Bangladesh Olympic Association (BOA) has included gymnastic in the contingent of 17th Asian Games which is scheduled to begin in Incheon, South Korea from September 19.
This latest addition of the discipline means US-born Bnagladeshi artistic gymnast Syque Caesar will get another chance to prove his worth for the country after his below-par display in the Commonwealth Games.
Earlier the Olympic association excluded nine disciplines from among the initial 21 selected disciplines to take part in the Asiad after severe criticism over Bangladesh’s performance in the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games.
It was learnt that the State Minister for Sports and Youth Biren Sikder recommended the BOA to include gymnastic in the Asian contingent. Member of BOA training and development committee Rafiqul Islam confirmed this,
“The honourable Minister wanted to know the reason behind Syque Caesar’s (gymnastic) exclusion from the Asian Games. He also talked about adding gymnast in the Asiad contingent and we obliged,” said the wing commander of Bangladesh Air Force.
Syque Caesar represented Bangladesh in the 2012 Summer Olympics in London and 2014 Commonwealth Games with his only achievement for Bangladesh being the gold medal in the parallel bars event in the Middle and South Asia Artistic Gymnastic tournament in 2011.
Caesar was a member of the Michigan Wolverines men’s gymnastics team from 2009 to 2012. The 24-year-old helped Michigan to the NCAA team championship as a sophomore in 2010 and was elected co-captain of the Michigan men’s gymnastic team. He also won the Big Ten Conference championship in the parallel bars as a junior in 2011.
