Bangladesh Ansar & VDP made a good start in the Bangabandu Federation Cup Men's Handball Tournament' 2020 beating Team Handball Dhaka by 50-17 goals in the opening match Saturday morning at the Shaheed (Capt) M Mansur Ali National Handball  Stadium here.

The winners led the first half by 25-10 goals

Managing Director of the meet's sponsor Orient Bread Mahbub-Uz-Zaman inaugurated the five-day four-team competition as the chief guest.

Bangladesh Handball Federation ( BHF) vice president M Nurul Islam presided over the inaugural function, also attended by BHF vice president cum tournament committee chairman Golam Habib and BHF general secretary Asaduzzaman Kohinoor.

The Federation Cup Handball tournament has been  arranged after a long gap of 16 years on the occasion of Mujib Borsho.

On completion of the league basis matches, two top teams will play in the final on November 4 at 11:30 am.

Read Also: Bangabandhu Fed Cup Handball begins Saturday

The BCB National Selectors have announced that cricketers who are on the draft list for the upcoming T20 tournament, scheduled for next November-December, will have to undergo mandatory fitness tests before being considered eligible for the competition.

The test has been planned to particularly assess the fitness levels of cricketers outside the National Team, High-Performance Team and Under-19 setups.

Chief National Selector Minhajul Abedin Nannu said: “We’ve been very encouraged by the individual fitness work done by the National Team, HP and Under-19 cricketers during the lockdown. The effort they put in helped them adjust quickly when group training and matches started.

“We expect the other cricketers, who may have been outside the setup, will show the same level of commitment to individual fitness and come prepared for the test.”

The schedule for the fitness test will be announced following the finalisation of the player list for the draft, the cricket board said in a statement on Friday.

The British Head Coach of Bangladesh National Football team Jamie Day accompanied by Assistant coach Stuart Watkiss and newly-appointed goalkeeping coach Les Cleevely arrived in Dhaka on Thursday ahead of next month's FIFA International friendly against Nepal.
 
Nepali players are expected to arrive here on November 5 to play two FIFA international friendlies with hosts Bangladesh on November 13 and 17 at Bangabandhu National Stadium.
 
With the match, Bangladesh are going to return to international football after about 10 months.  
 
Meanwhile, Denmark-based captain of Bangladesh national football team Jamal Bhuiyan also reached Dhaka Thursday morning to join the national team.
 
But, the three English coaches and captain Jamal will have to undergo quarantine before joining the training camp.
 
Besides, the Finland-based footballer of the Bashundhara Kings Tariq Raihan Kazi, who earned the first call in the Bangladesh national squad, is already in the capital and joined the national camp on Thursday after quarantine.
 
Meanwhile, the preliminary training camp of the national football team began last Saturday under the local coaches.
 
Also read: BFF extends contract with coach Jamie Day for 2 years

The Bangabandhu Federation Cup Men's Handball Tournament, named after the nation’s founding father, is all set to begin on Saturday after a long gap of 12 years.
 
Managing Director of the meet's sponsor Orient Bread Mahbub-Uz-Zaman will inaugurate the five-day four-team competition as the chief guest on Saturday morning while Chairman of the Nannu Group of Industries BM Shoeb will also be present as the special guest.
 
Handball Dhaka will play against Bangladesh Ansar & VDP in the opening match at 11:30am on Saturday at the Shaheed (Capt) M Mansur Ali National Handball  Stadium in the capital.
 
Bangladesh Police Handball Club will play Bandarban DSA at 6:15pm in the other opening day's fixture at the same venue.
 
On completion of the league basis matches, two top teams will play in the final on November 4 at 11:30am.
 
General Secretary of Bangladesh Handball Federation Asaduzzaman Kohinoor disclosed the details of the meet at a press conference at the Handball Stadium on Thursday.
 
Orient Bread MD Mahbub-Uz-Zaman and Tournament Secretary Salim Miah Babu also spoke on the occasion.
 
A budget of Tk 250,000 has been earmarked for the meet where sponsor Orient Bread will provide Tk 100,000 only.

Senior Sports Journalist Mustaque Ahmed Khan suddenly died while he was playing a badminton match during annual sports festival of Bangladesh Sports Press Association (BSPA) at the wooden floor of the Shaheed Tajuddin Ahmed Indoor Stadium here on Tuesday.

During the match he suddenly collapsed. His friends and colleagues rushed him to the nearby Islami Bank hospital in Kakrail, where the on-duty doctor  declared him dead.

Mustaque Ahmed Khan, sports journalist of BD Sports.com and a member of BSPA, was suffering from diabetes and low blood pressure.

He was 55.

He left behind wife, two sons, one daughter and a large number of admirers to mourn his death

He will be buried at his home village in Cumilla after a janaza post-Ast at sSontek masjid in Jatrabari.

Meanwhile, BSPA and Bangladesh Handball Federation condoled the death of Mustaque Ahmed Khan.