Young Bangladesh team comprising of 23 members will depart from the capital in the early hours (2:05 am) of Friday (August 15), to participate in the 2nd Summer Youth Olympic Games to be held in the Chinese city of Nanjing from August 16-28 with expectation of surprise medals in hockey, shooting and Archery.
Captain of Bangladesh Hockey team Rezaul Karim Babu will have the honour of carrying the Bangladesh flag in the Youth Olympics with a record number of 3,600 athletes from 204 countries across the world expecting to take part.
Bangladesh will participate in five disciplines-Shooting, Swimming, Archery, Hockey and Weightlifting out of 28 disciplines finalized for this year in Youth Olympics.
Vice President of Bangladesh Olympic Association (BOA) Rafia Akhter Dolly for the second time in a row would be the chef de mission of Bangladesh contingent comprising of 13 athletes, five team officials and five contingent officials.
Secretary General of Bangladesh Olympics Association (BOA) Syed Shahed Reza disclosed this at a press conference at the Dutch Bangla Auditorium of BOA on Monday. Chef de mission of Bangladesh contingent Rafia Akhter Dolly also spoke on the occasion.
Shahed Reza appealed to the participating athletes that BOA have been providing all modern facilities for them, now the time has come to deliver good results for the nation. He said he is hopeful that the Athletes, who would be competing against the top teams, will leave no stone unturned to bring laurel for the country.
Bangladesh hockey team earned the right to play in the Youth Olympics as they qualified from preliminary round while four other disciplines of sports are participating in the meet through wild cards.
Bangladesh contingent:
Shooting – Sharmin Akhter (10m air rifle), team official – Abdus Salam Khan;
Swimming – M Asif Reza (50m freestyle), team official – Jatindra Nath Biswas;
Archery – Pranny Murong (individual recurve), team official – Myunkwon Park;
Weightlifting – Zohura Akhter Reshma (48kg), team official – Mrs Shahriar Sultana.
Hockey team – Rezaul Karim Babu M Raju Ahmed, M Fazle Hosain Rabbi, Sajubur Rahman, Khalid Masud Rakin, M Naeemuddin, Deen Islam Emon, M Ashraful Islam, and Roman Sarkar; Officials – Khawja Rahmatullah and M Kawser Ali.
The hockey competition in the Youth Olympics will be a five- a-side affair.
Bangladesh has been placed in Pool A of the meet with Australia, Canada, South Africa and Spain.
Contingent members: Syed Shahed Reza (BOA Secretary General), Mrs Rafia Akhter Dolly (chef de mission), M Farhadur Rahman (Young Ambassador) and M Habibur Rahman (additional team official).
