Bangladesh is heading for Bejing Olympics next August with more initiatives and good preparation.
Bangladesh Olympic Association (BOA) is in charge of all the activities relating to Beijing Olympics including training and selecting of players.
BOA Deputy Secretary General Ashraf Uddin Ahmed told Xinhua on Wednesday the government is very much concerned with the Beijing Olympics, they have taken a number of initiatives including giving more financial support and providing good training conditions for the players who are supposed to attend the Olympics.
Ahmed said Bangladesh is hoping to send a delegation of 12 members to Bejing Olympics, including 10 athletes in swimming, shooting, track and field and two officials.
"But it is not yet decided how many players will be sent, for International Olympic Committee will give the final say," he said.
Ahmed said in 2004 Athens Olympics Bangladesh sent 5 athletes including two from track and field, one sharp shooters and two swimmers. He hoped there will be more to the Beijing Olympics.
Bangladesh has never got any medal in the previous Olympic Games. In order to get better results in the Beijing Olympics, the Bangladeshi government has sent one shooting player Asif who are Commonwealth Games gold medalist to get training in China and one woman hurdler to train in Malaysia under the scholarship programs.
When asked if Bangladesh can get some medals in the next Olympics, he said "it is very difficult for us to get medals, but we will try hard to improve our sports standard.
"Our theme for the Beijing Olympics is to meet the sportsmen of the world. We will make the theme of Beijing Olympics One World, One Dream successful," He said.
Ahmed said Bangladesh has some international-level sports, like cricket, chess, but regretfully these are not contested in Olympics.
He said they started training the players for the Olympics from September 10.
"More players are attending the training course, and we will have a qualification test next march to decide who will be qualified for the Olypmics," he said.
Ahmed said Bangladesh is not good at sports, but it has the eagerness to develop the sports. He hoped China can give support for the development of sports in Bangladesh.
"We are in shortage of coaches, we hope China can provide us more expert coaches, like volleyball coach and basketball coach," he said.
BOA was established in 1978 with the motive to promote the Olympics spirit in the country. Army Chief General Moeen Ahmed is the president of the association since 2005.
Source: Xinhua
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