Some prepared for Asian Games, others kept waiting

The curtain of the 20th Asian Games will open in Japan’s Aichi-Nagoya on 19 September. Although the official opening of the massive Asian sporting extravaganza is scheduled for mid-September, competitions in several disciplines will begin earlier. Representing the “Red and Green” at the mega event, Bangladeshi athletes will be participating in 22 disciplines.
However, even as the time for the Asiad draws near, a stark contrast is evident in Bangladesh's preparations. While some federations are busy with international tournaments and intensive training, the Games’ camps for several other teams remain stalled due to bureaucratic hurdles and financial constraints.
In the forthcoming edition of the Games, Bangladesh will compete in archery, boxing, badminton, athletics, cricket, cycling, football, fencing, hockey, kabaddi, karate, table tennis, swimming, surfing, shooting, weightlifting, wrestling, wushu, golf, gymnastics, judo, and beach volleyball. Several federations, including those for football, archery, hockey, and kabaddi, have already commenced their training camps.
From the beginning of this month, the Bangladesh women’s football team has been sweating it out in intensive training sessions. Prior to travelling to Japan for the all-important Games, they are set to undergo a two-week preparation camp in China. Furthermore, athletes from the disciplines of athletics, swimming, boxing and gymnastic are currently taking part at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland which is providing them a brilliant platform for preparation.
Several shooters from the Shooting Federation are currently competing in a tournament in China. Kabaddi is not lagging behind either - the women's team recently played a five-match series against Nepal on home soil, while the men's side is continuing its training camp. Meanwhile, disciplines such as karate, archery, swimming, and gymnastics are reaping the benefits of year-round training.
However, there is a rather disheartening flipside to the positives with regards to preparations. Just when the athletes' final preparations for the international stage should be in full swing, administrative reshuffles have emerged as a hurdle in Dhaka's sports arena.
On 18 July, the existing ad-hoc committees of 27 national sports federations were dissolved, and new committees were formed. The primary objective of the new committees is to conduct elections within three months and hand over responsibilities to the elected bodies. However, a major event like the Asian Games has coincided with this interim period. The training camp for the Games cannot yet begin because many members of the new committees have not formally assumed their responsibilities. Furthermore, some federations are unaware over whether any camp is currently underway and will only be able to provide information regarding training sessions after officially taking charge.
Several promising disciplines have fallen victim to this administrative stagnation. The Wushu Federation lacks a formal training camp, instead, athletes attempting to prepare on their own are grappling with various hardships, including food shortages. Relying entirely on their own resources, the athletes are somehow sustaining their training through self-organised camps. Meanwhile, the Wrestling Federation's new committee has convened its first meeting for 2 August, following which a decision regarding their training camp is likely to be reached. The training camp for the badminton discipline is also currently suspended. However, there are reports that five players are heading to India for a training camp ahead of the Asian Games.
Following the dissolution of the previous ad-hoc committees, training camps for shooting and athletics have come to a temporary standstill, although both federations have indicated that they will resume operations within a day or two. While other nations spend years strategising for elite events like the Asian Games, such administrative complications and fundamental crises facing the athletes, that too occurring right on the eve of the tournament, pose a serious threat to Bangladesh's prospects.
Regarding this, Bangladesh Olympic Association’s (BOA) secretary general Jobaidur Rahman Rana said, “We are yet to receive any money to hold the Asian Games camp. But Asian Games is not the problem here, the problem is we haven’t yet received the money from the Beach Games (held in April in Sanya, China), same goes for the Commonwealth Games, according to our budget the money was supposed to be rolled over from the previous tournaments to the upcoming competition. With that said we have already started our practice in many disciplines ahead of the Asian Games, in order of priority, like kabaddi, there are one or two more, table tennis, gymnastics, those athletes are undergoing training.
The Sports Ministry owes the BOA around Tk five-six crore, which the latter is yet to receive. But even financial constraints pale in comparison to a lack of proper practice and as a result, some disciplines’ athletes would have to make do without proper preparation in the Asian Games. The secretary general said, “Nothing will happen actually without practice. It has been a long while since we played the Beach Games. After that we trained for the Commonwealth Games and here we are in Scotland. We deserve to at least get the funds from the Beach Games, right? We have even submitted the bill, a long six months ago. But it turns out that this kind of foot-dragging happens, in fact, my past experience shows that it was precisely because of such delays that we could never fully implement the practices. They did provide the funds, it’s not that they didn’t, but ultimately, that money didn't really serve its purpose.”