Bangladesh’s top archer MD Ruman Shana pledged to work hard and want to participate in more international tournaments in order to make a mark in the Olympics. The young archer expressed his vow after being felicitated by the archery federation following his return home from the historic achievement at World Championships.
The 24-year-old along with his fellow archers arrived in the capital from Netherlands on Tuesday morning and was given an immediate reception with bouquet of flowers at the Sheikh Russel Roller Skating Complex at Paltan at noon.
“I am really happy and I can’t express it in words following such a big reception. I hope the support will continue. I have already achieved my target to qualify for Olympics and thanked almighty Allah to help me achieve such achievement,” said Ruman after the colourful programme.
City Group, who has been sponsoring the archery federation under Teer Go For Gold project, handed over a check of Tk2lacs to Ruman during the reception. Youth and Sports Minister Zahid Ahsan Russell congratulated him at the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport while Bangladesh Olympic Association secretary general Syed Shahed Reza and National Sports Council secretary Masud Karim was present on the reception programme. Officials from several federations like swimming, handball, athletics, gymnastics, basketball, wushoo, judo and squash also congratulated Ruman at the reception.
Ruman continued to say, “Now, my main goal is to do better in Olympics which the ultimate target for any athlete. I have to work harder than before. If I want to win a medal in Olympics, I must make myself prepared and take me to that level through hard work otherwise, it is not possible to win any medal at the Olympics. I also have a desire to take part in all international tournaments before taking part at the Olympics and I hope the federation will come forward to provide me with support.”
Ruman began the World Championships campaign at the 20th spot in the qualification round where more than 500 archers from 88 countries took part. He later went on to beat some of the renowned archers as well as Olympic gold-medalists to win bronze in the recurve individual event and became only the second Bangladeshi to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics 2022.
“It’s history that Bangladesh won the first medal from World Archery Championships since I played at Asian level competition before but this was a world-level competition. I value this bronze medal more than any other gold medals I have grabbed from the international tournaments.”
Ruman wants to continue training under archery’s German coach Martin Fredrick. “He is one of best coaches in the world. Everything has been changed in last one and half year since his arrival. In last three World Cups from 2011, our men’s team never qualified for the elimination round but this time, all of our teams qualified for the elimination round. It is a development graph of Bangladesh in archery.”
Martin was also a happy man at the reception. He talked about Ruman’s success. “Working very hard in the training made it possible. We have more national and international competition so it was easier to fight. Ruman is also s very good talent, very disciplined. He also worked very hard. If I say ten minutes more, Ruman did 30 minutes more in training.”
The German coach also expected more tournaments for further development. “Experience is very important. You need tactical and mental development. At this moment, we need to focus on playing more matches. We must take part in a lot of tournaments to make us stronger and more stable. We need a good plan to prepare for next year.”
