Bangladesh athletes optimistic

Bangladesh's young athletes are eager to do their best in the 3rd Summer Youth Olympic Games, which will be held in Buenos Aires, Argentina from October 6 to 18.

A 19-member contingent from will leave on October 4 to participate in three disciplines -- hockey, shooting and archery in the global sports meet, which will feature 4000 athletes from 206 nations.

Bangladesh youth hockey team and young shooter Arnab Sharar Ladif will take part after having qualified for the competition while another shooter and two archers will participate with wild cards.

The hockey team qualified as the third-placed team from Asia after beating South Korea 5-4 in the third-place deciding match.

The top two teams from each of the five continents alongside hosts Argentina and the best third-placed team were selected to play. However, Solomon Islands were the team eligible for that third spot, but after they opted out of the competition, Bangladesh were given the right to participate.

Bangladesh have been drawn in pool B alongside Australia, Austria, Canada, India and Kenya.

Arshad Hossain, captain of the Bangladesh hockey team, hoped to advance into the second round while talking about the team's chances during a press conference at the Bangladesh Olympic Association (BOA) auditorium yesterday.

“It is really great to be taking part in the Games directly,” said Arshad, who did not take part in the qualification round held in Thailand in April due to a national team assignment.

Arshad has also been nominated to carry the national flag in the opening ceremony.

“I feel proud to get the opportunity to lead our contingent. We have the ability to advance into the second round and we will go for that,” he said.

Arnab, the young shooter, secured direct entry after winning a silver medal in the youth category of men's 10m air-rifle event of the 10th Asian Airgun Championship in Japan last year.

Arnab, however, failed to put his best performance in the Asian Games after finishing 13th among 22 teams in the 10-metre air rifle mixed event alongside Sayeda Atkia Hasan.

“My performance in the Asian Games was not very good,” said the 16-year-old grade-12 student of BKSP. “However, I'm confident of performing well in the upcoming event as I'm satisfied with my scores in practice sessions.”

The Bangladesh Shooting Sports Federation also picked Amira Hamid, daughter of its secretary general Intekhabul Hamid, for the women's 10-metre air rifle event.

The BOA also allowed two recurve archers -- Ibrahim Sheikh Rezowan and Radia Akhter Shapla -- in the contingent to participate with wild cards.

BOA's secretary general Syed Shahed Reza claimed that the respective federations made selection process following the rules of their respective international bodies.

“Usually federations are responsible for selecting their athletes as we don't interfere. But before the selection process we asked the federations to follow international guidelines and we believe the federations made the selection process accordingly,” Reza told reporters.