A 42-member Bangladesh contingent will participate in the 21st Commonwealth Games to be held in Gold Coast of Australia from April 4-15, eyeing medals in the prospective shooting events.
The 11-day multi-sports games will kick off at the Carrara Stadium of Queensland in Australia on April 4 where leading athletes of 71 Commonwealth countries will compete in 19 disciplines of sports for 275 gold medals.
Australia is hosting the CW games for the 5th time.
The Bangladesh team consisting of 26 athletes will compete in six disciplines of sports — Athletics, Swimming, Shooting, Weightlifting, Boxing and Wrestling — in the Commonwealth Games.
Celebrated shooter Abdullah Hel Baki will carry the Bangladesh national flag in the march past of the opening ceremony on April 4.
Vice-president of Bangladesh Olympic Association (BOA) Nazimuddin Chowdhury made the Chef de-mission of Bangladesh contingent while BOA Deputy Secretary General Ashiqur Rahman Miku will act as General Team Manager.
Addressing a pre-games press conference at the Dutch Bangla Auditorium here, BOA Secretary General Syed Shaheed Reza and the Chef de-mission expect a good performance from the team, especially in shooting events. The Bangladesh team was groomed for six months.
The first batch of the Bangladesh contingent with 16-member shooting team left the capital for Australia on Saturday night. Shooting official Entekhabul Hamid and shooter Amira Hamid will fly for Australia on March 27 and 30 respectively.
The 2nd batch with Athletics, Swimming, Boxing and Weightlifting teams will fly for Gold Coast on Saturday (Mar 31) while 3rd and the last batch of three members wresting team two wrestlers and one official on April 9.
The Athletics unit comprises of two athletes and one official while swimming team three swimmers and one official, boxing two boxers and one official and weightlifting team consists of five lifters and an official.
Members of Bangladesh Shooting team are: Shooters -Abdullah Hel Baki, Shovon Chowdhury, Risalatul Islam, Rabbi Hasan Munna, Shakil Ahmed, Anwar Hossain, Armin Asha, Amira Hamid, Ardina Ferdous, Sayeda Atkia Hasan, Ummey Zakia Sultana, Suraiya Akter, Sharmin Shilpa.
Officials: Enthekhabul Hamid, Hosne Ara Begum, Coach – Klavs Jorn Christensenan, Marko Sokic and Golam Shafiuddin Khan.
