Amal Roy and Henry Prithul Mandol won the first gold medal in the eighth Bangladesh Games after the duo beat Ranjan Ram and Mizanur Rahman by straight 6-2 and 6-1 sets in the men’s tennis doubles final on Friday, a day before the formal opening of the Games.
Top seeded Amal Roy of Engineers Recreation Centre also won the games’ first individual gold medal in men’s singles by beating second seeded Alamgir Hossain of Nordic Club 6-0 and 6-1.
Amal, who grabbed the bronze medal in men’s singles in the previous edition of Bangladesh Games in 2002, realised his dream of winning the gold medal of the event.
‘In 2002, I failed to win the gold medal for which I was depressed and discontented. My dream has come true after a long time,’ said an emotional Amal.
‘Due to personal reasons I was not in talking terms with my father (Sreenath Roy) but before stepping on to the court today (Friday), I talked with my father which really inspired me a lot. This success has helped narrow the gap between father and son,’ added Amol.
Alamgir, who lost to Amal in the singles, had to remain content with the silver medal. Anwar Hossain of British High Commission Club won bronze.
In the doubles, Ranjan Ram of National Tennis Complex and Mizanur Rahman of Gopalgonj Tennis Club earned the first silver medal in the Games while Anwar and Dipu Lal of Nordic Clup got the bronze medal.
In hockey, Satkhira edged Bangladesh police 2-1, while Rajshahi Division thrashed Patuakhali 7-1 in the day’s second match.
Women’s handball started on Friday with Naogaon, Rangamati, Bangladesh Ansar, BJMC, Kushtia and Rajshahi making a winning start at the Handball stadium.
Naogaon beat Panchagarh 17-6, Rangamati crushed Rangpur 17-7, Bangladesh Ansar beat Bangladesh Police 33-6, BJMC defeated Satkhira 34-1, Kushtia scraped a 10-9 win over Bangladesh Police and in the last match Rajshahi earned an effortless 23-8 win against Satkhira.
The men’s and women’s table tennis also started on Friday, In the women’s team event, Bangladesh Ansar
and Dhaka moved into the final beating Narail and Rangpur respectively by identical 3-0 sets.
In the men’s team event, Chittagong thrashed Manikganj 3-0 and Bangladesh Biman defeated Feni by the same scoreline to advance to the next stage.
The final round of football started from Friday at the Kamalpur stadium. In the first match of the day, Noakhali won 2-0 over Rangpur. Imtiaz Sultan and Omar Sharif scored the goals for the winners.
The day’s second match between Jhenaidah district and Naogaon district ended in a goalless draw.
Manikgong will face BKSP and Barisal will take on Moulavi Bazar today at the same venue.
GAMES ON TV
BTV: opening and closing ceremony, football and daily bulletin.
ATN Bangla: athletics, cycling, hockey, badminton, kabbadi.
SA TV: cricket.
Shomoy TV: torch rally and swimming.
Channel i: volleyball, handball and archery.
Desh TV: golf
-With New Age input