a tennis star, but she is a black woman. She and others like her say Williams' experience resonates with them because they are often forced to watch their tone and words in the workplace in ways that men and other women are not.

And if they're not careful, they say, they risk being branded "Angry Black Woman."

"So much of what she experiences we experience in the workplace, too," said Willingham, a professor of criminal justice at the State University of New York at Plattsburgh. "As black women ... we're expected to stay in our lane, that lane that has been created for us. Any time we step out of that lane, then we become a problem."

The stereotype of the "Angry Black Woman" is alive and well, said Felicia Martin, 36, a federal employee who lives in Brooklyn. She recalls once seeing a white female co-worker cursing and throwing things and not facing repercussions, while she's been told to calm down for expressing her own upset in a normal tone of voice.

"If I'm upset about something, I should get to express that to you," Martin said.

During Saturday's championship loss to Naomi Osaka, Williams got a warning from the chair umpire for violating a rarely enforced rule against receiving coaching from the sidelines. An indignant Williams emphatically defended herself, denying she had cheated. A short time later, she smashed her racket in frustration and was docked a point. She protested that and demanded an apology from the umpire, who penalized her a game.

Many people, black women among them, echoed Williams' contention that she was punished while men on the tennis circuit have gotten away with even harsher language.

"A lot of things started going through my head in that particular situation. You know, first and foremost, what was going to be said about her the next day? The typical angry black woman, you know ... when she really was just standing up for herself and she was standing up for women's rights," said former tennis champion Zina Garrison, who is black. "A woman, period, is always, when we speak up for ourselves, then you have the situation where people are saying, you know, they're too outspoken. They're acting like a man, all of that. But then a black woman on top of that, the angry black woman, who does she think she is?"

Martin and others pointed to a cartoon by an Australian artist as the clearest example of the stereotype facing black women. Mark Knight of Melbourne's Herald Sun depicted Williams as an irate, hulking, big-mouthed black woman jumping up and down on a broken racket. The umpire was shown telling a blond, slender woman — meant to be Osaka, who is actually Japanese and Haitian — "Can you just let her win?"

"I was deeply offended. This is not a joke," said Vanessa K. De Luca, former editor in chief of Essence magazine, who wrote a column about the U.S. Open furor.

The cartoonist "completely missed the point of why she was upset," De Luca told The Associated Press. "It was about her integrity, and anybody who doesn't get that is perpetuating the erasure that so many black women feel when they are trying to speak up for themselves. It's like our opinions don't matter."

Some black women say they have to worry perpetually about how they're coming across to make sure they're not dismissed as angry or emotional.

"It's exhausting," said Denise Daniels, 44, of the Bronx, who works in professional development for educators. "It does diminish from the work satisfaction that other people get to enjoy because it is an additional cost."

Willingham thinks that was part of Williams' experience on Saturday as well, but that it was also about a career's worth of frustrations that she has had to endure, such as when the French Open banned the type of catsuit she wore.

"I felt it for her. I felt she was fed up, she was tired of this," Willingham said. "How much is she supposed to take, really? How much are any of us supposed to keep taking?"

Dhaka, Sept 10 (UNB) – Walton Group accorded a reception to Bangladesh U-15 Women’s Football team at the conference room of Bangladesh Football Federation in Motijeel on Monday afternoon for their outstanding performance in the SAFF U-15 Women Championship.

Bangladesh finished runners-up in the last month’s SAFF U-15 Women’s Championship in Bhutan.

BFF member-cum-chairman of Women’s Football Committee Mahfuza Akhter Kiron, BFF member Aminul Islam Babu, BFF general secretary Abu Nayeem Shohag, Head Coach of Bangladesh Women’s team Golam Rabbani Chotan, Bangladesh captain Maria Manda and Operative Director of Walton Group Iqbal Bin Anwar were also present on the occasion.

Later, Walton Group awarded Bangladesh team members with their home appliances.