C’wealth Games
More officials than athletes!
Ratna to carry flag
Sharmin Akhter Ratna, gold medalist in the South Asian Games and Commonwealth Shooting Championship, will carry the national flag during the march past in the Commonwealth Games to be held in New Delhi over October 3-14.
The decision was taken yesterday during a meeting between chef de mission Nurul Fazal Bulbul and general secretaries of participating federations at the BOA Building.
Bangladesh will compete in archery, athletics, boxing, shooting, swimming, weightlifting and squash out of 17 disciplines of the games, but the size of Bangladesh contingent has raised questions in the sports arena as the number of officials is larger than the athletes.
The 79-member contingent comprises 36 athletes, 17 coaches and managers, six administrative officers including chef de mission, general manager, a doctor, 15 guests including sports minister, his wife, his personal secretary, members of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Youth and Sports, National Sports Council officials and the BOA president, secretary general and chief executive officer and two officials of Bangladesh High Commission in Delhi.
Although the above break-up shows that the contingent will have 79 members on it, the BOA secretary general Kutubuddin Ahmed said that they had sought GO (government order) for 72 members of which five members of squash would travel at their own cost.
Asked about the huge contingent which has less athletes, Kutubuddin said that they just followed written instructions from the government and some members of the contingent were invited by the host nation.
The government has allocated Tk 1.68 crore, of which Tk 90 lakh is for participating and remaining Tk 78 lakh for training.
