& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

Teams start arriving today

Sports Reporter
Sri Lanka will be the first team to arrive in the capital this afternoon to take part in the Bangabandhu SAFF Championship that will be held at the Bangabandhu National Stadium from December 4 to 14.
Defending champions Maldives and favourites Pakistan will arrive tonight while India, Nepal, and Afghanistan are scheduled to land in the capital tomorrow. However, Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) has not confirmed of the flight schedule of Bhutan team till yesterday.
The regional football extravaganza will kick off with the match between Sri Lanka and Pakistan at 4pm on the 4th
followed by the match between hosts Bangladesh and Bhutan to start at 7pm. A simple opening ceremony will be held at the big bowl before the start of the matches.
The SAFF Championship will see eight teams divided into two groups competing in round-robin league and top two teams from each group will advance to the semifinals, scheduled for December 11. The final is scheduled for December 13 at 7pm.
Bangladesh, the 2003 champions who made an early exit in the last edition, have been drawn in a comparatively easy group in the sixth version of the meet along with Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Bhutan.
Group A comprises defending champions Maldives and three-times champions India, Nepal and Afghanistan.
Maldives, who have announced a full strength side in a bid to retain the title, start the tournament as favourites while India, three-time champions, have opted for a young side leaving out big names in order to pay more attention to the Asia Cup.
Maldives have trained in Bahrain and have recently defeated Nepal Mohanbagan 3-1 in a warm-up game. They have also played against Ulsan Hyundai, against whom Bangladesh national team lost 3-1 in their last preparation game. Maldives lost against Hyundai 2-1, even though they impressed the South Korean club side as their manager and coach rated Maldives highly for the fight they put in.
Pakistan are also sending a strong side as they have some UK-based players in the team while Sri Lanka and Bhutan have both picked up young squads.
However, everybody is looking forward to seeing how Bangladesh team take the challenge under their interim coach Shahidur Rahman Shantoo after the game's governing body sacked Brazilian coach Edson Silva Dido following controversy over team selection.
Shantoo has already announced a 21-member squad after the last match against Hyundai before Eid vacation. The interim Bangladesh coach expressed his satisfaction with the way his boys improved gradually in the practice matches.
Bangladesh were eliminated in group stage of the SAFF Championship in 2008 after playing out a 2-2 draw with Afghanistan and a 1-1 draw against Bhutan before going down 1 -0 to co-hosts Sri Lanka. It would be a challenge for them to erase memory of that campaign.