Luxury in BTF, poverty in tennis
Attending Grand Slam tennis tournaments have become something of a tradition for Bangladesh Tennis Federation (BTF) high-ups and general secretary Masood Karim’s ongoing visit to Australia for the Australian Open is the latest instance of officials’ luxury while the state of the country’s tennis remains poor.
Karim, who is also the National Sports Council secretary, left on Sunday to watch the Australian Open within two-and-a-half months of being appointed to the BTF post. The NSC appointed Karim after terminating BTF ad-hoc committee general secretary Golam Murshed following allegations of sexual harassment towards a female tennis player.
Karim is not the lone high-up to have gone abroad to gather experience. Last year, the then general secretary Murshed, BTF President and State Minister Of Foreign Affairs Shahriar Alam also went to England to watch Wimbledon while examples have abounded of general secretaries such as Nurul Haque Prodhan and Abdur Rahman, who were also then NSC directors, and Khurshid Alam travelled aboard on their ‘own cost’ to watch Grand Slams in a bid to gather experience.
Does the experience of BTF high-ups develop the country’s tennis?
Former BTF general secretary Sanaul Haque Bokul said: “The federation is often not invited. I believe travelling abroad to watch tennis is not a bad thing. Officials have to buy tickets but they do not have access to the organising aspects or professional players.”
“If you talk about gaining experience, it is just said by the by because Bangladesh are not capable of staging any Grand Slam tournaments,” said former general secretary Bokul.
The last major tournament – the ITF Men’s Future Series -- was held in Bangladesh in 1999 and the meet was ranked behind Grand Slam, ATP Masters, ATP Tour 500, ATP Tour 250 and ATP Challenger Tour. However, the BTF is hosting the ITF and ATF-sanctioned age-group tournaments regularly and seem reluctant to host domestic tournaments except the Independence Day, Victory Day, Prize-money tournaments.
“I used to hold some 12 to 14 tournaments in one year to keep players in action round the year and so players were groomed through different tournaments. The present condition is not good as the officials prioritise other things over tennis,” said Bokul. “I have brought Indian coaches to identify talented players and train them. Amol Roy was one of them.”
One official, seeking anonymity, said that school tennis tournaments were held regularly from 2011 to 2015 and there was enthusiasm among budding players, but now there is no such school tournament and players like Amol, Dipy Lal, Raju Ram and Alamgir are dominating in top-flight tennis for the last 10 years.
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