MASBAH UDDIN

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 of the 11th South Asian Games at the Sylhet BKSP on Monday.

Eti won gold in the competition's under-52kg event on Saturday.

On the first day of the taolu, Masbah led the table with 9.07 and in the last part of the competition he scored 9.15 yesterday. He aggregated 18.22 to win the gold while Somorjid amassed 18.20 and Sri Lankan R Ruvindra Silva scored 18.01 for the bronze.

Expectations were already high with Masbah in taolu (men's nanquan and nandaou all round) event and the man from Barisal rose to the occasion by overcoming the challenge from Somorjid to make sure that Bangladesh's national anthem is played at the winner's podium once again.

However Masbah was not excited as Eti who was crying after her success. Rather the experienced campaigner, who clinched two gold medals in last year's third SAF wushu, was talking about the sport's future in the country.

"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," said Masbah, who started his career in 1995.

"The Asian Games is our next assignment and we have to take it seriously. I must thank our Chinese coach and if we get a coach like him for a longer period of time, I am sure Bangladesh will be the best in South Asia in this competition," he hoped.