Bangladesh Olympic Association (BOA) has taken a ‘revolutionary’ decision by excluding nine disciplines from the initial 21 selected disciplines in the 17th Asian Games scheduled to be held in South Korea next month.
The decision left Bangladesh to compete in 12 disciplines in the Asian Games - archery, fencing, golf, shooting, karate, taekwondo, beach volleyball, wushu, football, cricket, hockey and kabaddi.
In an emergency executive committee meeting yesterday, BOA, in presence of officials of several other sport federations, decided not to send any athletes for athletics, badminton, boxing, cycling, gymnastic, swimming, table tennis, weightlifting and wrestling after the poor results in the Commonwealth Games.
The decision mainly came as Bangladesh earned only one medal in the recently concluded Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland after BOA spent around Tk20m for preparations on 10 disciplines.
It’s quite clear the nine excluded discliplines will now have a plenty to prove to participate in big events in future as shooting remains the only area BOA are focused on. Abdullah Hel Baki won a silver medal in shooting in the Commonwealth Games and he will be the lone flag carrier for Bangladesh in Korea.
The disastrous performance in the Commonwealth Games brought in severe criticism for BOA who flew to Glasgow with a 69-member team that included 30 athletes.
BOA secretary general Syed Shahed Reza hinted to be strict from now on before sending any athlete for an international event and said, “Asian Games is the second biggest event after Olympics and it is even bigger than the Commonwealth Games. There is more competition and stronger teams participate there.”
“So the athletes say for instance who finished 27 out of 28 participants in Commonwealth Games, there is no logic in sending them to the Asian Games,” he said.
“It’s a revolutionary decision after the liberation war. We have had enough experience and it didn’t give us anything. According to the performances in the recent tournaments, especially Commonwealth Games, we decided to exclude all disciplines except shooting to take part in the Asian Games. We discussed with the federation officials and nobody opposed,” added the BOA secretary general.
Shahed Reza, however, also pledged to give more importance to the regional events like SA Games and Indo-Bangla Games in future.
The men’s cricket team won gold in the last episode of the Aisan Games and this time around the women’s team will also take part, as like kabaddi.
Some of the federation officials, however, expressed disappointment over the decision to exclude those disciplines.
“They could have taken the decision earlier. Syque Caesar is strong contender for medal. I’m very much frustrated about the decision,” said Ahmedur Rahman, general secretary of the Bangladesh Gymnastic Federation.
The Asian Games will begin on September 19 and a 164-member Bangladesh team drafted for 12 disciplines have been confirmed for their visit next month.
