Bangladesh in Olympics
M A Rahin
Some asked about Bangladeshi participants in the 25th Olympiad. They are :
Shahana Shooting
Mokhlesur Rahman Swimming
Golam Ambia Sprint
Shahanuddin Chy Sprint
Mehedi Hasan Sprint
Shah Jalal Sprint.
- Rahin
Ihtisham Kabir
is even greater" - Saidur Rahman Dawn of Bangladesh, upon being
asked by journalists what it felt like to be last in the 100
meter heats in the LA Olympics.
This appeared in the Palo Alto Times Tribune in 1984. Was this
guy the fastest runner in Bangladesh? Any more info on him? He
should have been a diplomat!
- Ihtisham Kabir
mer...@engvms.unl.edu
Bangladesh is participating in Free Pistol, 100 and 200 meter sprint,
100 and 200 meter butterfly and 100x4 meter relay. BTW Shahana won a
gold meldal for Bangladesh in the South Asain shooting last month in
Colombo.
---Zakir
R0...@vmcms.csuohio.edu
runner in Bangladesh, died in a car accident a few years back. I think what
he said to the reporter is a fact and there is nothing wrong about that.
Yes! I think he was proud to make in the Olympics.
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HAQUE, CLEVELAND THEKE
ALLAH HAFEZ
Zunaid Kazi
>For your information, as far as I know, Mr. Saidur Rahman Dawn, the fastest
>runner in Bangladesh, died in a car accident a few years back.
I am sure it wasn't Saidur Rahman. The sprinter who died in a car accident
in 1989 was the fastest man in South Asia. He had just won the gold for
Bangladesh in the SAAF games the year before in Kathmandu, Nepal. For some
reason his name escapes me, but he was a Lance Naik in the Bangladesh
Army. He was returning to duty from his home in North Bengal when the
tragedy occurred.
>HAQUE, CLEVELAND THEKE
>ALLAH HAFEZ
- Zunaid Kazi
ka...@cis.udel.edu
HAQUE, ANISUL
Kazi) writes...
>In article <168339E...@vmcms.csuohio.edu> R0...@vmcms.csuohio.edu writes:
>>For your information, as far as I know, Mr. Saidur Rahman Dawn, the fastest
>>runner in Bangladesh, died in a car accident a few years back.
>I am sure it wasn't Saidur Rahman.
The name of the sprinter who died in a car accident is Shah Alam. He was the
fastest man of south asia at that time.
>>HAQUE, CLEVELAND THEKE
>>ALLAH HAFEZ
>
>- Zunaid Kazi
> ka...@cis.udel.edu
Regards,
Anisul Haque
Texas A & M University
Ihtisham Kabir
>For your information, as far as I know, Mr. Saidur Rahman Dawn, the fastest
>runner in Bangladesh, died in a car accident a few years back.
It looks like you were mistaken about Dawn's fate, but no matter,
it was a great loss for Bangladesh to lose such a talented runner
as Shah Alam. (Thanks to Anisul Haque and Zunaid Kazi for setting
this straight.)
>I think what
>he said to the reporter is a fact and there is nothing wrong about that.
>Yes! I think he was proud to make in the Olympics.
I'm sure he was proud. And his response was very elegant. It was
kind of stupid to ask that question, don't you think? It's the same
media whose cameras dwell on the face of a gymnast who is in tears
after a fall, or on a star swimmer who lost unexpectedly. In fact, I
liked the news enough to cut out the clipping and stick it on the
wall of my apartment. Then I had some visitors from Bangladesh
who noticed the clipping and commented that this person was not
the best in Bangladesh. They implied political connections of the
runner was the reason he got selected. Can anyone verify or deny
this?
In any event, anyone as quick-witted as Dawn would probably do
well as a diplomat.
Zunaid Kazi wrote:
>Does anybody know how Shahana fared in her event at the Olympics? From what
>I know of the schedule, her event is complete.
