The upcoming hockey election took a new turn after the District Sports Organisers’ Forum decided to support Abahani councilor and its general secretary contestant Khwaja Rahmatullah yesterday. The Forum, which has 27 councilors out of the total 71, in a meeting at the National Sports Council (NSC) yesterday pledged all-out support for the Abahani councilor. Their support will no doubt boost Rahmatullah’s bid against a strong panel supported by Mohammedan and Mariner Young’s Club. "Mohammedan announced their panel before the councillorship of the hockey has been filled up. We give three senior organisers responsibility to make a common panel but Mohammedan didn’t take it. So for the sake of hockey, we will take part in the election with Abahani. The forum has given us the full support," said Rahmatullah yesterday. However, Shafiullah Al Munir, another general secretary contestant from the Sajed-Munir panel, said that Forum's support would have no impact in the election. He went on to claim that the Forum’s councilors are still with him. Rahmatullah has been the incumbent general secretary of the current ad-hoc committee of Bangladesh Hockey Federation for the past two years, while Shafiullah Al Munir, who is expected to be his rival for the general secretary post, burst onto the scene from virtually nowhere to become the chairman of Mohammedan’s hockey committee a year ago. The schedule for the election has not been announced yet, but the councilors’ list will be sent to the NSC today.
Thursday, June 04, 2026
