It's only gold that glitters

Name: Hamidul Islam
Discipline: Weightlifting
Event: Men's 77kg category
Date: 01-02-2010
"A dream came true after a long battle. And it's special because I am the first Bangladeshi weightlifter who clinched gold medal in any international competition."
For Bangladesh, the 11th edition of the South Asian Games got off just about on the right foot when their first gold came in a new discipline. Hamidul Islam became the first man to clinch a weightlifting gold in an international competition. He won the medal on the fourth day of the regional sporting extravaganza at the National Sports Council Gymnasium. In all he lifted a total of 257 Kgs.

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Name: Eti Islam
Discipline: Wushu
Event: Women's Under-52kg
Date: 06-02-2010
"It was tears of pride and joy." Eti
When the national anthem of Bangladesh blared from the sound system, Eti Islam, standing tall above everybody on the winners' podium at the Sylhet BKSP, could not hold back her emotions. She was virtually crying and singing to the tune of "Amar Sonar Bangla". Her emotions touched everybody present and when she walked down from the podium with her gold medal that she won in the Under-52kg event of women's wushu competition, she said: "It was tears of pride and joy."
"I'm happy because I could do something for my country," added an excited Eti.
Her success came as a relief to the locals as giants India and Pakistan were winning gold one after another in the competition although the hosts started with high hopes.

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Name: Bangladesh Football Team
Discipline: Football
Event: Men's
Date: 08-02-2010
"We were waiting for this moment and were mentally prepared to celebrate it. Besides, we are very happy that we did not disappoint the spectators like in the SAFF Championship." Enamul
Bangladesh outplayed Afghanistan 4-0 at the Bangabandhu National Stadium to win the football title of the Games for the second time. Two goals in each half gave the hosts the gold in the most lopsided of finals in the 26-year history of the Games. Bangladesh's second triumph came in their sixth final appearance and after a long wait of eleven years since Kathmandu in 1999. This victory will go someway in mitigating the scar of the SAFF Championship two months ago. Atiqur Rahman Meshu, Enamul Haque Abdul Baten Mojumder and Tawhidul Alam scored the goals.

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Name: Jewel Ahmed
Discipline: Boxing
Event: Lightweight 60kg category
Date: 08-02-2010

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Name: Abdur Rahim
Discipline: Boxing
Event: Light welterweight 64kg category
Date: 08-02-2010
"Joy Bangladesh. I am really happy and I thank my coaches [Shafiul Azam and Kazi Shahadat] as well as my parents who inspired me a lot to play boxing." Jewel
Whenever Bangladesh hosted the South Asian Games, it saw its boxers presented gold and this time too the local boxers did not frustrate the nation as they grabbed two of those on the concluding day of the competition in the 11th edition of the regional sporting extravaganza at the newly-built Mohammad Ali Boxing Stadium yesterday. Jewel Ahmed and Abdur Rahim wrote their names beside gold medalists Musharaf Hossain and Mozammel Haque, who won gold in 1985 and 1993 respectively when Bangladesh hosted the second and sixth editions of the then SAF Games. Jewel outplayed Nepal's Ajit Gurng in the final of the lightweight 60kg category while Rahim defeated Sri Lankan Sisira Kumarasinghe in the light welterweight 64kg category to win gold medals.

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Names: Zakiruzzaman, Sakhawat Hossain Sohel, Jamal Hossain Mollah, Dulal Hossain
Discipline: Golf
Event: Team
Date: 04-02-2010
Name: Dulal Hossain
Discipline: Golf
Event: Individual
Date: 06-02-2010
"I knew it very well that I will have to prove myself on the field if I'm to do something special. I did it putting in the best ever performance of my life. I am really happy to make the nation proud." Dulal
When Bangladesh won the team event golf gold on February 4, it was in the air that one of the local golfers was heading to create a small piece of history by also lifting the individual gold. The question was who would it be? Jamal Hossain Mollah or Dulal Hossain? And after an absorbing battle of Hossains at the Kurmitola Golf Course, it was Dulal who pipped Jamal to claim the ultimate glory. Dulal
scored eleven under par 277 to win the gold in the 72-hole competition.

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Names: Syeda Sadia Sultana, Sharmin Akhter Ratna and Tripti Datta
Discipline: Shooting
Event: Women's 10m air rifle team
Date: 02-02-2010
Name: Sharmin Akhter Ratna
Discipline: Shooting
Event: Women's 10m air rifle individual
Date: 02-02-2010
"I always love to dream something big. I achieved my best score today and so far it's best achievement in my career also and I think self-confidence was the key behind my success apart from my coach's contributions. Now my target is to hunt gold in a bigger international stage like Olympics."
Sharmin Akhter Ratna scripted history for Bangladesh in shooting when she won both the individual and team event gold in the women's 10m air Rrifle competitions at the National Shooting Range in Gulshan.
The expectation was that the three Bangladeshi young prospects Ratna, Syeda Sadia Sultana and Tripti Datta would do something special, but what the trio did was beyond anybody's guess. The 21-year-old from Magura shattered the Games record by scoring 499.4 out of 509. After scoring 398 in her first ten shots, Ratna went into the shoot-off as favourite and from there on she didn't look behind to complete a magnificent double.