Sorry, no results, but the Bangladesh shooting team does our country
proud. It did very well in the last SAF games, including winning
gold. Its mention caused my mind to wander, so please bear with me:
I don't know the Bangladesh government's strategy regarding the
Olympics. Obviously it is very expensive to train athletes to
come up to an international standard. In light of this expense, a
"RISC" approach to Olympic training could be pursued, ie, picking
only one or two sports that the athletes have shown a particular flair
for, and those that do not cost an arm and a leg to train. Clearly,
shooting is one such event. It doesn't require lots and lots of
expensive facilities (like swimming does, for example.) I am not
advocating that Bangladesh govt abandon all other sports, but that,
if it is at all interested in winning in the Olympics, it handpick
a couple of sports and concentrate on them.
I strongly believe that any such investment will pay off many times
its cost in the future as it helps to repair Bangladesh's badly
damaged international image. (A better image helps get more investment,
more trade, more employment, better living standards, etc.)
The other problem is discipline. Surely, discipline problems plague
more or less every sports team in every country. But for Bangladesh they
hurt more than other countries because we are already trying to painfully
climb a steep hill. A particularly bad example occured during
the last SAF games when we lost to Pakistan in soccer. (The Bangladesh
soccer team is considered better than Pakistan's or India's.) Two versions
of the reason for the loss I heard was that: 1) the athletes became
very nervous in the international arena; and 2) the coach apparently
favored some players who played for the local Dhaka team that he
was also coach for (Brothers?)
I solicit comments and suggestions from netters on these matters
(of utmost national urgency, of course :-))
- Ihtisham Kabir
~
Zunaid Kazi
>
[ About Dawn, his response, and "news of my demise has been greatly
exaggerated" have been deleted]
>I'm sure he was proud. And his response was very elegant. It was
>kind of stupid to ask that question, don't you think? It's the same
>media whose cameras dwell on the face of a gymnast who is in tears
>after a fall, or on a star swimmer who lost unexpectedly. In fact, I
>liked the news enough to cut out the clipping and stick it on the
>wall of my apartment. Then I had some visitors from Bangladesh
>who noticed the clipping and commented that this person was not
>the best in Bangladesh. They implied political connections of the
>runner was the reason he got selected. Can anyone verify or deny
>this?
From what I can recall, he was the fastest man in Bangladesh at that time.
He was the only athelete to have bested the qualification time for the
Olympics. I didn't recall any political brouhaha over his selection.
>Zunaid Kazi wrote:
>>Does anybody know how Shahana fared in her event at the Olympics? From what
>>I know of the schedule, her event is complete.
>
>Sorry, no results, but the Bangladesh shooting team does our country
>proud. It did very well in the last SAF games, including winning
>gold.
Bangladesh did even better at the '88 Commonwealth Games. [Was that in Melbourne?]
I would consider the Commonwealth Games to be a more world class sporting
event than the SAF Games. Two Bangladeshi shooters won a gold and a silver.
It was in the pairs air-pistol events. Rapid fire and prone? Pardon the vagueness.
>Its mention caused my mind to wander, so please bear with me:
>I don't know the Bangladesh government's strategy regarding the
>Olympics. Obviously it is very expensive to train athletes to
>come up to an international standard. In light of this expense, a
>"RISC" approach to Olympic training could be pursued, ie, picking
>only one or two sports that the athletes have shown a particular flair
>for, and those that do not cost an arm and a leg to train. Clearly,
>shooting is one such event. It doesn't require lots and lots of
>expensive facilities (like swimming does, for example.) I am not
>advocating that Bangladesh govt abandon all other sports, but that,
>if it is at all interested in winning in the Olympics, it handpick
>a couple of sports and concentrate on them.
I wouldn't have chosen shooting as one of the events that Bangladesh should
shoe. It is still the preserve of the elite. The best shooters from Bangladesh
are predominantly from the Gulshan Rifle Club and the Naraynganj Rifle Club.
[Shahana Lastname?] is from the Narayanganj. Occassionally we do hear of
shooters from the Chittagong Rifles club. This is the kind of event where
the costs are prohibitive enough [Guns and ammunition] to preclude mass
participation. The bigger the pool to choose from, the better the chance
that we might have of developing Olympic class athletes.
Swimming is one such sport. Track and field should be another area where
the government can concentrate on. Just look at the Kenyan long-distance
runners.
