Ashfaq Ul Mushfiq

Argentina fans around the globe were expressing gratitude after Lionel Messi's last dance in the FIFA World Cup was extended by at least one more week following a 2-1 win over Australia in the Round of 16 on Saturday.

Open top bus parades are conventional in Europe, where World Cup winners like Germany, Spain and Italy and Champions League giants like Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and AC Milan have made such celebrations customary.

It was a cold, rainy evening at the Dasarath Rangasala in Kathmandu, but it was not only the weather that was conspiring against Bangladesh. There was also a hostile capacity crowd, cheering on hosts Nepal, but the women held their nerve and clinched their most significant milestone by winning a maiden SAFF Women's Championship title with a 3-1 victory in yesterday's final.

Swimmer Karar Samedul Islam, a product of the Nikli Swimming Club, won one silver and three bronze medals in the 2004 SAF Games in Islamabad. Considered one of the best swimmers produced in Bangladesh, Samedul spoke about a journey that began at a club in Kishoreganj and shared the secrets of Nikli’s success while speaking to The Daily Star’s Ashfaq Ul Mushfiq.

Sport was halted by the Covid-19 pandemic and although some have already come out of that slumber, other disciplines are still trying to find their feet. Finally, after a patient three-year wait, the 37th edition of the National Badminton Championship is set to take the stage at the Shaheed Tajuddin Ahmed Indoor Stadium in Dhaka today.

The beautiful game has been the most popular sport on the planet for over a century, but although the field has been dominated by men for most of its history, times have begun to change in the last few decades.

 “I have always said that scoring a goal is the best feeling in the world,” legendary English striker Alan Shearer once said. In football, where goals decide destinies, it is a striker’s role to deliver balls to the back of the net.

Indian women cricket team captain Mithali Raj announced her retirement from international cricket this Wednesday, drawing curtains on an illustrious career of 23 years during which she established herself as the country's greatest female batter. Many cricketers around the globe look up to Mithali's career and Bangladesh skipper Nigar Sultana Joty is no different. 

Ahead of the biggest night of European club football, numerous tactical analysis, speculations and predictions were made on how the match between Liverpool and Real Madrid would play out. In football, a game where goals define the result, marksmen like Karim Benzema, Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Vinicius Jr. predictably garnered the  most attention on the occasion.

In pursuit of his passion from a very young age, boxer Sura Krishna Chakma made headlines around Bangladesh as he was crowned champion in the lightweight division of the recently-concluded ‘Xcel presents South Asian Pro Boxing Fight Night - The Ultimate Glory’, the first international professional boxing tournament held in the country earlier this week.

One may have heard many legendary tales of heroes who carried their troops single-handedly to the shores of victory, for there have been many instances in football’s vast and glorious history.

Oscar Bruzon had coached in Spain, India and Maldives before arriving in Bangladesh, where he guided his charges to over 100 games ever since the Spaniard took over in 2018, raising Bashundhara Kings in the club-to-beat status.

The Daily Star (DS): When you got the offer to coach Abahani, what were your initial thoughts about Bangladesh and what is your current impression?

Eid is a festival that bestows many a welcome break from their everyday hustle and bustle as they immerse themselves in celebrating the occasion with their loved ones.

The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) chief selector Minhajul Abedin stressed on the 'home condition' factor as the reason behind leaving out seamer Abu Jayed from Bangladesh's squad for the upcoming two-Test series against Sri Lanka in May. He also pointed at the pace-variation criteria which led to Rejaur Rahman Raja being called into the squad.

 After a decade of being the main striker of the European powerhouse Real Madrid, Karim Benzema is probably having the season of his career at the age of 34. “When everything is on the line, Karim Benzema keeps scoring!” TV commentator Alejandro Moreno aptly described the Frenchman, who is the frontrunner to bag this season’s Pichichi [Spanish league’s top goal-scorer of the season award] with Los Blancos having one hand their 35th La Liga trophy.

What had casually initiated with bare minimum resources as a means to maintain fitness after a hectic day at the office, Green Table Tennis centre slowly emerged, in less than a decade, into one of the most well-equipped table tennis training platforms in the country without any peripheral assistance.

“The walls in our living room turned white because he would practice football there,” Shahinur Akter said as she reflected on Muntakim Ul Islam’s dedication after her son forged another freestyle world record on June 21.

Bozlur Rahman was perplexed, failing to fathom what special attention his teenage son hoped to garner by skipping rope all day. His confusion turned to joy on January 2, 2021, when Rasel Islam claimed two Guinness World Records.

Monirul Islam, a 22-year-old student at the Kabi Kazi Nazrul Islam University, holds two Guinness World Records for balancing objects on the back of his hand.