The 9th Bangabandhu Bangladesh Games, scheduled to be held from April 1-10, has been postponed due to rising fears over coronavirus, confirmed the Bangladesh Olympic Association through an emergency press briefing Thursday afternoon.
“Our secretary general [Syed Shahed Reza] went to meet Prime Minister [Sheikh Hasina] (Thursday) and it was instructed not to take any risk and defer the Games if possible. We decided to postpone the Bangladesh Games. We will let you know the new date soon,” said Syed Sheikh Bashir Ahmed, the chairman of the steering committee of the Bangladesh Games.
The official decision was only a matter of time after the Premier three days ago urged to avoid mass gathering as a preventive measure to tackle the coronavirus and Wednesday, World Health Organization declared the virus as pandemic.
“There is no implication in our country but WHO gave an alert, especially to densely populated countries like ours. The government also directed to avoid mass gathering. Everyone including the athletes are concerned because this virus spreads fast,” added Bashir.
The remaining fixtures of the Bangladesh Premier League are set to be rescheduled due to coronavirus fears and likely to be brought down to a single venue in Dhaka, hinted Kazi Salahuddin, the president of Bangladesh Football Federation, Wednesday.https://t.co/JpjkP3Ti2q#BFF
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The athletes continued taking preparation until Thursday and some of them were expressing concerns over the schedule of the Games, including weightlifter Mabia Akter Shimanto, the two-time South Asian Games gold-medalist, and the country’s only silver-medalist boxer Robin Mia.
Bashir informed that they will sit with the federations for further steps.
Shahed however, said they are adamant to hold the Bangladesh Games later this year as the country’s biggest sporting extravaganza is expected to feature more than 10,000 athletes in 31 sports at 22 different venues in and around Dhaka.
Earlier, all the scheduled international sports events and matches including cricket, football, archery, golf, cycling, and basketball, among others, were postponed due to the threat of coronavirus.