Around 10,600 sportspersons coming from across the country will take part in the Bangabandhu 9th Bangladesh Games, it was revealed during the logo and mascot unveiling ceremony at Kurmitola Golf Club in Dhaka Thursday.
The athletes will fight it out for 396 gold, 396 silver and 546 bronze medals in a total of 31 disciplines during the 10-day long event, scheduled to be inaugurated by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on April 1 at Bangabandhu National Stadium, one of 22 venues earmarked for the country’s biggest sports extravaganza.
Due to Mujib Borsho, the Games is dedicated to the Father of the Nation, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, a short documentary of whom was screened at the beginning before the unveiling of the logo.
The logo has a sketch of Bangabandhu on top while the mascot is pigeon.
“Around 10,600 athletes will participate in the Games. To mark the birth centenary of Bangabandhu, the Games torch will light up in Tungipara before being brought to BNS in the capital,” said Bangladesh Olympic Association secretary general Syed Shahed Reza Thursday.
With less than a month left before the Games, there is still no publicity or promotional activities and some venues are not ready.
Replying to this query, Reza said, “The promotion starts from [Thursday]. We sat with the National Sports Council and Ministry more than once and requested them to clean and renovate the venues. They gave us assurance.”
The condition of the athletic turf of BNS is not that good, which put the athletes running the risk of injuries.
“We suggested the athletics federation to hold the track events at BKSP to avoid any injury risks. We will take decision upon their proposal next week,” said Sheikh Bashir Ahmed, the chairman of steering committee, one of 16 sub-committees of the BBG.
The 1st Bangladesh Youth Games was held last year from where around 1,250 young athletes will be participating in the BBG.
The national events of 31 disciplines would take place under the same banner, informing this, Bashir also said they will send the top athletes to different international events, including the Olympics and the Asian Games.
Like the previous edition, the federations will provide accommodation to their respective athletes from the money given by the government and BOA.
The record holders will be awarded prize money but the amount was not revealed.
Meanwhile, the 1st BG was held in 1978 involving 10 disciplines, while the previous edition took place in 2013, after 11 years, 11 months and 11 days since 2002.
Seven national records from as many disciplines were set during the last edition.
