Old committees going to Glasgow

The 23rd edition of the Commonwealth Games will commence in Glasgow, Scotland on 23 July.

A total of 15 Bangladeshi will be athletes participating in this mega event.

The red-and-green representatives will compete in four disciplines: athletics, boxing, artistic gymnastics, and swimming.

However, right before the Games, a major change has come to the country's sports landscape, which has created an unclear situation.

Last Saturday, the National Sports Council (NSC) suddenly dissolved the ad-hoc committees of 27 federations and formed new ones.

Uncertainty emerged over whether officials from the outgoing committees of these disciplines, who had already completed their visa processing for the Games, would be able to travel to Scotland with the team. 

However, the State Minister for Youth and Sports, Aminul Haque, has put all speculation to rest.

He clearly stated that the officials from the old committees will travel to Glasgow with the team and will hand over responsibilities to the new committees after the competition.

The Sports Minister added, “Those who were in the existing last committee and whose visas have been processed, or who are ready to go, there is no obstacle to their participation in the Commonwealth Games. They will go there and, after completing the Games successfully, will hand over responsibilities to the new committee."

Aminul also explained the rationale behind suddenly dissolving the old ad-hoc committees, saying, “An ad-hoc committee's tenure is generally three months. But even after nearly one and a half to two years, they were unable to form an elected committee. That is why the decision was made to immediately form new committees.”

He also outlined a specific plan for the future roadmap of the federations and the election process.

Their goal is to bring in elected committees through a proper process by restructuring the district sports associations.

On this matter, he said: “Ad-hoc committees for most district sports associations have already been approved. Councillors will emerge from the elected committees of the district sports associations, who will in the future participate in the elections of the federations. This is how we will be able to deliver elected committees to the federations."

Noting that a roadmap toward elections has been prepared to complete the entire process, the former Bangladesh goalkeeper further added, “Our goal is to complete the elections within three months. However, since federation elections cannot be held without district sports association elections, there may be some flexibility in timing.”