4th Islamic Solidarity Games: Bangladesh wrestler Shirin clinches bronze

Bangladesh wrestler Shirin Sultana claimed bronze medal in the women’s 69kg freestyle event of the 4th Islamic Solidarity Games in Baku, Azerbaijan on Sunday. After bagging gold and silver in shooting last week, it was Bangladesh’s third medal, and first bronze, in this Games. Shirin lost against her Kazakhstan opponent Zhamila Bakbergenova by 10-0 points in the semi-finals. She also lost the third-place deciding match. But in wrestling, both the third- and fourth-placed finishers are adjudged as bronze medallists. “This is one of the most memorable days in my life. I won bronze as a representative of my country,” said Shirin through social media after winning her first medal in the Games. Shirin won silver in the same event in the previous South Asian Games in Guwahati, India last year where she lost to Indian opposition in the final. Earlier, Rabbi Hasan Munna earned Bangladesh's first medal in this year’s Games when he took silver in the 10m air rifle event. Bigger news came for Bangladesh soon after when shooting pair Abdullah Hel Baki and Syeda Atkiya Hasan Disha claimed gold in the 10m air rifle team event. This was Bangladesh’s first ever gold in the Islamic Solidarity Games. Bangladesh bagged only one silver and a bronze in the last edition of the Games in Indonesia in 2013.