Hosts’ best ever finish

Bangladesh signed off their campaign in the 11th SA Games on Monday winning as many as 18 gold medals that included key events of football and cricket.
The hosts added four gold medals on the penultimate day from football, boxing and wusu which sealed their third position in medals table something which has never happened in the past.
The Bangladesh Olympic Association had expected to win maximum 17 gold medals, but the athletes showed that they were capable of doing even better. Bangladesh’s successes came despite their failures in two key disciplines – athletics and swimming.
Footballers put an icing on the cake when they thrashed Afghanistan 4-0 in the final to win the SA Games gold for only the second time in their history. Bangladesh had won their previous SA Games football gold in the 1999 Katmandu Games.
The last time Bangladesh hosted an SA Games, their football team failed to go beyond the first round, but this time they not only emerged as the gold medallists but also won all matches.
The final was surprisingly a one-sided affair with Bangladesh scoring two goals in each half. It was their biggest victory in any final of an international competition. The footballers’ success came a day after the host cricket team beat Sri Lanka by six runs to win the gold.
Bangladesh, however, began their gold rush on the penultimate day far away from the capital when Misbah Uddin beat his Indian rival S Samarjit in the final of his wushu event at Sylhet BKSP.
The hosts had some expectation from archery, but it all ended in frustration after they lost the finals of both men’s team and individual events. A bad omen followed in the boxing ring after their first finalist Foysal Mollah lost his bout.
Then came the golden moment when Jewel Ahmed Jony and Abdur Rahim, the two other boxing finalists, won their battles to present the hosts two gold medals in less than half-an-hour.
There was still no good news from the swimming pool and athletics track as the hosts went gold-less in both the disciplines. Sahjahan Ali Rony, who had won the face-saving gold medal for Bangladesh in last SA Games, however, finished with silver in his 50-metre breaststroke.
Shehan Saearuwan Abeypitiyage of Sri Lanka and Naseem Hamid of Pakistan emerged as the fastest man and woman in track where Bangladesh’s Masudul Karim and Shamsunnahar Chumki finished seventh and fifth respectively.
The curtain of the meet will fall today with a closing ceremony which will be preceded by a marathon race and men’s and women’s singles finals of table tennis. Bangladesh has a contestant in the marathon but has no chance in table tennis as they have none in the finals.

Courtesy of NewAgebd