The three-day long gymnastics events of the Sheikh Kamal 2nd Bangladesh Youth Games concluded at the National Sports Council gymnasium Friday with insufficient lights barring the gymnasts from bringing out their top performance.
“We have to see everything clearly during the event. But when there is insufficient light, we lose our concentration. It creates a problem. It's better for us if there are more lights,” national gold-medalist gymnast Bonofuly Chakma told Dhaka Tribune.
Bonofuly, who won bronze at the Central South Asian Gymnastics Championship 2021, represented Chittagong division in the latest Youth Games.
Former national gymnast and currently Bangladesh Krira Shikkha Protishthan gymnastics coach for 23 years, Morjina Begum also admitted the predicament.
“More lights are required so that the players get benefitted. It will also help the judges. It will develop both the observation and performances,” said Morjina, the head of BKSP's gymnastics department.
The lighting problem has prevailed for a long time and the Bangladesh Gymnastics Federation said they informed NSC about the issue few times in the past but to no avail.
“The last time we told NSC about this was before the Bangladesh Games [2021] but they took no action. Then we had to renovate and add some bulbs at our own cost, but this is not enough,” said BGF general secretary Ahmedur Rahman Bablu.
There are currently 39 bulbs in the gymnasium but Bablu said the lighting requirement is around 40% less than what it should be.
National team's South Korean head coach Cho Sung Dong also pointed out some spaces of the ceiling where there should be lights but there are none.
The taekwondo events of the Youth Games also took place at the same venue.
Taekwondo Federation's general secretary Mahmudul Islam Rana also admitted there was not enough light and that they had no choice but to manage on their own to run the show.
NSC secretary Parimal Singh however, said he is not aware of the issue.
“I don't know much about the lighting problem. I was not informed. I'm here for one year and three months. I think there was a gap,” said the NSC secretary.
“No sports event can take place in insufficient light because it is difficult for players to perform,” he added.
Instead of central AC, exhaust fans are in place, and even some of them don't work Mahmud Hossain Opu/Dhaka Tribune Inadequate space and excessive heat
The minimum space required to set up gymnastics apparatus can't be met at the NSC gymnasium and on top of it they even have to share the venue with taekwondo federation.
There was a time when only gymnastics events were held there.
The number of apparatus increased over time but the space reduced, and five years ago there were more than five sports federations including weightlifting, karate and wushu holding their activities at the same venue.
Now, it's mainly between gymnastics and taekwondo.
“I think this is not enough for gymnastics. If there is not adequate space it's very difficult for players. We informed this to chairman [Youth and Sports minister Zahid Ahsan Russel],” said Parimal.
He added, “We sit in some meetings with the concerned federations to discuss this problem. Chairman was also there to manage allocations.”
He informed that they have a plan to assign other disciplines to separate venues, indicating the proposed sports project in Purbachal.
Another ever-present problem is air cooling system, and there is none.
There is only a row of exhaust fans on top of the wall.
It becomes intolerable during the summer.
“Every time I went abroad for competitions there was air condition. But we have none. The fans we have here don't work always. It's very difficult to train and perform,” said national gold-winning gymnast Shishir Ahmed Shanto.
When the matter was conveyed to the NSC secretary, he replied, “There are exhaust fans but it basically needs a central AC which is essential for any indoor gymnasium. It is in our head. It will be adjusted in future.”