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Name: Shovon Chowdhury, Asif Hossain Khan and Abdulla-Hel-Baki
Discipline: Shooting
Event: Men's 10m air rifle team
Date: 03-02-2010
"I got back my son today," said an emotion-choked Rehana, mother of Asif, who worked hard during the turbulent times of her talented son.
Asif Hossain Khan made a triumphant return to competitive shooting when he led Bangladesh from the front to win the men's 10m air rifle team event gold at the National Shooting Range in Gulshan.
And it could have been a delightful double for the ace shooter hot on the heels of Sharmin Akhter Ratna's poem of a success in the women's event the previous day had he not lost his concentration completely while firing his penultimate shot. That shot in the shoot-off fetched him a career low 6.8 points that also cost him and the country a gold in the individual event. As a result, he had to be content with the silver, but his spectacular return after a career-threatening brutal beating by police in 2006 at this very place reminded everybody that class is permanent. Asif then delighted everybody on way to winning the team event gold in company with two young prospects -- Abdulla-Hel-Baki and Shovon Chowdhury.

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Name: Bangladesh U-21 Cricket Team
Discipline: Cricket
Event: T20
Date: 07-02-2010
"It's a proud moment for all the cricketers of the country. It's something special as Bangladesh clinched the cricket's first ever gold. We had a target of winning the gold and in the end our dream came true today." Mithun

Bangladesh's young cricketers made a piece of history at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur by winning the inaugural edition of the discipline in the Games. Mohammad Mithun's boys recorded a six-run victory over Sri Lanka in the nail-biting gold medal match to put Bangladesh's name in the Games' history books on top as this is the first time that cricket -- the T20 version -- has been included in the region's biggest sporting extravaganza. Every one of the 20,000 spectators at the venue was on the toes with Sri Lanka requiring 20 runs from last two overs, chasing 158 for the gold. And they erupted once Nasir Hossain took a stunning running catch at widish long-on to put an end to the visitors' brave chase which confirmed that the hosts' national anthem would be played for the cricketers' achievement. Sri Lanka were bowled for 151 runs with one ball to spare.

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Name: Sharmin Farjana Rumi
Discipline: Taekwondo
Event: Women's Under-46kg
Date: 06-02-2010
"I really feel proud after doing something for the nation and it is an special moment for me."
Sharmin Farjana Rumi made the nation proud when she clinched the gold medal in women's Under-46kg event in taekwondo at the National Sports Council Gymnasium. She defeated Afghanistan's Laila Hussain in the final after seeing off Nepalese Yan Kumari in semifinals. It was the hosts' first gold in taekwondo.
In the three-round game, the 20-year-old girl from Panchagarh won the first round 1-0 and then dominated the second round 7-2 before posting an identical 7-2 win in the third and final round. She aggregated 15-4.

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Name: Masbah Uddin
Discipline: Wushu
Event: Men's Under-52kg
Date: 08-02-2010
"Definitely it feels great because nothing is sweeter than being able to do something for the country. I believe it's possible for our players to bring more success for the country, but to do that we need uninterrupted training with the government's assistance."
The only fear for him was S Somorjid. The Indian's earlier performances talked for itself that he would be the one to pose any threat for Masbah Uddin. Everyone's eyes were roving between the battle of Masbah and Somorjid and the scoreboard. But as soon as the duel finished, everybody heaved a sigh of relief.
No wonder! Masbah has won! And that too by a small margin of 0.02 point. He has presented the nation with another gold medal after Eti Islam in wushu at the Sylhet BKSP.

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Names: Munni Khanom, U Chinu Marma, Jaw U Pru
Discipline: Karate
Event: Women's team kata
Date: 07-02-2010
Name: Jaw U Pru
Discipline: Karate
Event: Women's individual kata
Date: 07-02-2010
Name: Moreom Khatun
Discipline: Karate
Event: Women's Under-45kg category kumite
Date: 07-02-2010
Names: Hasan Khan Sun, Syed Nuruzzama and Hossain Khan Moon
Discipline: Karate
Event: Men's team kata
Date: 07-02-2010
Name: Shammi Akhter
Discipline: Taekwondo
Event: Women's 49kg category
Date: 07-02-2010
"The coach always inspired me that I would be able to do something and I am really happy to live up to the expectations of the coach in my first international tournament." Shammi
Bangladesh had a golden time on the tenth day of the Games when the hosts grabbed five gold medals in karate and taekwondo competitions. It was a rush of gold for the hosts at the National Indoor Stadium in Mirpur where the karatekas won four gold, an achievement Bangladesh had never done on a single day and in a single discipline in the Games before. The taekwondo gold came at the National Sports Council Gymnasium. It was even beyond the expectations of the Bangladesh Karate Federation itself, which set its eyes for two gold medals from the Games.
Karateka Jaw U Pru led the way to a happy hunting day by winning the gold in women's individual kata event. She also combined with Munni Khanom and U Chinu Marma to clinch the team event gold. Moreom Khatun then popped up from nowhere to take the Under-45kg category kumite gold medal.
When the female karatekas were flying high with unprecedented success, the men's team joined the party with Syed Nuruzzaman, Hasan Khan Sun, Hossain Khan Moon lifting the team event kata gold.
Apart from karate, Bangladesh had also something to cheer in taekwondo as Shammi Akhter, after Shamina Farjana Rumi, who on Saturday claimed the first gold, presented the nation with a second when she beat Pakistan's Samia Imdad 8-3 to lift the 49kg category gold medal.