11-05-2022

WedneSdAY, MAY 11, 2022
9
Bangladesh national hockey team confirmed their Asian Games berth as they beat Sri Lanka by 3-1 goals in their
second Pool B match of the Asian Games qualifier held on Tuesday in Bangkok, Thailand. Photo : Internet
Bangladesh hockey team qualify for
Asian Games beating Sri Lanka
DHAKA : Bangladesh national hockey
team confirmed their Asian Games
berth as they beat Sri Lanka by 3-1 goals
in their second Pool B match of the
Asian Games qualifier held on Tuesday
in Bangkok, Thailand.
The second successive victory also
took the men in red and green into the
last four of the nine-team qualifiers with
a match in hand against Singapore. The
match will be held on Thursday (May
12).
After the barren first quarter,
Bangladesh tool lead in the 18th minute
ST. JOHN'S : Keacy Carty has become the first
player from St. Maarten to be picked for the
West Indies.
The 25-year-old Carty and fast bowlers
Jayden Seales and Shermon Lewis were chosen
for their first West Indies limited-overs
international squad on Monday for short tours
of the Netherlands and Pakistan. Seales and
Lewis, however, have played at test level.
Not considered for selection were former
captain Jason Holder and top-order batters
Shimron Hetmyer and Evin Lewis. Holder is
being rested to manage his workload, Hetmyer
is home for the birth of his first child, and Lewis
through Ashraful Islam's penalty
corner. The second goal came for
Bangladesh in the 23rd minute from a
penalty stroke.
Sri Lanka however offered strong
resistance in the third quarter creating
number of penalty corner but could not
convert any of those into a goal.
However, the Islanders pulled one
back in the 44th minute to bring some
excitement into the match before
Bangladesh took the match away with
Roman Sarkar scoring the team's third
goal in the 53rd minute.
Carty is first St Maarten cricketer
picked for West Indies
didn't meet fitness criteria.
The 25-year-old Carty scored 57 and 49
against England in March in a test warmup
game for the CWI President's XI.
"We were impressed with Carty and the way
he goes about his innings," head selector
Desmond Haynes said of the uncapped batter.
"We saw several glimpses of his ability the way
he played against England. We hope that giving
him this opportunity he will recognize the
importance of representing West Indies. We
think he is a young batsman with great
promise, and this is the kind of tour he can
show he fits in."
Japanese athlete collapses,
vomits after sanitiser swig
TOKYO : Japanese
authorities have pledged to
investigate a mix-up that
saw high school athletes
given hand sanitiser to
drink during a race, with
one student falling ill after
taking a swig.
Competition organisers
for a girls' 5,000-metre
walking race held last
weekend in central Japan's
Yamanashi prefecture
mistakenly poured the
sanitiser into cups and
placed them at a drinks
station for athletes.
Yamanashi's high school
sport federation said the
sanitiser had been stored
in an unlabelled plastic
bottle alongside those
containing drinking water
in a cardboard box.
Alcohol-based hand
sanitiser is commonly used
to protect against Covid-19
and has become
ubiquitous in Japan and
other countries since the
pandemic began.
One athlete collapsed,
vomited and dropped out
of the race after drinking
the sanitiser, while two
others spat it out and
continued.
In all, three athletes were
taken to hospital for
treatment and were
reported to be recovering.
Yamanashi governor
Kotaro Nagasaki said
Monday that there would
be a third-party
investigation.
"On behalf of the
prefecture, I would like to
offer a sincere apology to
the athlete and her family,"
he said.
Earlier, on Saturday last, Bangladesh
got off to a winning start in the
tournament as they beat Indonesia by 3-
1 goals in their pool B opening match.
Bangladesh hockey team: Biplob
Kujur, Abu Sayeed Nippon, Khorshedur
Rahman, Farhd Ahmed Shitul, Ashraful
Islam, Sohanur Rahman Sabuz, Mehedi
Hasan, Rezaul Karim Babu, Sarwar
Hossain, Roman Sarkar, Naim Uddin,
Fazle Hossain Rabbi, Prince Lal
Samanta, Rasel Mahmud Jimmy, Milon
Hossain, Rakibul Hasan, Arshad
Hossain and Pushkor Khisha Mimo.
Fiorentina
strike early
to beat
Roma
PARIS : Fiorentina scored
twice in the first 11 minutes
to beat Roma 2-0 on
Monday and climb back into
Serie A minor European
places.
In a battle of out-of form
sides, Nicolas Gonzalez
converted a fifth minute
penalty awarded after he
was mowed down by Rick
Karsdorp.
Six minutes later the
Roma defence allowed
Giacomo Bonaventura the
time to bury a shot in the
bottom corner.
