In a bid to search for young talented athletes from grass-roots level, the Bangladesh Olympic Association (BOA) is planning to hold Bangladesh Youth Games for the first time in the country, which is likely to be held in December this year.
Badal Roy, the deputy director general of Bangladesh Olympic Association talked yesterday about the possibility of holding the Youth Games while admitting the deficit of time to organize the event as the Asian Games is just a month away with the the SA Games likely to be held in March next year in India.
After a poor display in the Commonwealth Games last month, BOA is thinking hard to develop the games and the future of it from every aspect, and this thought led to the birth of the idea of holding Bangladesh Youth Games to find out young talents from across the country. The event will be held in under-18 level and the participants will have a chance to prove their worth with an opportunity to book their names for the next SA Games.
The primary plan is to begin the event from Upazilla level which would consume around a month to finish the process. The top athletes from Upazilla will then compete in the district level followed by all the district sports council jointly forming a district team comprising of the top performers. The district teams will eventually take part in the divisional level to qualify for the final round which will be held in Dhaka in January.
After the plan was proposed, BOA president and also the Army chief General Iqbal Karim Bhuiyan expressed his interest to hold the event.
“Though the time is very short, we are working to chalk out the format to start the Games in December which will eventually finish in January so that the top athletes will get a chance to prepare for the SA Games and join the camp alongside the existing athletes,” said Badal Roy yesterday.
“The senior players will also get some competition in the camp which will help to form a strong national team for the SA Games,” added Badal.