Bangladesh shooters Abdullah Hel Baki and Syeda Athkiya Hasan bagged gold in mixed team shooting event on Sunday on the second day in the 4th Islamic Solidarity Games in Baku, Azerbaijan, said a Bangladesh Olympic Association (BOA) on Sunday.
BOA press release did not provide any details till the filing of this report President of BOA and Army Chief General Abu Belal Mohammad Shafiul Haque and Secretary General Shahed Reza congratulated the Bangladesh shooters for their achievement.
Shahed Reza talking to BSS on a telephone on Sunday from Baku said, ‘It is indeed a memorable day for Bangladesh Sports, winning a Gold medal in international event is always a very special occasion. We are proud of Baki and Athkiya for achieving this great honour for the country.”
Earlier on Saturday, Bangladesh’s young shooter Rabbi Hasan Munna captured the first medal for country on the inaugural day as the 21-year-old, who was under the shadow of his more illustrious compatriot Abdullahel Baki, surprised all to grab the silver medal in his pet event of 10m air rifle with a score of 245.5 points.
Omer Akgun of Turkey won gold with a score of 249.8 points while Saidkhon Sayfuddinov of Uzbekistan settled for bronze.
Bangladesh Contingent for hoping Baki who captured Silver in Commonwealth Games in 2014 will grab the gold here but to their utter surprise Rabbi won the silver while Baki made it to the final round in sixth position and eventually finished fifth.
Rookie Rabbi from Tangail held on to his qualifying position of second and finished the final round behind the gold medallist. Rabbi scored 624 points in qualification, 0.9 points behind Akgun.
The other Bangladeshi participants, meanwhile, failed to get themselves on the podium, despite a couple of them being in contention for medals.
In the women’s 10m air rifle event Syeda Atkiya Hasan finished sixth while Mahfuza Jannat Jui finished 14th.
Swimmer Mahfuza Khatun Shila, who won two gold medals in South Asian Games last year, finished her 50m breaststroke event in sixth position, taking 34.81 seconds to finish. The timing was 0.47 seconds more than her personal best set in the SA Games.
Ariful Islam was eliminated from the semifinals of the men’s 50m breaststroke event, securing 12th position among 16 semifinalists. Naima Akter was also eliminated from the semifinals of the 100m backstroke after clocking 1:12.12sec. In the women’s 800m freestyle event, Nazma Khatun became seventh after clocking 10:49.98sec.