>I strongly believe that any such investment will pay off many times
>its cost in the future as it helps to repair Bangladesh's badly
>damaged international image. (A better image helps get more investment,
>more trade, more employment, better living standards, etc.)
I agree.
>The other problem is discipline. Surely, discipline problems plague
>more or less every sports team in every country. But for Bangladesh they
>hurt more than other countries because we are already trying to painfully
>climb a steep hill. A particularly bad example occured during
>the last SAF games when we lost to Pakistan in soccer. (The Bangladesh
>soccer team is considered better than Pakistan's or India's.) Two versions
>of the reason for the loss I heard was that: 1) the athletes became
>very nervous in the international arena; and 2) the coach apparently
>favored some players who played for the local Dhaka team that he
>was also coach for (Brothers?)
I don't know about reason number one. The Bangladesh team has sufficient
experience in SAF games, Olympic and World Cup qualifying events, the
President's Cup etc for nervousness to be a reason. I am not qualified
to comment about the second point. I might hazard a guess that it was
overconfidence that did them in.
In all previous SAF games, Bangladesh has always been seeded to win the
Gold, but for some reason or other they failed to do so. Inspite of this
failure the overall record of the Bangladesh football team vis-a-vis the
other subcontinental teams that Bangladesh was always ranked higher than
the other subcontinental teams by FIFA. I vaguely recall the rankings
from 1988. Bangladesh was about 4 or 5 places above either India and
Bangladesh. Ofcourse Bangladesh was pretty low down on the totem-pole,
placed around 16th[?] in Asia. I can hazard a pretty good guess as to
Bangladesh football teams placement with respect to other Asian Nations.
Better than Bangladesh:
Syria, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabai, UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Jordan,
Japan, the Koreas, ROC, PROC
[Bangladesh did once defeat N. Korea at Pakistan's Quaid-e-Azam trophy
in the mid eightees]
Slightly Better or at par:
Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia
[All three countries used to be definitely better than Bangladesh, but
recently the results have been more even keeled]
Worse:
India, Pakistan, Bhutan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, the Maldives, Hong Kong, Yemen,
the Philippines, Brunei Darussalam.
Insufficient information:
Burma [probably better. They were a big force in Asia], all the Indo-Chinese
countries [Vietnam, Laos, Kampuchea], Mongolia.
>I solicit comments and suggestions from netters on these matters
>(of utmost national urgency, of course :-))
This IS of utmost importance. :)
>- Ihtisham Kabir
- Zunaid Kazi
ka...@cis.udel.edu
Shakil Waiz Ahmed
> The other problem is discipline. Surely, discipline problems plague
> more or less every sports team in every country. But for Bangladesh they
> hurt more than other countries because we are already trying to painfully
> climb a steep hill. A particularly bad example occured during
> the last SAF games when we lost to Pakistan in soccer. (The Bangladesh
> soccer team is considered better than Pakistan's or India's.) Two versions
> of the reason for the loss I heard was that: 1) the athletes became
> very nervous in the international arena; and 2) the coach apparently
> favored some players who played for the local Dhaka team that he
> was also coach for (Brothers?)
It seems that the international exposure of the Bangladeshi soccer
players is improving somewhat. The Dhaka clubs appear to be rolling in
money these days -- several former CIS players, including a former
national player are now earning their bread in our league. I was
recently watching a video tape of the last Mohammedans vs. Abhani
match, and was pleasantly surprised at how well the foreign players
are integrated into the teams. This is important to the Bangladeshi
players because it introduces a novel style of playing into the game,
and the foreign players bring much experience with them. I think this
will prove to be very valuable to the Bangladeshis and can only help
to improve the quality of the league (look what happened to the
Italian leagues since they allowed foreigners back in during the late
seventies/early eighties). Above all, it boosts confidence. Add to
this the experience of the several Bangladeshi players who have
enjoyed stints in the West Bengal league, and one would hope that the
national team should be able to compete well, at least regionally.
Hopefully, all this will pay off, and we will no longer suffer the
embarrassment of a loss to Pakistan in soccer!
