BOA finalises 396 athletes for now
The Bangladesh Olympic Association (BOA) on Monday finalised a list of 396 athletes for 15 disciplines for the preparation camp of the upcoming South Asian Games, which will be held in Guwahati and Shillong next January.
Over the last couple of weeks, the BOA held discussions with these 15 federations before finalising the list for the camp, which started from August 2, even though the number of disciplines that Bangladesh may participate in could be 20.
BOA initially selected archery, boxing, badminton, table tennis, kabaddi, shooting, swimming, volleyball, taekwondo, weightlifting, wrestling, cycling, basketball, handball and athletics for the preparation camp. The BOA officials said they will bring football and hockey teams under preparation after getting more financial assistance from government.
“Footballers are busy with their league and Bangladesh Hockey Federation also claimed that their players are preparing so we decided to bring them under training at a later stage,” BOA's training and development committee member secretary Rafiqul Islam said on Tuesday.
Apart from the 396 athletes, the Bangladesh contingent currently comprises 61 coaches and 17 officials of 15 disciplines, but the number may cross five hundred after the inclusion of football and hockey players.
The National Sports Council initially provided Tk one crore for the preparation even though the BOA placed a budget of Tk 23 crore. BOA will provide Tk 625 to each of the athletes for food and daily allowance during the training, it has been learned.
The coaches will receive a daily remuneration of Tk 300 per day, which has caused some anger among them. BOA said they might increase the amount if NSC sanctions more fund.
Archers, boxers, taekwondo players and weightlifters started their camp from August 2 while the others will start their respective camps by August 13.
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