Morsalin Ahmed of thedailysports24.com emerged champion in the chess competition of the Walton-DRU Sports Festival 2020 on Thursday.

He clinched the DRU chess crown beating Mashkayet Mashrek of Radio Today in the event's final at the Chess Federation Office in NSC building.

Mahbub Alam Khan of Newsnextbd.com finished 3rd in the event.

Earlier, Executive Director of the meet's sponsor Walton Group FM Iqbal Bin Anwar inaugurated the meet at a function, chaired by DRU President Rafiqul Islam Azad.

DRU Sports Secretary Mojibur Rahman was also present on the occasion.

It’s official: The NBA is coming back Dec. 22.

The NBA’s board of governors unanimously approved Tuesday the financial terms and other parameters that were negotiated between the league and its players. Those talks were completed late Monday night, when the league and National Basketball Players Association announced they are in agreement on a revised collective bargaining agreement for this coming season — setting the stage for a frenzied few weeks before games resume.

Teams will play a 72-game schedule, which will be revealed in the coming weeks. The league said a new system will be used to ensure that the split of basketball-related income continues, one of the biggest deals that had to be worked out with the union because the current agreement between the sides had a great deal of language that needed reworking because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Negotiations with free agents will be allowed to begin at 6 p.m. on Nov. 20, with signings permitted starting at 12:01 p.m. on Nov. 22 — an extraordinarily fast window for the NBA, which typically has about a week spanning the start of talks and the beginning of signings. But with training camps this year beginning Dec. 1, both sides evidently feel there isn’t a need to draw out the process any longer than necessary.

Many rosters could be considerably reshaped by then, with trades likely to be permissible again in the coming days — the exact details there still being worked out — and the NBA draft set to take place Nov. 18. Player and team options likely will be settled around that same time. Free agency starts two days after the draft, with around 100 players set for unrestricted status.

The salary cap and tax level will remain unchanged. The cap was $109.14 million this past season, with the tax level at $132,627,000. The real numbers will be affected by the shortened schedule — last year’s numbers were based on the standard 82-game season, a threshold that won’t be reached this year.

The salary cap for 2021-22 is guaranteed to rise somewhere between 3% and 10%, the league said, which means it’ll be somewhere between $112.4 million and $120.1 million.

Meyers Leonard, a free-agent-to-be who spent this past season with the Miami Heat and served as the team’s player rep to the NBPA, said he had some concerns about getting all the logistical matters completed in time for a Dec. 22 opening night. He resumed his offseason workouts Monday after he and his wife took a 4,000-mile tour-bus trip arranged by Coors Light from Miami to Los Angeles with many stops along the way.

“Without knowing all the ins and outs, Dec. 22nd, from a money standpoint, you play more games, you play your Christmas games, it probably makes sense,” Leonard said. “But there’s a lot of logistical things that I know cannot be easy. And the discussions that are being had are very dynamic and very difficult conversations.”

There are countless other issues to work out, such as all the health and safety protocols now that games won’t be played in the safety of a bubble and teams will be traveling to various cities once again. And those talks are continuing, the league said.

Players were tested daily in the bubble, and nobody tested positive because of the very strict protocols. It’ll be much tougher to avoid a COVID-related issue with the league back to some sort of normalcy this season.

“There’s going to be people testing positive,” Leonard said. “I don’t know about left and right, but it’s going to happen. And then what happens? It’s a tough time we’re all dealing with. The disease is very strange. It’s going to be interesting to see how the league rolls with the punches, so to speak.”

One of those punches arrived Tuesday night, when the New York Knicks closed their training facility after three employees tested positive for COVID-19. The team said it was shutting down for cleaning purposes and that the employees are in quarantine.

So with that, an offseason that just started for some teams already seems over.

For the NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers and Eastern Conference champion Heat, it will be the shortest offseason in NBA history — with seven weeks separating the end of the NBA Finals and the planned Dec. 1 start of training camp.

But for the eight teams that didn’t make the restart bubble at Walt Disney World in Lake Buena Vista, Florida this summer, it has been a marathon offseason, with none of those teams — Atlanta, Chicago, Cleveland, Charlotte, Golden State, Minnesota, New York and Detroit — having played since the second week of March. The NBA shut down because of the coronavirus pandemic on March 11, then took 22 of its 30 teams to Disney to resume the season in July.

The Knicks’ Bobby Portis hasn’t played in a game since the night the pandemic forced the shutdown.

“Ready to hoop again,” he tweeted Tuesday.

Grand Master Enamul Hossain Razib of Bangladesh finished 4th in Open Premier group of the 49th Annual Continental Online Chess Competition in the tie breaker that concluded on Sunday.

GM Razib earned 5 points from 7 games to make a tie for the runner-up position, but in the tie-breaking system, he became 4th.

The event was held in online chess platform ICC from November 6-8, organised by Continental Chess Association.

GM Razib won against Rut Singi Reddy in the 3rd round, Rajanish Adhva in the 5th round and GM Timur Gareyev in the 6th round.

But, Razib settled for draw in the remaining four matches including one against GM Jaime Santos Latasa of Spain in the 7th and last round.

GM Razib will receive 400 US dollars as prize money.

IM Hans Moke Niemann of USA became champion securing six points.

Bangladesh Police emerged as new champions in the Bangabandu Federation Cup Men's Handball Tournament' 2020, named after father of the nation Bangabandu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman on Wednesday. 

Bangladesh Police Handball Club clinched the first -ever Federation Cup crown beating former champions  Bangladesh Ansar & VDP by 31-26 goals in the final at the Shaheed (Capt) M Mansur Ali National Handball Stadium here on Wednesday. 

The title decided match between two teams was locked in 14-14 goals in the first half.

Shohag Hossain scored the match's highest 14 goals for the champions Police team, which earlier finished runners up for the third consecutive time.

However, the prize distribution ceremony of the four-team competition will be held on Thursday at 11:30 am, followed by an exhibition handball match at the same venue.

State Minister for Youth and Sports Zahid Ahsan Russell will be the chief guest in the final and will later distribute the prizes.

Managing Director of the meet's sponsor Orient Food (Bread) Company Ltd Mahbub-Uz-Zaman will also be present at the function as a special guest.

Bangladesh Ansar & VDP will face-off against Bangladesh Police Handball Club in the final of the Bangabandu Federation Cup Men's Handball Tournament' 2020 on Wednesday.

The title deciding match between will kick-off at 11:30am at the Shaheed (Capt) M Mansur Ali National Handball Stadium in Dhaka.

However, the prize distribution ceremony of the four-team competition will be held on Thursday at 11:30am, followed by an exhibition handball match at the same venue.

State Minister for Youth and Sports Zahid Ahsan Russell will be the chief guest in the final and will later distribute the prizes.

Managing Director of the meet's sponsor Orient Bread Company Ltd Mahbub-Uz-Zaman will also be present at the function as special guest.

Bangladesh Ansar & VDP reached the final with all-win record beating their final's opponent Bangladesh Police Handball Club by 34-29 goals in the last league match on Monday.

Despite the defeat in the last match, Bangladesh Police managed a final berth with two wins in three league matches.