Sports

MNA Sports Desk: The first match of the tri-series in Dublin between Ireland and Bangladesh was abandoned after just 31.1 overs because of rain. The Tigers were 157 for four against hosts Ireland when the players were forced off the field, with Tamim 64 not out from 88 balls. The opening batsman was unable to play the full range of his attacking strokes because his side found themselves in trouble at 70 for four. But in partnership with Mahmudullah he led an impressive recovery, with the latter 43 not out when the rain came. Winning the toss, Irish skipper William ...

MNA Sports Desk: After Sabbir Rahman’s unbeaten century in the first innings, Bangladesh bowlers played enthralling spells destroying Ireland Wolves for 195 in their warm-up match on Thursday. In the first innings, Bangladesh opener Tamim Iqbal made a solid start with 86 runs off 76 balls after another opener Soumya Sarkar was dismissed at 44-run opening partnership. Bangladesh blaster Sabbir Rahman made 100 from 86 balls with 16 fours and a sole six leading Bangladesh score to 394 for 7 wickets. Shakib Al Hasan blasted 44 off 27 balls when Mosaddek Hossain scored 31 from 27 balls, Mushfiqur Rahim 41 ...

MNA Sports Desk: India finally announced their squad to defend the Champions Trophy after ending their battle with the world governing body over financial conditions. Virat Kohli will lead India in the defence of their Champions Trophy in England and Wales from 1-18 June. India won the trophy during the last edition in 2013. Opener Rohit Sharma, fast bowler Mohammed Shami and spinner Ravichandran Ashwin all return after recovering from injury. Former captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and stylish left-hander Yuvraj Singh are also in the 15-man squad. The squad was announced the day after India’s cricket board resolved its differences ...

MNA Sports Desk: FIFA has lifted a four-match international suspension on Argentina forward Lionel Messi, world soccer’s ruling body said on Friday. The U-turn is a major boost to Argentina’s hopes of reaching next year’s World Cup in Russia, with the South Americans struggling in regional qualifying. FIFA said its appeal committee sided with a challenge filed on Messi’s behalf by the Argentine Football Association and lifted “the sanctions imposed on him as a result”. “Despite the fact that the FIFA Appeal Committee considered Lionel Messi’s behavior as reproachable” it concluded “the evidence available was not sufficient” to justify a ...

MNA Sports Desk: Gonzalo Higuain scored both goals as an imperious Juventus beat Monaco 2-0 in their Champions League semi-final first leg on Wednesday to take a huge step towards next month’s final in Cardiff. While the second leg in Turin next Tuesday will be no formality, Juventus have never lost a two-legged European tie to French opposition and so impressive were they at the Stade Louis II that it is hard to imagine Monaco recovering. Higuain, who now has 31 goals this season, received applause from all around the ground as he came off to be replaced by Juan ...

MNA Sports Desk: Bangladesh National Cricket team has consolidated their position at 7th in the ODI rankings raising hopes for earning a direct berth into the 2019 World Cup. The annual update for the latest ICC ODI rankings has been released, with South Africa occupying the top position after the May 1 cut-off. The Tigers (91) lost a point in the rankings, but closely trail sixth-placed Sri Lanka (93) who dropped five points in ICC’s annual update published on Monday, after their home series against Bangladesh ended in a 1-1 tie. Pakistan (88) lost two points but retained eighth position, ...

MNA Sports Desk: Bangladesh national cricket team’s practice is ongoing in full swing in England ahead of the first friendly one-day match against Duke of Norfolk XI at Arundel Castle Cricket Ground in West Sussex. The Tigers had their practice sessions with bat-ball and including warm-up at County Cricket Ground on Saturday. They will play two friendly ODI matches against Duke of Norfolk XI and Sussex XI Hove on May 1 and 7 in Brighton as part of their preparations ahead of the Ireland Tri-Nation Series. The Tigers will face hosts Ireland twice in the tri-nation series on May 12 ...

MNA Sports Desk: Australia cricket team will visit Bangladesh in August to play the pre-scheduled two-match Test series, which was postponed on October 2015 due to security concerns, said Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) chairman Nazmul Hasan Papon on Friday. The BCB chief came up with the announcement while talking to journalists after returning from ICC meeting in Dubai. BCB President said, “Cricket Australia (CA) chairman David Peever confirmed me that they are going to send the team to Bangladesh in August as per the schedule for the two-match Test series.” Australia have not played in Bangladesh since Ricky Ponting’s team ...

MNA Sports Desk: Pakistan will not tour Bangladesh this year as per schedule; the PCB said the series has been postponed indefinitely by mutual consent. Pakistan was to play two Tests, three ODIs and a T20I series in Bangladesh in July and August. “We had spoken about the possibility of hosting them [Bangladesh in Pakistan] this year,” PCB chairman Shaharyar Khan. “Pakistan have now toured Bangladesh twice without them reciprocating, and we feel we cannot tour Bangladesh for the third straight time. Therefore, we have decided to postpone the tour, and will explore another window in the next year or ...

