Bangladesh women’s kabaddi team was left in disarray ahead of fifth Asian Beach Games in Vietnam due to series of irregularities committed by the Bangladesh Kabaddi Federation.
The team is set to play the Games, scheduled from September 24 to October 3, without any coach and a player short because of the ignorance and indifference of the federation.The team started their preparation camp with the financial assistance of Bangladesh Olympic Association from July 16 under the guidance of coach Ziaur Rahman but the federation didn’t recommend Zia’s name in the final list.
Federation recommended Indian coach Banani Saha as the coach of the team but the Indian Railway coach didn’t join the camp due the unavailability of No Objection Certificate from the Indian authority.
Federation claimed that they wanted to appoint a female coach for the women’s team citing some technical reason even though Zia worked with the silver medal winners Bangladesh women’s team as assistant coach in the SA Games earlier this year.
‘As it is a body contact game, we wanted to a send a women coach with the team so we didn’t recommend Zia’s name,’ federation general secretary Nazrul Islam said on Sunday.
‘We recommended Banani’s name to the Bangladesh Olympic Association three months ago but she failed to get the NOC from her Indian authority.
‘Though we will not get the service of Banani, the team manager Kaiyum [Shikder] will act as coach of the team there.’
In an unprecedented manner, the federation finalised the six-member final squad before starting the camp and had included an Under-16 national football team player Masura Pervin.
Masura, who was a member of group C champions of AFC Under-16 Championship qualifiers, decided not to join the kabaddi team in order to pursue her football career.
‘After making the final round in the next year AFC Under-16 Championship, I decided to leave other disciplines to continue my football career,’ Masura said.
‘I have already informed my decision to the kabaddi federation.’
Federation secretary said they requested the Bangladesh Football Federation to allow Masura to join the camp but insisted that in case she cannot join the team will not suffer much.
‘We sent a written request to the BFF to leave Masura for the meet,’ said Nazrul adding that, ‘If she does not join I think the team will not suffer because in the beach games four players will be allowed in the court.’
It was also alleged that, federation made the final list comprised of —Tuktuki Khatun, Fatema Akter Poly, Farzana Akter Baby, Rupali Akter, Masura Pervin and Kazi Shahinara Brishty—without taking any advice from the coach.
‘BOA asked the final squad at least two months before the meet for accreditation and we had to form the six-member squad considering their previous performances,’ Nazrul added.
Brishty, the wife of team manager Kaiyumm, was among the six selected players.
Nazrul defended her selection saying that she is a regular member of national squad.
‘Brishty has been playing for national team since last three or four years and we didn’t consider her personal identity before picking her in the final list,’ said Nazrul.
Women’s kabaddi team brought international successes for the country frequently in the last few years including 2014 Incheon Asian Games bronze medal and 2016 Guwahati South Asian Games silver medal.
-With New Age input