Roma coach Jose
Mourinho picked nine of the
starting 11 who drew in
Leicester on Thursday to
reach the Europa League
final but the team stretched
their winless league run to
five games.
Fiorentina ended a run of
four games without a victory
and overtook Atalanta to
climb into seventh, which
this season will bring
qualification for the Europa
Conference League.
Both are level on points
with Roma who trail
neighbours Lazio by three
points.
The two Rome clubs
occupy the two Europa
League places.
Japanese authorities have pledged to investigate a mix-up that saw high school athletes given hand
sanitiser to drink during a race, with one student falling ill after taking a swig. Photo : Internet
Charles and Whitaker
junior hope to keep families'
Olympic tradition aflame
PARIS : Harry Charles and Jack Whitaker
aspired to be a pilot and a footballer
respectively but now their sights are set on
emulating their famous fathers in winning
show jumping medals at the 2024 Olympics.
Charles's father Peter won team gold in
2012 and Whitaker's father John and uncle
Michael took team silver in 1984.
They are part of a proud British Olympic
record in showjumping-Nick Skelton also
won individual gold aged 58 in 2016.
Now their legacy has passed to a new
generation.
Charles, 22, and Whitaker, 20, will get a
good guide to their potential competitiveness
in Paris in two years time when they take
part in the Rolex Grand Prix at the Royal
Windsor Horse Show on May 12-15.
Charles has already had a taste of an
Olympics having reached the individual final
in Tokyo last year.
"It is the best atmosphere at a horse show I
have seen," he told AFP.
"Now I am two years away from Paris
which has been a big, big goal for many
years.
"I want to go there and compete for a
medal."
He said Windsor would also be an
important test for his horse Aralyn Blue.
"My horse at the Windsor Grand Prix I
would say will be my number one horse for
the Olympics," he said.
Whitaker rides Q Pavarotti N whom he
terms "a sharp bugger" but a "fantastic
jumper" and agrees Windsor is a
"barometer" of where rider and horse are on
the road to Paris.
"The Olympics is massive and the main
goal for nearly any athlete," he said.
"You want to not only go there but also
have a chance of a medal and on top of that
try to win. Hopefully!"
Both Charles and Whitaker say that
despite their family's illustrious history there
was no pressure put on them to take up the
sport.
"I had no pressure from either of my
parents, we could choose our own paths,"
said Charles.
"I wanted to be a pilot till I was 16 and even
now I have a big interest, I have flying
lessons on my day off.
"However, when I was around 16-17 I
decided showjumping was what I wanted to
do. "You cannot beat that winning feeling."
For a while Whitaker eyed glory in another
sport. "Showjumping was never really forced
on me," he said.
"I was a keen football player at school but I
was also riding at 15. The two sports take up
time so you have to make your mind up.
"I felt I had a better chance of making it in
show jumping even though I was at
Nottingham Forest for a couple of years from
13-14."
Harry Charles and Jack Whitaker aspired to be a pilot and a footballer
respectively but now their sights are set on emulating their famous fathers
in winning show jumping medals at the 2024 Olympics. Photo : Internet
ROME : Stan Wawrinka believes he
has what it takes to get back to
playing "great tennis" again, the
former world number three said after
claiming his first victory in 15 months
at the Italian Open on Monday.
The 37-year-old Swiss knocked out
14th seed Reilly Opelka 3-6, 7-5, 6-2
in the Rome first round to win for the
first time since last year's Australian
Open.
Playing just his third match of the
season, the three-time Grand Slam
champion rallied from a set and a
break down to beat the 6ft 11 inch (2.1
metre) American and set up a second
round with Serbian qualifier Laslo
Djere.
Wawrinka missed the majority of
the 2021 season dealing with a foot
injury that required two surgeries.
His ranking has dropped to 361 in
the world and he admits there were
moments during his time away from
the sport where he felt he was "way
too far to be able to come back".
DHAKA : Country's ace archer Ruman
Sana booked the spot of final in the
recurve men's individual event in the
ongoing Asia Cup World Ranking
tournament stage-2 as he thumped
his Uzbekistan rival Sadikov
Amirkhan) by straight 6-0 set points
in the semifinal held on Monday in
Sulaymaniyah, Iraq.
Ruman will meet his Indian rival
Chauhan Mrinal in the final of this
event scheduled to be held on
Wednesday (May 11), reports UNB.
On way the semifinal, Ruman Sana
beat his compatriot Hakim Ahmed
Rubel by 6-2 set points in the
quarterfinal.
On the other hand, Hakim Ahmed
Rubel reached pre quarterfinal
beating his Pakistan rival Tayyab
Muhammad by 6-0 set points in the
The desire to end his career on his
own terms helped him work hard to
rehabilitate his foot.
