BAF Elections: Montu, Alam make big promises for athletics
Promising to elevate Bangladesh athletics to its past glory, the current general secretary of Bangladesh Athletics Federation Abdur Rokib Montu and its former general secretary Shah Alam yesterday submitted their nomination papers for the general secretary post of the BAF Polls, scheduled for August 3.
Some 45 candidates submitted their nomination papers against 28 posts -- five vice presidents, one general secretary, two joint secretaries, one treasurer and 19 members. 120 councillors will cast their votes to elect a new committee at the BAF, which saw its last polls in 2013.
Apart from Montu and Alam, Sadat Hossain Sohel, a councillor of Jahangirnagar University, also submitted nomination papers for the general secretary post.
The country’s athletics, which once produced some of the fastest sprinters of the subcontinent, has been in poor state for a long time and there is seemingly no visible improvement.
However, Montu and Alam pledged to bring back the past glory by taking proper plans and initiatives if they are elected in the coming elections.
“I admit that athletics had a past glory but it lost its way some years ago. We, the ad-hoc committee, tried to bring back life to athletics by conducting different championships and coaching courses. If I am elected, I will hold all national competitions timely and bring athletes under long-term training. I will also deliver two to three gold medals in the 14th SA Games, the one that will be held following the SA Games in December this year,” said Montu, claiming that district, division and university councillors have pledged their support to him.
“I was coach of sprinters Biman Chandra Tarafder and Mahbub Alam, who won gold medals in SA Games. I will try to bring back those days in athletics if I am elected and given the opportunity to serve again,” Alam said.
Interestingly both candidates have been members of the ad-hoc committee which ran the game’s governing local body in the last two years, but there was hardly any improvement in athletics during that period.
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