Taskin, Sabina among 12 recipients of Sheikh Kamal NSC Awards 2023

Bangladesh women's football team captain Sabina Khatun, cricketer Taskin Ahmed and SA Games gold-winning winner weightlifter Ziarul Islam have been named among winners of the Sheikh Kamal National Sports Council (NSC) Awards 2023 in sportsperson category.

State Minister for Youth and Sports, Zahid Ahsan Russel, today revealed the names of 12 awardees – athletes, organisers, sports federation, sponsors, sports journalists and sports commentators – from eight categories.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is expected to hand over the awards on August 5, on the occasion of the 74th birth anniversary of Shaheed Captain Sheikh Kamal who is eldest son of Bangababdhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and founder of Abahani Limited.

"In a quest to inspire budding and upcoming players, we have emphasised on the current players. The committee also emphasised on other disciplines beyond football and cricket. So five athletes have been selected for two categories of Sheikh Kamal NSC Awards 2023," sports minister Russel told reporters at the NSC conference room.

Table tennis player Muhtasin Ahmed Ridoy and hockey player Amirul Islam were named in the emerging athlete category.

"In 2022, we gave away nine awards under seven categories but this time we have inserted one more category, of sports commentators, because they have also been contributing to sports like you sports journalists," said Russel, adding that 2021 saw seven awards given under seven categories.

Abdus Sadek, legendary hockey player and former general secretary of Bangladesh Hockey Federation, will receive the prestigious "lifetime achievement" award -- won by Kazi Salahuddin and Harun Ur Rashid in 2021 and 2022, respectively.

The last two editions of NSC Awards saw well-known organisers such as Manjur Kader, Saidur Rahman Patel and Nazma Sharmin recognised in organisers' category. This time, two organisers from grassroots have been nominated.

One of them being Mala Rani Sarker, headmistress of Kalsindur Primary School, who enormously contributed behind the rise of a group of footballers in the national women's team from the remote village under Dhobaura upazilla. The other nominee is Fazlul Islam, known as Fazlu Ustad, a hockey coach from Old Dhaka, who had groomed a lot of national players.

Bangladesh Archery Federation got recognition as the best sports federation while Bangladesh Association of Banks (BAB) will get the sports sponsor award.

Photojournalist and freedom fighter Khandoker Tareq Mohammad Nurullah and Athar Ali Khan have been nominated under sports journalists and sports commentator categories, respectively.