"After two surgeries, at my age, I
could easily stop playing because my
career is way better than what I
expected when I grew up, when I was
young," Wawrinka said on Monday.
"But I still have this fire on me. I still
believe that I can play great tennis. I
still believe that I make some big
results, maybe not now, but in few
months."
Meanwhile, Canadian Denis
Shapovalov apologised after losing
his cool in an argument with chair
umpire Richard Haigh during his 7-6
(7/5), 3-6, 6-3 victory over Italian
Lorenzo Sonego.
Late in the second set, Shapovalov
had a second serve overruled by
Haigh and crossed the net to his
opponent's side of the court to show
the official the ball mark.
The umpire explained to
Shapovalov he would have to give
round of sixteen and ensured the
quarterfinal spot defeating his Uzbek
rival Chen Yao Yuy by 7-1 set points,
but he eventually lost the his
compatriot Ruman Sana by 2-6 set
points in the quarterfinal.
In the compound women's
individual event, Shamoly Roy
confirmed the spot of last four
defeating her Indian rival Swami Aditi
Gopichand 143-139 in the
quarterfinal. However she could not
cross the last four hurdle as she lost to
her Indian rival Chaudhary Sakshi
140-143 in the semifinal while Suma
Biswas failed to reach the final after
losing to her Indian rival Kaur
Parmeet 137-146 in the semifinal.
Earlier on Sunday last, the archers
of Bangladesh secured three medals
by reaching finals of the three events
China face unexpected
French challenge at
Thomas and Uber Cup
BANGKOK : Reigning
champions China faced an
unexpected challenge from
the young French team on the
second day of badminton's
Thomas and Uber Cup in
Thailand on Monday.
The men's Thomas Cup and
women's Uber Cup see the
world's top nations compete
in Bangkok's Impact Arena,
with the Chinese looking to
defend their Thomas Cup
crown.
French challenger Christo
Popov made China's Lu
Guang Zu pay for every shot
before the world number 25
wrested a win 25-23, 24-26,
21-15 in a match that lasted
just under two hours.
"It's not every year that
France has challenged China,
and we have a brilliant team
coming up with young guns,"
said Popov.
"Today we have the level to
compare ourselves, maybe
not win every match, but we
can make it difficult for
China, for sure. And that's
what we showed in the first
match."
China's men's team ended
the second day of Group C as
top dogs, 5-0.
Elsewhere in the men's,
Denmark were untroubled by
the competition from Algeria
and quickly won the field.
World number one Viktor
Axelsen was first up in the
morning and made swift
work of opponent Youcef
Sabri Medel 21-9, 21-11,
ending the game in 20
minutes.
Following his compatriot
with equal efficiency, world
number three Anders
Antonsen beat Algerian
Mohamed Abderrahime
Belarbi 21-5, 21-8.
In the women's Uber Cup,
Thailand had a battle on their
hands against Malaysia, but
ended the bout 3-1.
World number eight
Ratchanok Intanon had an
uphill fight against young
Malaysian player Goh Jin
Wei, who opened strongly
only to falter against her
vastly more experienced
opponent to finish 14-21, 21-
14, 21-15.
Veteran Wawrinka rekindles fire
with rare win in Rome
him a code violation - which would
result in a point penalty since it was
his second of the match - because
players are not allowed to cross over
the net.
"That's just the rule," said the
umpire before Shapovalov
responded: "No it's not. It's stupid."
When the Italian crowd erupted,
booing Shapovalov for the lengthy
stoppage in play, the 13th seed aimed
a swear word at the fans as he yelled
at them to "shut up".
Shapovalov also tried to get a
heckler ejected from the stadium
before play resumed. The Canadian's
second serve was deemed out
resulting in a double fault, and he
received a point penalty which
handed Sonego a break and
eventually the second set.
After clinching the decider,
Shapovalov apologised to the umpire
and later acknowledged he was
wrong to cross the net.
Ruman reach final in recurve individual event
and now Bangladesh has the
opportunity to win four medals in the
tournament.
On Sunday last, Bangladesh archery
team featuring Ruman Sana Hakim
Ahmed Rubel and Abdur Rahman Alif
reached final in the recurve men's
team event eliminating Iran by 5-4 set
points in the semifinal while in the
recurve women's team event,
Bangladesh women's archery team
comprising Nasrin Akter, Diya
Siddique and Beauty Roy set the final
clash with India defeating Uzbekistan
by 5-1 sets in the semifinal.
In the compound men's team event,
Bangladesh archery team featuring
Mohammad Ashikuzzaman, Newaz
Ahmed Rakib and Mithu Rahman set
the final clash with India after beating
Kazakhstan 231-228 in the semifinal.