Female officials for all women’s squads
In light of the allegations of sexual assault against a female weightlifter last November, the Bangladesh Olympic Association (BOA) -- which had never before interfered in selecting coaching staff or officials of different disciplines for any multi-sports event -- is going to be involved in choosing team officials for the South Asian (SA) Games, especially for women’s teams.
“Federations had previously selected coaches and team officials for any event such as the SA Games, Commonwealth Games and Olympic Games and we never interfered in that process. But this time, we will make strong recommendations to select either female manager or female coach for women’s squads. We won’t allow the federations to select male officials for women’s squads,” BOA Vice-President Sheikh Bashir Ahmed told The Daily Star.
Allegations of the sexual assault of an underage female weightlifter last November sent shockwaves through the country’s sports fraternity, leading to demands of appointing female coaches and officials for every women’s squad.
Ahmed, a veteran organiser himself, also said that they would try to ensure the retention of coaches who are involved in preparation camps from the beginning.
“We saw before that one coach had worked hard and trained the athletes but the federation dropped him or her to select another coach. We want to ensure the services of those coaches who have been in the training camp from the beginning and we have the list of such coaches.”
Of the 27 disciplines in the SA Games, which will be held in Nepal from December 1, Bangladesh will take part in 25. Female Bangladeshi athletes will take part in 23 disciplines -- archery, athletics, badminton, basketball, boxing, cycling, fencing, golf, handball, judo, kabaddi, karate, kho kho, shooting, swimming, table tennis, taekwondo, tennis, volleyball, weightlifting, wrestling, wushu and cricket.
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