A 33-member Bangladesh contingent flew to Thailand yesterday to participate in the 4th Asian Beach Games scheduled for November 14-23 in the coastal city of Phuket, Thailand.
Bangladesh will participate in athletics, basketball, handball, swimming, kabaddi, volleyball and wrestling. Among the disciplines it is only in women’s kabbadi that the Bangladesh athletes harbour any hopes of winning a medal. Cager Mithun Biswas will be the flag-bearer in the opening ceremony.
Athletics will be held on the beach but the two participants – the fastest male and female sprinter of the country, Mezbah and Shirin – are hardly aware of the craft. “Running on sand is a little tricky. We have practised on makeshift sand pitches at Army Stadium,” said Shirin.
The Games in Phuket has drawn a record 2,583 athletes from 43 countries participating across 26 different disciplines. With a team of 343 members, Thailand have the largest number of competitors.