MNA Sports Desk: Thirteen times champion Didarul Haq, from Ramu of Cox’s Bazar district, again won the championship of this year’s historic Jabber’s Wrestling Competition (Jabbarer Bolikhela) held at Laldighi Maidan on Tuesday. Didar clinched the champion trophy in a 17-minute fight by beating last year’s champion Shsmsu who comes from Teknaf of the same district. Earlier, Didar, a dominating figure in the historic wrestling competition, popularly known as Bolikhela, announced that he would retire next year from his fighting. Nearly 100 wrestlers aged from 10-70 years from different parts of the country mainly from rural areas who are locally ...

MNA Sports Desk: Man Kaur, 101-year-old woman, won a 100 metres sprint at the World Masters Games in Auckland on Monday, the 17th gold medal in the Indian athlete’s remarkable late-blooming career. Kaur clocked one minute 14 seconds as a small crowd cheered her on — ending a mere 64.42 seconds off Usain Bolt’s 100m world record set in 2009. But Kaur was guaranteed victory as the only participant in the 100-years-and-over category at the New Zealand event, which has attracted 25,000 competitors. She had no prior sporting experience before her son Gurdev Singh suggested she join him in competing ...

MNA Sports Desk: Lionel Messi scored his 500th Barcelona goal with the last kick of the game to snatch a stunning 3-2 win at Real Madrid and put the two-team level on points at the top of La Liga on Sunday. Messi had broken a three-year goalless drought against Madrid to cancel out Casemiro’s opener for Madrid in the first-half. James Rodriguez appeared to have rescued a point for the hosts with an 86th-minute strike to make it 2-2 after goals by Messi and Ivan Rakitic had overturned Casemiro’s opener. Madrid captain Sergio Ramos was sent off for a two-footed ...

MNA Sports Desk: Shakib Al Hasan has been put at the helm of Bangladesh Twenty20 team after Mashrafe Bin Mortaza retired from the format. The decision was taken at the 16th executive committee meeting of Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) held at the BCB headquarters in the capital on Saturday. With this announcement, the Tigers are getting three leaders, Mushfiqur Rahim (Test), Mashrafe (ODI) and Shakaib (T20I), for three separate formats of cricket. Mashrafe, who had been leading the team in both ODIs and T20s since late 2014, signed off from the shortest format during their tour of Sri Lanka. Shakib, ...

MNA Sports Desk: Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) on Thursday announced the Tigers squads for Champions Trophy and Ireland Tri‐Nation Series recalling Nasir Hossain in the squad of Tri-Nation Series while excluding from Champions TrophyNasir Hossain. Paceman Shafiul Islam has been roped into both the squad while Shuvagata Hom Chowdhury was dropped. Shakib Al Hasan, who is currently playing the IPL in India, will join the squad on May 4. Mustafizur Rahman will return to Bangladesh on April 25 and join his team mates in Sussex thereafter. Tigers will play host England in the opening match of the Champions Trophy at ...

MNA Sports Desk: Chris Gayle has become the first batsman to accumulate 10,000 Twenty20 runs, going past the milestone during a match-winning blitz in the Indian Premier League-2017. Swashbuckling West Indian Gayle, who plies his trade across the world’s Twenty20 leagues, smashed 77 off 38 balls with five fours and seven sixes to lead Royal Challengers Bangalore to a 21-run win over Gujarat Lions in Rajkot on Tuesday. Gayle’s nearest rival New Zealand’s Brendon McCullum, who top scored for Gujarat with 72, has more than 7,500 runs in the shortest format. The self-proclaimed “Universe Boss” has scored 7,534 runs in ...

MNA Sports Desk: Manish Pandey’s unbeaten 49-ball 69 and Yusuf Pathan’s 59 helped Kolkata Knight Riders clinch thriller over Delhi Daredevils by four wickets at the Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium. Kolkata Knight Riders beat Delhi Daredevils by four wickets to register their fourth win in 2017 Indian Premier League. Chasing a target of 169, Zaheer Khan and Pat Cummins rocked the visitors’ top-order but Yusuf Pathan and Manish Pandey then stitched together a 110-run stand to bring KKR’s innings back on track. With nine required off the last over, Pandey hit a six off the fourth ball to release the ...

MNA Sports Desk: Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina hands over cheques to the national cricket team’s Test captain Musfiqur Rahim and ODI captain Mashrafe Bin Mortaza for the team’s excellent performance in the recent tour to Sri Lanka. Prime Minister was abuzz with a huge number of sports celebrities last night as the premier honoured them through a gala reception at Ganabhaban. As many as 339 athletes, coaches and officials attended the over one-hour long programme at the PM’s official residence. Bangladesh Mashrafe Bin Murtaza received Tk 1 crore while Mushfiqur Rahim Tk 1 crore from the prime minister. The Bangladesh ...

MNA Sports Desk: Two goals and an assist by Leo Messi were what the doctor ordered to keep Barcelona alive and in the running for the La Liga title on Saturday in a 3-2 win over Real Sociedad. The first half was crazy with all five goals coming in the first 45 minutes play and with Real Sociedad playing good soccer and managing to stay in contention for at least a draw until the final whistle. It was Messi who got the home team on the board first in the 17th minute with a mighty and spot-on blast from distance ...

