BGF president happy over gymnasts' success

Bangladesh Gymnastics Federation's (BGF) president Sheikh Bashir Ahmed expressed his happiness over the gymnasts' success in the Asian Artistic Gymnastics Competition (Junior U-17) that concluded recently in Singapore.

"I am very happy over the gymnasts' performance because they (gymnasts) don't have previous experience of performing on such a big stage... the environment from where they have taken part in the competition and performed is also a big challenge for any strong countries... our environment is vastly different compared to the platforms of Korea and Japan in the competition.

I thank the great creator for that and also thank our coach because he managed to instill the mentality of the boys in one place," Bashir told BSS.

Though the BGF was happy with the performance, he had higher expectations from the gymnasts in the competition, Rafil couldn't land on the spot that would have won him the gold medal and, eventually, the young gymnast had to be content with fourth position in the competition.

Bashir said: "If we can continue practicing in this way for another more year, gymnasts will have a fabulous reception for their performance."

The BGF's president, however, admitted that initially they had a few more problems for them in the end, because if the team could have spent at least a week earlier in Singapore, the gymnasts could have adjusted to the local environment better.

He said they also had some faults in their plan before sending the team to Singapore because these young gymnasts did not participate in such a big event earlier.

Bashir, who is also a vice president of the Bangladesh Olympic Association, said they have a plan to give a special reward to Rafil and there will also be prizes for every member of the team.

"I want to keep this reward as a surprise and want to hand over the prize through a formal ceremony in the presence of former artistic gymnast Quazi Syque Caesar and the team's Korean coach, Cho Sung Dong. We have a plan to organize a formal ceremony on July 2 or 3 to hand over the gymnast's awards.

Bashir said Syque Caesar is currently staying in France and he promised to bring the whole family to Bangladesh to present in the prize distribution ceremony. The rest of the team members will also receive big rewards as well.

Bashir said the gymnasts have been practicing in the camp for the last eight months under the supervision of a Korean coach and the camp will continue till June 23.    �BSS