The top athletes of Bangladesh are sceptical about their success in the forthcoming Bangladesh Games as they did not have enough preparation for the formerly quadrennial meet, which will be held this month after a gap of more than a decade.
Shooter Sharmin Akhter Ratna, athlete Mohon Khan, swimmer Mahfizur Rahman Sagor and archer Emdadul Haq Milon, four of the five athletes who represented Bangladesh at the London Olympics last year are gearing up for the Games but without any serious confidence.
Among the Olympians, only gymnast Syque Caesar will miss the Games as he now resides in the USA.
Archer Milon, who finished 64th in the men’s elimination round in the Olympics, returned to training only last month and will compete for Ansar and VDP in the Bangladesh Games.
He lost to Sajib Sheikh in the last two national meets and yet got a ticket to London due to his success in the Youth Olympics. Milon is keen to justify his Olympics selection by upstaging Sajib in the Games.
`After the London Olympics, I was out of practice for nearly five months. Recently the Bangladesh Olympic Association started a training camp ahead of the Islamic Solidarity Games but after a few days it was stopped,’ Milon told New Age.
‘As the Bangladesh Games is looming close, I have been making preparation on my own for the last one month. Hopefully I will win the gold medal this time.’
Though Sajib and Ram Krishna Saha from the BKSP are also good competitors, I am sure if I can perform to my natural ability success will eventually shine on me,’ said Milon.
Bangladesh Navy’s swimmer Sagor said he also resumed training in March after the BOA suspended training for the South Asian Games in December.
`I started preparation for the Bangladesh Games from the first week of March. After the suspension of the training camp for the SA Games in December, I was sitting almost idle,’ said Sagor.
Sagor said he is aiming to win seven gold medals out of eight events from which he is expected to participate.
The freestyle swimmer will participate in 50m, 100m, 200m, 400m, 1500m, 4X100m and 4X200m freestyle events and will also compete in the 4X100m individual medley.
In the London Olympic Games, Sagor was eliminated in the 50m freestyle heat after clocking 24.62 seconds. The timing was poorer than his personal best of 24.53sec that he achieved in the 2010 SA Games.
Mohon of Bangladesh Army may be an Olympian and still the fastest man of the country after winning the 100 metre sprint in the last National meet, but his participation in the Bangladesh Games is still not certain.
Mohon said he has to qualify through a trial to represent the Army in the meet.
`Now I am not concerned about gold medal, I am just thinking about our upcoming trial,’ said Mohan, who timed 11.25 seconds in the Olympics and was unable to overcome the pre-qualifying race.
‘To qualify for the Bangladesh Games I took three months’ training and I am fully fit to compete in the Bangladesh Games. But in our Army team there is strong competition, so nobody can confidently say that he will get a chance,’ said Mohon.
Shoaibuzzaman, the coach of shooter Sharmin, said her preparation was hampered by HSC examination. Sharmin, who lost out to 2010 SA Games gold medalist Sharmin Akter in a recent meet, will participate for Ansar and VDP in the Bangladesh Games.
-With New Age input
