Sports sector awaits filling of leadership vacuum

With the motto "Come, let's change the country, let's change the world," the youth festival sparked a slight revival in some of the national sports federations and associations that had been latent for a long time. However, this revival was more about the festive atmosphere than actual sporting activities. It was like a brief flash of light in the darkness. Prior to this, some limited activity had been observed on Victory Day, but most federations and associations are in dark.

Except for a few federations such as cricket, football, archery, chess, taekwondo, badminton, gymnastics, weightlifting, handball, wrestling, squash, and rugby, most others have been in a state of stagnation for quite some time. The sudden political change caused a severe deadlock in the sports sector. After the people's uprising on August 5, there was a major shift in the leadership of sports federations. Many top officials fled or became inactive, leaving most sports federations and associations without guidance.

In this situation, the interim government announced reforms in the sports sector. On August 21, in line with this, it was decided to dissolve the existing committees of the divisional sports associations, divisional women’s sports associations, district sports associations, district women’s sports associations, upazila sports associations, and upazila women’s sports associations, under the powers vested in the government by existing laws, to ensure smooth, active, and uninterrupted functioning of the sports organizations. To address this void, on August 28, instructions were given to form a seven-member ad-hoc committee with designated individuals at the divisional, district, and upazila levels. However, due to the slow pace of the ad-hoc committee formation process, there has been a delay in grassroots-level sports activities.

For the national sports arena to be revamped, a five-member search committee was formed on August 29, with former national badminton champion Zobaidur Rahman Rana as the convener. The members included former hockey player Major (Retd.) Imroz Ahmed, Deputy Press Secretary to the Chief Adviser Abul Kalam Azad Majumdar, sports organizer Mohiuddin Ahmed Bulbul, and sports journalist Montu Kaiser. However, due to Bulbul's controversial actions, the government relieved him of his duties on October 1 and appointed Brigadier Munirul Islam, Director-General of BKSP, as a member of the committee.

The reform process in national sports federations began with the removal of the presidents and general secretaries of various sports federations. The first removal took place on September 3, when Habibur Rahman, the former Police Commissioner of Dhaka, was dismissed from his position as the General Secretary of the Bangladesh Kabaddi Federation. On September 4, under Section 22 of the National Sports Council Act 2018, the presidents of three sports federations were removed. Former IGP Benjir Ahmed was removed from the position of President of the Bangladesh Chess Federation, and former IGP Chowdhury Abdullah Al Mamun was removed from the position of President of the Kabaddi Federation. Additionally, Jahangir Alam, the former Secretary of the Election Commission, was relieved from his post as the President of the Bridge Federation.

On September 10, the presidents of 42 sports federations and associations were also removed. These federations included Badminton, Shooting, Handball, Judo, Karate, Taekwondo, Table Tennis, Gymnastics, Basketball, Archery, Boxing, Rugby, Fencing, Weightlifting, Wushu, Carom, Cycling, Tennis, Wrestling, Roller Skating, Volleyball, Squash Rackets, Rowing, Athletics, Kho Kho, Deaf Sports, Martial Arts Confederation and Associations, including Women's Sports Association, National Paraolympic Committee of Bangladesh, Bashaap, Baseball-Softball, Surfing, Mountaineering, Chukball, Sepak Takraw, Jujutsu, Para Archery, Country Games, Throwball, International Taekwondo, Kite Flying, and Kyokushin Karate.

Additionally, three federations already had vacant president positions. On September 11, 16 individuals, including Sheikh Hamim Hasan, the former joint secretary of the government and general secretary of the Bodybuilding Federation, were removed from his positions in various federations. However, some individuals voluntarily stepped down from their posts. For example, on August 21, Abdul Rakib Montu, the general secretary of the Athletics Federation, and on September 4, Kay Shwe Hla, the general secretary of the Karate Federation, resigned voluntarily. As a result, the majority of the 55 federations and associations recognized by the National Sports Council are now without leadership. This has created a significant void in the sports sector.

To address this situation, based on the recommendations of the search committee, on November 14, the National Sports Council, under Section 21 of the National Sports Council Act 2018, issued a notification to dissolve the existing executive committees of the Bridge, Tennis, Squash, Kabaddi, Athletics, Billiards and Snooker, Basketball, Chess, and Hockey Federations, and formed ad-hoc committees. This somewhat alleviated the stagnation in the sports sector, but since new committees have not been announced, most sports federations and associations remain inactive.

The reasons for this situation are manifold. First, due to the absence of presidents, decisions cannot be made. Some federations and associations are also facing vacancies in key positions. Second, due to the National Sports Council's failure to release funds, the activities cannot continue. Since the audit reports were not submitted on time, the release of funds for 32 federations and associations was temporarily suspended on October 29. The federations and associations affected by the suspension of funds include Cycling, Wushu, Chess, Kabaddi, Karate, Squash, Shooting, Athletics, Golf, Gymnastics, Rowing, Bodybuilding, Bridge, Baseball-Softball, Sepak Takraw, Bashaap, Para Archery, Mountaineering, Throwball, Country Games, Martial Arts, Kite Flying, Kickboxing, International Taekwondo, Bhutan, Surfing, Yoga, Chukball, Jujutsu, Kyokushin, Hockey, and Tennis.

However, the process of releasing funds for some federations is already underway. Due to the lack of funds, most officials are unable to take action. They are not motivated to run activities through sponsors. Third, many officials from sports federations and associations believe it is better to wait quietly, as the announcement of the ad-hoc committees may come at any moment. This has led to the inactivity of a large part of the sports sector. The sooner the dormant federations and associations are revived, the sooner the sports sector will fully shine. Any further delay will only push it further behind. Therefore, the sports sector of the country is waiting to fill this void.