Mashrafe Bin Mortaza, born 5 October 1983 in Narail District, is a Bangladeshi international cricketer, and current captain of the One Day Internationals for Bangladesh national cricket team. He was also a T20 captain, until his retirement. He broke into the national side in late 2001 against Zimbabwe and represented Bangladesh before having played a single first-class match. Mortaza captained his country in one Test and seven One Day Internationals (ODIs) between 2009 and 2010, however injury meant he was in and out of the side and Shakib Al Hasan was appointed captain in Mortaza's absence.

Mortaza used to be considered one of the fastest bowlers produced by Bangladesh, previously bowling in the mid-135s km/h in the 2000s, and regularly opens the bowling. He is a useful lower-middle order batsman, with a first-class century and three Test half centuries to his name. Mortaza's career has been hampered by injuries and he has undergone a total of ten operations on his knees and ankles.

Mortaza retired from Test cricket in 2009 due to continuous back injuries and continued to play in shorter formats. On 4th April 2017, he announced his intentions to retire from T20s as well. He retired from all T20s on 6 April 2017.

Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Mortaza's decision to quit T20I cricket after the current series against Sri Lanka came as a surprise, but the all-rounder said that it had been an easy decision for him to make. Mashrafe announced his retirement just before the toss in the first Twenty20 International against Sri Lanka at R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo on Tuesday (April 4). Bangladesh lost the game by six wickets defending a target of 156, but the captain was the stand-out performer finishing with 2 for 32 in his four overs.

"The decision I took is because I think some of our younger bowlers aren't getting much opportunities," he said of his decision. "It was an easy decision. I think this is the time to help our youngsters develop. I still feel that T20s is the best place for our youngsters to grow for a bigger stage like Tests and ODIs," Mashrafe said.

Mashrafe is Bangladesh's senior-most cricketer having debuted at the age of 18 in 2001, barely a year after they had been granted Test status. "When T20s started in 2006, I never enjoyed that format. I played five World Cups but I never enjoyed it. Maybe because of my injuries. This format is quick and sharp so you don't get enough chances to warm up your body, especially my legs which hurt a lot. I still kept going because the cricket board was respecting me as a captain. I was trying really hard to build this team as much as I can. It was a real pleasure to captain the side and play with some fine players."

Mashrafe quit Test cricket in 2009, but will continue to lead the side in One-Day Internationals. "I am not thinking about quitting ODIs at this moment. A lot of people are involved in such a decision, like my family, friends, teammates and the media.”

No mountain is high enough for Wasfia Nazreen, who became the first Bangladeshi to climb all seven highest peaks in seven continents, also known as the “Seven Summits”.

The National Geographic adventurer reached the summit of Carstensz Pyramid, the highest mountain of Oceania/Australasia, completing the challenge of scaling seven highest mountains around the world.

With this, the 33-year-old mountaineer and a rights activist completed her campaign named “Bangladesh on Seven Summits”.

Wasfia reached the top at 10:19am local time on November 18. She was accompanied by Indonesian adventurer, Joshua Noya, according to the Bangladesh on Seven Summit Foundation. She and her friends had formed the foundation four years ago.

Sharing her experience with the BBC Bangla service last night, Wasfia, who is now in Indonesia, said, “Believe it or not, Carstensz Pyramid was the toughest and remotest mountain I have ever climbed in my life. It was tougher than Everest and Denali. Because it's a technical mountain.”

She said she cried like a child on the night of her summit. “I just wanted to be alive,” Wasfia said.

Since not so many people had climbed the granite mountain, she said, she had to do everything on her own and even make her own way to climb. “I was terrified in every moment.”

Wasfia said when she reached the summit, she was emotional. “At least I have kept the promise I made to my country four years ago when Bangladesh turned 40,” she told BBC Bangla.

The Seven Summits presented different challenges that had to be overcome with extreme and testing fortitude. Summiting all of them is regarded as one of the world's biggest mountaineering challenges.

The Seven Summits is a dream for many climbers, but only a few have succeeded. Wasfia now proudly belongs to the group.

Niaz Murshed is a Bangladeshi chess Grandmaster. He was born on May 13, 1966. In 1987 he became the first South Asian to earn the Grandmaster title. Murshed was born in Dhaka, Bangladesh, to Manzur Murshed and Najma Ahmed. He picked up the game from his older brother. His neighbor was Jamilur Rahman, who later became a national champion himself. These favorable conditions may have contributed to the young Murshed's devotion to chess.

By the age of 12, he was considered one of the top players in Bangladesh. He went on to win four national championships in 1979, 1980, 1981 and 1982. He became the national champion again after 30 years in 2012.

In 1979, Murshed played in his first international competition at Kolkata, India. Murshed earned his first Grandmaster norm in 1984. He earned his second grandmaster norm in 1986. In 1987, FIDE awarded him the Grandmaster title, making him the first GM in South Asia. He played for Bangladesh in the Chess Olympiads of 1984, 1990, 1994, 1996, 2002 and 2004.

Special Olympics provides year-round sports training and athletic competition in a variety of Olympic-type sports for children and adults with intellectual disabilities. Those activities give them continuing opportunities to develop physical fitness, demonstrate courage, experience joy and participate in a sharing of gifts, skills and friendship.

It is difficult to imagine that a woman with both physical and mental disability could accomplish something that even normal people cannot hope to achieve. Indeed, what Shewli Shathi has done can be considered a miracle. Shathi, 27, was born into a poor family in Dhaka and was unable to walk until she was 15-years old. She is also autistic. Her neighbours often taunted her. They never thought that she would be able to overcome her disabilities and become a success.

With extraordinary courage and determination, Shathi defied all the hurdles along the way. She brought home two silver medals and a bronze in badminton in the Special Olympics World Summer Games held in 2007 in Shanghai, China. She also gained five gold medals in the first Asia Pacific Special Olympics in Brunei in 2009 and in the 4th Asia Pacific Special Olympics also held in Brunei in 2012. She has recently become a household name in Bangladesh after the country’s largest cell phone company highlighted her achievement on TV and billboards were erected in Dhaka’s streets.

“We believe that highlighting her achievement would actually inspire the young generation to cross all barriers in life and go beyond their ability and give honour to the nation,” said Tahmeed Azizul Huq, Head of Corporate communications of GrameenPhone Limited. Shathi said she wanted to change people’s attitudes and perceptions toward the mentally and physically disabled members of society.