Mahfuzur Rahman Mithu won the second gold medal for Bangladesh in the 10th South Asian Games here yesterday to turn a nightmarish start into a night of magnificence.
After the Bangladesh hockey team slumped to a humiliating 2-0 defeat to hosts Sri Lanka in the third-place play-off in Matale to lose their bronze medal which they won in the 7th SAF Games, even the officials were missing in the stands as Mahfuz made the nation proud.
The hosts, who lost 1-0 in the league match to Bangladesh, conceded eight goals each to India and Pakistan but fought bravely to win bronze with goals from skipper Abeyrathna and Gazzaly on either side of the break.
Later, Pakistan dethroned India as hockey champions with a cliffhanger 3-2 win in the final, taking sweet revenge of their 5-2 defeat to their archrivals in 1995 at Madras.
In the morning, the Bangladesh men’s volleyball team crashed to a 3-0 loss to India but made it to the semifinals while Kathmandu 1995 Games gold medalist shooter Sabrina Sultana finished sixth in the women’s 50m air rifle (three positions) with 647.8 points.
The men’s kabaddi team, however, enjoyed a 50-point victory over Nepal (64-14) to set a bronze play-off against Sri Lanka.
The athletes, however, shone in the tracks as Sumita Rani Das won the first ever women’s hurdles medal for her country when she clinched silver after a touch and go race with Anuradha Biswal, who won gold for India.
It was the first athletics medal for Bangladesh in the Games, which perhaps inspired Mahfuz for a shot at glory.
Like Mahfuz, Sumita was elated too at the success.
“My target was to fight against India. I never bothered about the Sri Lankan runners. I was hopeful because my preparation was good,” said the 17-year-old BJMC athlete who hails from Noakhali.
Fouzia Huda Jui retained her Games silver medal in long jump, finishing behind India’s star athlete Anju Bobby George who leaped to a new Games record of 6.42m to win gold. Fouzia equalled her feat in Islamabad, a personal best of 6.07m.
High jumper Sathee Parveen was not so fortunate, finishing fourth. The gold and silver went to Sri Lanka and the bronze to India.
Afzal Hossain Surya was last among six competitors in the men’s 400m hurdle with Pakistan claiming gold.
Susanthika Jayasinghe led Sri Lanka’s women’s 4×100m relay team to win gold, also bettering the old Games record by 0.02 seconds, finishing ahead of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh in the four-team race.
In the day’s final event, the men’s 4×100m relay team failed to finish the race due to misunderstanding between the first and second runners who failed to change the baton in spite of a very good start. Masudul Karim, the second runner who started with a finger injury in his baton hand (left), failed to collect the baton from starter Mohon Khan. India won gold, Pakistan silver and Afghanistan bronze as Sri Lanka disqualified.
Billal Hossain won a bronze in 84kg wrestling while all four competitors in taekwondo failed to go past the first round for Bangladesh, who ended the day with two gold, 12 silver and 22 bronze medals.
India consolidated their position at the top of the medals table, netting 94 gold, 54 silver and 35 bronze, followed by Pakistan (30-34-50), Sri Lanka (26-48-58), Nepal (6-8-22), Afghanistan (3-5-9), Bangladesh (2-12-22) and Bhutan (0-0-6).