Glasgow Commonwealth Games silver winner shooter Abdullah Hel Baki’s shooting event will begin today ( Monday) in the Rio Olympics shooting complex.
He will compete in his favourite event 10m air rifles qualification round that will begin at 9 am (BST). If he successfully crosses this round, then his participation in the final round will be ensured.
Baki before leaving for Rio in a press briefing last week said, “I am going there with the hope to improve my best timing. If I can deliver my present form in the competition, I hope to make it to the eight-man final.”
Baki showed glimpse of his improvement under the new Danish coach Christensen
as he scored 624.8 score in the ISSF World Cup in Germany last May. In order to allow Baki adapt to the local conditions in Rio before his cherished event 10m air rifle, BOA arranged him to be member of the batch of Bangladesh contingent which left on August 1 for Brazil.
Abdullah Baki said, “In Germany, I ruined a great chance to reach the final due to a lapse of concentration at a crucial juncture. However, now I had some psychological sessions which will I think help me to keep calm during the big events.”
Bangladesh Shooting Federation played their part to inspire their athlete as they announced, If Baki makes it to the final round he will be rewarded Taka 10 lakh while more cash-awards will start pouring in if he gets his name among the medal winners.
Three days later country’s ace golfer Siddikur Rahman, who carried the national flag at Rio Games opening ceremony, will start his campaign in the men’s individual stroke play.
Bangladesh’s next event will be swimming when Mahfizur Rahman Sagar, who carried the national flag in the London Olympics, is the only member of the team to have prior experience of Olympics participation, will splash in the pool for men’s 50-metre freestyle heats on August 12.
On the same day female swimmer Sonia Akhtar Tumpa will make her attempt in the 50-metre freestyle heats. Country’s fastest woman Shirin Akhtar will test her skill in the 100-metre sprint preliminary round on August 12 and fastest man Mesbah Ahmed will conclude Bangladesh’s campaign by taking part in the 100-metre sprint preliminary round.
Earlier, on Saturday, Bangladesh’s lone archer Shamoly Roy failed to shine as she finished at 53rd position among 64 participants in the recurve bow personal ranking round.
