The Bangladesh Olympic Association has decided to send athletes abroad for a high-performance training camp to improve their results at international events, officials said on Tuesday.
With the help of the sports federations, the BOA has formed a 30-athlete preliminary list and has decided to send the chosen athletes to China for high-performance training.
‘We are going to organise two different training modules for the athletes; we will start a training camp for the established athletes for the upcoming Incheon Asian Games in South Korea and the Glasgow Commonwealth Games in Scotland, and we have a plan to send the young and talented athletes to China for high-performance training for success in the future,’ BOA secretary general Shahed Reza said on Tuesday.
‘But we have yet to finalise how many athletes will get the chance and when we will send them. We will ask for financial assistance from the government and finalise the matter after Eid-ul-Azha,’ he added. The BOA has previously taken this sort of initiative a number of times.
Before the 2010 South Asian Games in Dhaka, the BOA sent seven athletes to Malaysia, but they failed to develop and returned with several injuries.
Before the 2012 London Olympics, the BOA sent shooter Sharmin Akhter Ratna to London and archer Emdadul Haque Milon to Thailand, and though they failed to show improvement at the Olympics, Milon did win a silver medal at the recent Islamic Solidarity Games.
Wing Commander Rafiqul Islam, member secretary of the BOA training and development committee, admitted that high-performance training for just a few months would not be sufficient for the athletes.
‘If you want to ensure success in the international arena, you have to give at least one year’s time for preparation. We are now thinking that way, as we are planning to send some athletes abroad for a long time-period, who have chance of winning medals in top-level competition,’ said the former swimmer.
The BOA has also decided to provide more support to the sports federations and is planning to bring in foreign coaches for better preparation.
‘The sports federations who have a chance to attain success in the international arena demanded financial assistance to bring in foreign coaches, and we also promised that if they bring in any well-known coaches, we will support them from our own resources,’ said Rafiqul.
-With New Age input