MNA Sports Desk: Former Bangladesh captain Habibul Bashar has been named as one of eight stalwarts of the modern era as Champion Ambassadors for this summer’s ICC Champions Trophy which will be staged at three iconic venues of England and Wales from 1-18 June. Habibul Bashar of Bangladesh, Shahid Afridi of Pakistan, Ian Bell of England, Shane Bond of New Zealand, Australia’s Mike Hussey of Australia, Harbhajan Singh of India, Kumar Sangakkara of Sri Lanka and Graeme Smith of South Africa were unveiled as the Ambassadors by ICC with exactly 50 days to go before the first ball is bowled ...

MNA Sports Desk: Three explosive devices went off by the side of the bus carrying the German football team Borussia Dortmund on Tuesday night, injuring one player. The incident occurred at about 7.15pm local time in Dortmund’s Hochstem district, approximately six miles (10km) from the club’s stadium, where they were due to play a Champions League quarter-final against Monaco. The club said other players were safe and there was no danger inside the Signal Iduna Park stadium. A letter found near the site of the attack “takes responsibility for the act”, a German prosecutor said. Germany is on high terror ...

MNA Sports Desk: Argentine Football Association (AFA) fired Edgardo Bauza as coach of the crisis-hit national team as it struggles to qualify for next year’s World Cup, reported news agency. It was the first big move by the Association since it last month picked new executives tasked with ending three years of turmoil in the Argentine game. “We have reached a verbal agreement. We have told Edgardo Bauza that he is no longer the coach of Argentina,” the AFA’s new president Claudio Tapia told reporters after meeting with Bauza at the association’s headquarters. Argentina, whose captain Lionel Messi has been ...

MNA Sports Desk: The United States, Mexico and Canada are going to announce a joint bid for the 2026 World Cup on Monday. The Confederation of North and Central America and Caribbean Association Football is moving ahead with the bid that was widely expected before Donald Trump was elected president. There has been concern the plan was unworkable under Trump’s anti-immigrant policies, but even if he serves a second term Trump would not be president in 2026. The confederation made the final decision to go ahead with the bid at its meeting Saturday in Aruba, the person said, speaking on ...

MNA Sports Desk: Mustafizur Rahman is likely to leave Dhaka for India on Tuesday (Apr 11) to play in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) for the Sunrisers Hyderabad. The 21-year-old left arm fast medium bowler came to limelight in his first appearance in IPL for Sunrisers Hyderabad last year grabbing 17 wickets in 16 matches with an average of 24.76. According to the BCB sources, the cutter master likely to play for defending champion Sunrisers Hyderabad on Wednesday (April 12). However, there were unconfirmed reports that said that the cutter master will not be available during this season of ...

MNA Sports Desk: Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) began their Indian Premier League 2017 campaign in a blazing fashion, hunting down a target of 184 runs in 14.5 overs to record a 10-wicket win against Gujarat Lions in Rajkot on Friday. Chasing a challenging 184 for the win, Chris Lynn (93 not out) and skipper Gautam Gambhir (76 not out) put on unbeaten 184 runs for the opening wicket to cruise to the victory. Lynn consumed just 41 balls and struck six boundaries and as many as eight sixes during his fiery knock. Gambhir, on the other hand, was at his ...

MNA Sports Desk: Riding on half-centuries from Yuvraj Singh (62) and Moises Henriques (52) Sunrisers Hyderabad beat Royal Challengers Bangalore by 35 runs in the IPL opener at Hyderabad. Sunrisers got to a mammoth total of 207 at the end of their allotted 20 overs. For Bangalore, Yuzvendra Chahal was the pick of the bowlers who returned with figures of 1 for 22. Bangalore got off to a great start but lost wickets at regular intervals that did not do any good to their run chase. At the end, the Shane Watson-led side were bowled out for 172, giving Hyderabad ...

MNA Sports Desk: Opener Kusal Perera hammered 77 off 53 balls to lead Sri Lanka to a six-wicket victory over Bangladesh in the first match of a two-game T20 series in Colombo on Tuesday. Chasing a modest total of 156, Kusal and skipper Upul Tharanga (24) made 65 in 6.5 overs to set the Lions the perfect platform. Earlier, Bangladesh managed to post a decent score of 155 for 6 after Mashrafe had won the toss. His plans were dealt a blow by Lasith Malinga in the second ball of the game as he made his return from injury with ...

MNA Sports Desk: Bangladesh limited-overs captain Mashrafe Bin Mortaza says he will retire from Twenty20 International cricket after the ongoing two-match series against Sri Lanka. In his official Facebook page, he says, ‘It has been a great honor for me to represent Bangladesh in T20I for more than 10 years. I believe that this team is currently a balanced one & there are some promising young stars. I am very much grateful to Bangladesh Cricket Board & high officials for keeping the trust on me to lead this fantastic team. I am also immensely grateful to my loving fans, family, ...