It was seven in Rio and six in Tokyo but this time around, five Bangladesh athletes from four disciplines will be competing at the Paris Olympics 2024, scheduled to take place later this month.
Archer Sagor Islam qualified directly while sprinter Imranur Rahman, shooter Robiul Islam and swimmers Sonia Akhter and Samiul Islam Rafi received wildcards.
Robiul narrowly missed the ticket for direct place by only 0.3 points.
He scored 628 in January’s Asian Championship where 628.3 was enough for an Olympic berth.
He participated in two World Championships, six World Cups and five Asian Championships in the last two years and achieved his personal best in Jakarta but still lost by a whisker.
Thanks to wildcard, the 25-year old will be shooting in Paris in the 10m air rifle event.
Ruman Shana made the headlines prior to the last edition in Tokyo held in 2020 by becoming the first archer from the country to seal direct qualification to the Olympic Games.
His form deteriorated since then before he got banned by the archery federation for breaching discipline.
He returned to the national fold for the short term before shockingly calling it quits last March.
The retirement came at the age of 28 due to the poor relationship between Ruman and the federation.
The federation got a replacement on a much younger shoulder in rapid pace.
Sagor was only 18 when he advanced to the gold-medal fight of Final Olympic Qualification Tournament in Turkey last month.
Sagor will carry his bows and arrows to the French capital for the men’s individual recurve event.
Hakim Ahmed Rubel was the leading solo contender to receive wildcard from archery but Sagor’s astonishing feat turned things quite unexpectedly.
Bangladesh submitted only Rubel’s name for wildcard.
Had it been a woman archer, Bangladesh would have seen one more female athlete representing the country at the Paris Olympics but there is no way back anymore.
According to Olympic Association and Archery Federation, Bangladesh were allocated one spot for each men’s and women’s section, and one wildcard overall.
Recently, Rubel had been the most consistent archer for the list but he missed the cut in the end.
Athletics Federation had two wildcards for Rio Olympics 2016 and one for Tokyo.
They have got single quota for wildcard again and Imranur’s name was no surprise.
Imranur has been the fastest man of the country every time he competed in the national championship after he decided to represent Bangladesh in 2021.
The London-based athlete won the country’s maiden gold medal at Asian Indoor Championship in 2023.
It was in 60m event.
He also reached the 100m semifinals at Hangzhou Asian Games last year and made it to the 60m semifinals of World Indoor Athletics in March this year.
The 30-year old has been training in the United Kingdom and will fly to Paris for the men’s 100m event.
Despite Bangladesh’s unimpressive show in swimming at international arena, the two quotas for wildcards by World Aquatics in the respective discipline remained the same.
The two swimming wildcards too did not get their desired places.
Rafi has been better in backstroke events but the 19-year old, currently taking preparation in Thailand through a scholarship, will be competing only in the men’s 100m freestyle.
The Bangladesh Navy swimmer had national record in the 50m and 200m backstrokes before breaking his previous record in 100m backstroke with a timing of 58.45s in the 2023 national competition.
The swimming federation was not fully content with the event Rafi selected for the Paris show.
Only female athlete in Bangladesh’s summer olympics contingent, Sonia has been dominating the pool in the national competitions in recent times.
She is also 19 only.
She is more known for her aptitude in the butterfly events but got picked for 50m freestyle event instead.
Among the sports Bangladesh will be participating in, archery’s position is higher than the other three in the world rankings of the respective disciplines and expectation is also high accordingly.
The lone archer will be ahead in contention in bringing the country’s top performance in the Olympic Games Paris 2024, set to get underway on July 26 and conclude on August 11.
Bangladeshi Olympians in Paris
Sagor Islam (Archery, Men’s Recurve Individual)
Imranur Rahman (Athletics, Men’s 100m Sprint)
Robiul Islam (Shooting, Men’s 10m Air Rifle)
Samiul Islam Rafi (Swimming, Men’s 100m Freestyle)
Sonia Akhter (Swimming, Women’s 50m Freestyle)