Bangladeshis falter

After registering an unprecedented success in the South Asian Games on home soil early this year, Bangladesh set a target of winning two gold medals in the XIX Commonwealth Games. But at the end of 11 days of rigorous battles they return home empty handed, barring a bronze medal. Their dreams shattered due mainly to disappointing performance by the athletes.
This year's showing matched Bangladesh's position in the 2006 Melbourne Games when shooters Asif Hossain Khan and Abdullah Hel Baki brought the bronze for the nation in the 10m air rifle pair event.
Of the 36 Bangladeshi athletes, all focus was on shooter Sharmin Akhter Ratna, double gold winner in the SA Games and Commonwealth Shooting Championships, and youth Olympic gold medal-winning archer Emdadul Haq Milon despite the presence of more illustrious mate like Asif Hossain Khan, who himself won a gold medal in the 2002 Commonwealth Games.
But both the medal hopes disappointed through their performances as Ratna was outshone by Singaporean and Malaysian shooters for a seventh place finish in an eight-player field in the finals of the individual 10m air rifle event. Milon was eliminated from the pre-quarterfinals suffering a 4-2 defeat to England's Simon Terry, the fifth ranked archer in the recurve bow event of the Games.
Performance from SA Games silver medalist swimmer Shahjahan Ali Ronny, SA Games silver medalist weightlifter Monoranjan and boxer Suruz Bangali could only make their presence felt, but their efforts were not good enough to bring a medal for the nation.
Ronny qualified for the men's 50m breaststroke semifinals before finishing last among 16 semifinalists while Monoranjan could only improve his own performance compared to the SA Games performance. Following the elimination of the two SA Games gold medalists Abdur Rahim and Jewel Ahmed Jony in the first round, Suruz moved into the pre-quarterfinals before conceding a 9-1 defeat to eventual gold medalist of North Ireland.
Apart from them, the performance of sprinter Shamsunnahar Chumki, hurdler Sumita Rani, long-jumper Al Amin, high-jumper Sajib, swimmers Dolly Akhter, Mahfuza Khatun, Mahfuzur Rahman, weightlifters Bidyut Kumar, Mollah Sabira, Firoza Parveen, Fahima Akhter, Abdullah Al Mamun and 12 shooters were not just up to mark, but Bangladesh Chef de Mission Nurul Fazle Bulbul was more or less satisfied with the performance.
"Compared to our standard, the athletes have done better. Actually our national standard is not high enough to compete in a big event like the Commonwealth Games," said Bulbul on eve of the closing ceremony yesterday.
Team general manager Jobaidur Rahman Rana also believed the athletes performed well though Bangladesh's expectation was not fulfilled.
"We had set our sights on gold medals in shooting and archery, but it was realistically tough as the shooters shot their scores what they scored back home while others shot record scores," said Rana adding that Bangladesh needed sufficient coaching staff including physios, trainers in every discipline like cricket.
Bulbul believed Bangladesh could not go forward because of lack of long-term planning.
"What my realisation is that Bangladesh are in a backward position because there is no long-term, even mid-term planning. We only train for two or three months ahead of any meet," said the banker, adding that the sport arena was also divided like the national level and it harmed the develop of sports.
Bulbul, president of Bangladesh Handball Federation, informed that private banks, which are involved with the national federations, are thinking of providing monthly scholarship to the athletes to bring out the best from them. The banker, however, believed the government should come forward to assist the bankers' initiatives.