Despite US$100,000 in its coffers, the Bangladesh Olympic Association was still unable to start the proposed training camp for 26 athletes from four different disciplines let alone giving out a date. Earlier in the first week of October, 26 athletes were chosen for a special training programme but the athletes are still in the dark over the beginning date of the camp and as a result they had to sit idle in the last couple of months.
The camp was announced for the athletes keeping in mind the next edition of the Commonwealth Games, which will be held in Glasgow, Scotland and is scheduled to begin on July 23 next year.
Around US$100,000 was earlier provided to the BOA by the Commonwealth Games Federation for the purpose of the athletes’ preparation.
However, BOA secretary general Syed Shahed Reza failed to give out any probable starting date of the camp although sources in the BOA said that the camp will get underway on January 1 inside the Dhaka Cantonment.
‘We are still working on it and nothing has been finalised yet. The executive committee meeting will be held next week and after that we will give you [media] our actual planning,’ said Reza on Friday.
Besides the fund granted by the CGF, the BOA also requested the government to distribute them with Tk 60 crore that will be used to prepare the athletes for five more events including the Asian Games, South Asian Games and the Indo-Bangla Games.
However, the BOA is yet to receive a positive response from the government. Officials said that if the government does not provide assistance then the BOA will start the training camp on their own expenses.
Meanwhile, the Bangladesh National Shooting Federation and Bangladesh Boxing Federation are trying to recruit foreign coaches for
their athletes after receiving financial assistance from the BOA.
The BNSF has already finalised the recruitment of veteran South Korean coach Lee Jong-Hyun, who guided the Bangladesh shooting team 20 years ago. Lee agreed to take charge from the first week of January.
On the other hand, the BBF is hopeful that they will be able to rope in Ukrainian coach Gurenko.
Gurenko initially agreed to take over before changing his mind due to the current political situation of the country. The BBF though believed that Gurenko will ultimately change his decision and take charge once the political situation gets better.
‘Gurenko informed us that he will not take charge due to some problems but we are still waiting for his response to be positive in the future,’ said BBF general secretary MA Kuddus Khan on Friday.
‘If he still refuses to come in the future then we will bring a coach from Thailand or Kazakhstan by the middle of January,’ he added.
-With New Age input
