‘Three-step measures’to keep Games safe

The Bangladesh Olympic Association (BOA) promised to take firm measures to ensure a healthy and safe environment amid an alarming Covid-19 situation ahead of the start of the Bangabandhu Bangladesh Games across the country on April 1.

The BOA was forced to defer the 9th edition of the Bangladesh Games by a year on March 12 last year due to the outbreak of Covid-19. The rescheduled April 1-10 timeline has unfortunately also coincided with a spike in Covid-19 cases, forcing authorities to take measures to ensure the safety of athletes, officials and organisers.

"We have instructed participating districts and teams through federations to send their athletes to the Games with Covid-19 certificates and we will stick to it," BOA vice-president and Games steering committee chairman Sheikh Bashir Ahmed said at a press conference at the BOA auditorium yesterday.

Ahmed also said: "We have taken three-step measures in a bid to make it a Covid-19-free Games. Athletes will undergo rapid Covid-19 testing, their temperature will be measured before entering the venues and the athletes will be kept in isolation if they display any symptoms of Covid-19."

BOA secretary general Syed Shahed Reza informed: "We have thought a lot about the Covid-19 situation before thinking of starting the Bangladesh Games. We have formed a strong medical committee with the inclusion of military services, different hospitals and divisional civil surgeons. There will also be doctors in each of the 29 venues across the country."

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has given her consent to declare the Games open through her virtual presence at the Bangabandhu National Stadium while the torch relay of the Games will get underway from Tungipara, the birthplace of Bangabandhu, on March 31 before prominent golfer Siddikur Rahman and SA Games double-gold medallist swimmer Mahfuza Akter Shila ignite the torch of the Games.

The country's biggest multi-sports carnival is being held after eight years after starting it journey in 1978. The first edition saw only 10 disciplines played across six days but there are now 31 disciplines which will be played across 29 venues in seven districts. Women's cricket has already finished before the Games started, while men's football also got underway on Saturday.

Of the 31 disciplines, a maximum of 384 athletes from handball and a minimum of 60 athletes each from badminton and chess will be taking part in the Games, featuring some 5,300 athletes.

Most of sport came to a standstill in March last year due to the pandemic and most athletes were idle until last November when some sports like football, cricket, basketball, karate, taekwondo, weightlifting, shooting, table tennis, kabaddi, handball, chess archery returned to the ground in full swing, while some disciplines returned on a smaller scale.