-- Shakil Ahmed
=======================================================================
Dept. of Computer Science INTERNET: ahmed-...@cs.yale.edu
P.O. Box 2158, Yale Station BITNET : ahmed-...@yalecs.bitnet
New Haven, CT 06520-2158 UUCP : {ucbvax,harvard,...}!yale!ahmed
=======================================================================
Abul Haque
There are a few tens of events in the olympics; but how come Bangladesh
just participated in only three events? I think there are many
events that do not require physical strengths; why not Bangladesh
participate in those events?
My suggestion is: Bangladesh Govt. should form a committee to look
after the events of the olymics and recommend to the Govt. to
establish facilities for those events in which the athlets from
have the potential to perform better. Archery, shooting, fencing
and many many other events do not require much physical strengths
rather it needs special skills to perform. I think we have the
potential to win many gold medals in future olympics if the Govt.
put more money in the sports and build many facilities not only
in the capital city but all major cities of the country and hold
periodic competitions in all those events.
Abul L. Haque
aha...@uokmax.ecn.uoknor.edu
HAQUE, ANISUL
aha...@uokmax.ecn.uoknor.edu (Abul Haque) writes...
> There are a few tens of events in the olympics; but how come Bangladesh
> just participated in only three events? I think there are many
> events that do not require physical strengths; why not Bangladesh
> participate in those events?
Because most of those events are not played in Bangladesh.
> My suggestion is: Bangladesh Govt. should form a committee to look
> after the events of the olymics and recommend to the Govt. to
> establish facilities for those events in which the athlets from
> have the potential to perform better. Archery, shooting, fencing
> and many many other events do not require much physical strengths
> rather it needs special skills to perform. I think we have the
> potential to win many gold medals in future olympics if the Govt.
> put more money in the sports and build many facilities not only
> in the capital city but all major cities of the country and hold
> periodic competitions in all those events.
Producing world class sportspersons is a social and cultural process.
One cannot make them in a factory based on some Govt. decisions. Can
we really make better athlets in shooting, fencing or archery just
because these sports require less physical strength? I don't think
so. How many people are exposed to these games? Even if Govt. sets
up a project, how many people will have access to these? These are
some alien sports totally unrelated to our infrastructure. Our
objective should not be to win gold thru some isolated athlets
living in Govt. sponsored ivory towers. We can't afford the luxury.
We should win gold only when the general standard of that particular
game in our country has reached international level. Otherwise, the
isolated incidences of medal winning (provided, we win) wouldn't
serve any purpose, except for boosting our egos. So if Govt. has to
sponsor, she should go for popular games.
> Abul L. Haque
> aha...@uokmax.ecn.uoknor.edu
mer...@engvms.unl.edu
and Shahana is parcipating in Air Rifle, not Free Pistol.
---Zakir
Boo!
> My suggestion is: Bangladesh Govt. should form a committee to look
> after the events of the olymics and recommend to the Govt. to
> establish facilities for those events in which the athlets from
> have the potential to perform better. Archery, shooting, fencing
> and many many other events do not require much physical strengths
> rather it needs special skills to perform. I think we have the
> potential to win many gold medals in future olympics if the Govt.
> put more money in the sports and build many facilities not only
> in the capital city but all major cities of the country and hold
> periodic competitions in all those events.
I hate to say this, I have yet to come up with a good reason why
counries such as our spend any money on sports as far as the olympics is
concerned. It seems that we want government to do everything.. if anything
govt must try to lure private companies into the sporting business like`
what they have done here. We have many problems that need much more attention
the last thing we need is for our govts to build stadiums just for a few people
as far as the masses are concerned.. it doesnt matter to them one way or the
other. I am sure.. the last thing on their mind is the olympics..
Which also brings me to the point that, perhaps, the concept of olympics has
lost all its true meaning.. now we are more concerned about who won by
0.00000001s rather that who was running. If you ask me, I think 'third world'
countries should stop sending people, if people want to compete then let them
compete in their own nations with fellow citizens. This concept of olympics
which has become into some kind of a 'let us see who is better' has no value..
it was suppose to be 'all nations under one flag' n