Announcing her government’s plan for development of the sports activities in the country Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Thursday said a spacious and international standard sports village would be constructed at the char areas near Padmar Bridge.
Addressing the closing ceremony of 4th Roll Ball Skating World Cup at Sheikh Russell Roller Skating Complex here today the Prime Minister said construction of the sports complex would begin soon where sports persons would get enormous scopes for training and taking part in competitions.
The government also has a plan to build an Olympic Complex in that area, Sheikh Hasina added saying steps would be taken for world-class training of others persons relating to sports including trainers, referees, doctors and nutritionists.
The Prime Minister said there is no alternative involving the youths in sports and cultural activities to keep them away from terrorism, militancy and drug. In view of this the government has taken the ‘healthy mind in healthy body’ approach to groom up patriotic and ideal citizens.
Planning Minister AHM Mostafa Kamal, State Minister for Youth and Sports Biren Sikder, Chief Coordinator of the Prime Minister Office on SGDs and convenor of the organizing committee of 4th Roll Ball Skating World Cup Abul Kalam Azad, also spoke on the occasion.
The Prime Minister distributed trophies among the captains of the champion and runner-up teams of the tournament. India clinched champion trophy both in men and women categories while Iran became runner up in both groups. She also distributed medals among the players of the champion and
runner up teams.
Hridoy Khan of Bangladesh team received the medal and cheque from the Prime Minister as the best scorer of the tournament.
The Prime Minister called for new start of home-grown sports across the country and urging the industrialists, business enterprises and financial institutions to come forward with financial support to promote the local sports.
The Prime Minister extended her sincere thanks to the organizers of the Bangladesh Roller Skating Federation for excellent arrangement of the first ever Roll Ball World Cup in Bangladesh in which over 600 skaters from 39 countries took part.
Though the game first began in India, is not very known in Bangladesh. But it has already transcended across the globe and will become a popular very shortly in Bangladesh, she hoped.
Sheikh Hasina said Father of the Nation dreamt of making the country self-reliant in all respects. His dream has started to come true as Bangladesh now is not only a role model in the socio-economic field but also in sports arena.
Pointing out successful arrangements of many international events in Bangladesh over the last few years, the Prime Minister said the world community has praised excellent arrangements of those events.
All stadiums at district level are being renovated while project was taken for construction of stadium at Upazila level. Besides, projects were taken for construction of specialized and international standard stadium and sports complex in big cities, she said.
Sheikh Hasina said Bangladesh is now known face in the international sports arena. We are proud of the success of the U-18 football team and female cricket team in Malaysia. Bangladesh is a strong team in the world cricket.
The Prime Minister said during the period of Awami League in 1997 ICC recognized Bangladesh for One-Day-International (ODI) and received status as the 10th Test Playing team in 2000. Now the female cricket team of Bangladesh has also earned ODI status.
She said Bangladesh football team has clinched gold medal in the Eighth SAF Games and showed its success in the international arena in hockey, shooting, handball, basketball, archery, gymnastics, beach football and many other events.
To continue the success in sports, she said, the government has given importance to infrastructural development. The government has taken it seriously to protect the sports fields in every village and town.
Sheikh Hasina said the government has taken initiative for recruiting players from grassroots level and then giving them necessary trainings. All sports federation and district and upazila level sports councils would be strengthened by giving sufficient budget, she said.
The Prime Minister said her government is increasing budget allocation in sports every year, though the allocation is not sufficient. So special package programmes would be taken to ensure sufficient fund for overall development of the sports, she said.
Earlier, the Prime Minister formally inaugurated the Sheikh Russell Roller Skating Complex adjacent to Bangabandhu National Stadium.
