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Seeking personal bests a step towards ‘dreaming big’
Cristian Medina bursts into celebration as he thought he scored a last-gasp equaliser in Argentina’s opening match of the Olympics against Morocco at the Stade Geoffroy-Guichard in Saint Etienne on Wednesday. The goal was disallowed as Argentina eventually lost the match 2-1. The goal was under review by VAR when the decision was taken to suspend the match initially with a message on the screen, addressing the crowd in the ground, saying “your session has been suspended, please leave the stadium” before the match was eventually listed as “finished” by the organisers.
SAMSUL AREFIN KHAN
The year 2024 marks the 40th anniversary of Bangladesh’s maiden Olympic participation in Los Angeles and its 11th successive appearance in the ‘Greatest Show on Earth’.
The recurring theme for Bangladesh since its first outing in the Olympics has been the athletes returning home empty-handed.
Golfer Siddikur Rahman and archers Ruman Sana and Sagor Islam’s direct qualification to the Olympics is still considered the highest achievement for Bangladesh in the Games’ history, as other athletes have only participated through wildcards or quota places.
During a recent interview with The Daily Star, swimmer Sonia Khatun acknowledged that their participation in the Olympics is akin to “token participation,” as they are happy just to get the opportunity to feature in the global event alongside top athletes of the world.
This year, a total of five athletes from Bangladesh will take part in four disciplines -- archery, athletics, shooting, and swimming -- at the Paris Olympics, and among them, Sagor qualified directly on his merit, while the remaining four -- shooter Robiul Islam, swimmers Samiul Islam Rafi and Sonia Khatun, and sprinter Imranur Rahman -- were handed wildcard entries.
Former Olympian and current BKSP shooting coach Asif Hossain Khan admitted the harsh reality of Bangladesh’s chances in the Olympics, but he was hopeful that if these athletes can deliver their best individual performance in the meet, they can count their participation differently.
“To be honest, we are far behind other athletes from different countries. It’s difficult to overcome the difference within a short time,” said Asif, who won a gold medal in the 10m Air Rifle individual event in the 2002 Commonwealth Games and also participated in the Athens Olympics in 2004.
“I hope they deliver their best individual performance in Paris, so that they get the self-satisfaction of achieving what they previously had done,” said Asif, whose opponent in the Manchester Commonwealth -- India’s shooting legend Abhinav Bindra -- went on to win the first individual gold medal for his country in the Beijing Olympics 2008.
Asif added that it’s a failure of the whole process that Bangladesh is unable to clinch a medal in the Olympics till date.
“I would say it’s an overall failure. We need to dream big. And then comes the execution after four years… I think we need a big collaboration between our athletes, officials, BOA, and sponsors, so that we can have a long-term plan for the Olympics and get a good result there.
“We are currently stuck in the middle of dreaming and helping others dream. I think there is a gap between these two for which we can’t go ahead.”
However, Asif was optimistic that someday they will scale the heights that India has achieved regularly of late, a country where “everything is managed locally” and without reliance on foreign coaches.
“There is a saying that a person gets mature at the age of 40. Our country is still unripe for the Olympics. I think it will take time. But I am hopeful that we can achieve something here as we did in other games like the Commonwealth, SA Games, and Asian Games.”

Sagor to start Bangladesh’s Olympic campaign
SPORTS REPORTER
Bangladesh’s Paris Olympics 2024 campaign will begin today with archer Sagor Islam set to fight for his fate in the ranking round.
The curtains of the Olympics will be raised tomorrow but several disciplines, including football have already begun.
Sagor, who earned direct qualification to the event, will have the opportunity to navigate through favourable paths in the knockout rounds if he can manage a spot in the top 20 in the ranking round as such a finish will allow him to avoid the top seeds in the competition.
“It is true that good scores in the ranking rounds allow you to avoid the top players but you have to remember that 64 players will be taking part and they are all strong. So, I’m not really thinking about that and preparing myself for the knockout rounds,” Sagor said yesterday.
Bangladesh shooter Robiul Islam will take part in the qualification round of the 10m Air Rifle single’s event on July 28. Two days later, swimmer Samiul Islam Rafi will participate in the 100m Freestyle Heat and on August 3, swimmer Sonia Khatun will get to test her progress in the 50m Freestyle Heat. On the same day, Bangladesh’s fastest man, Imranur Rahman will fight it out in the preliminary round of the 100m Sprint event.

Nadal, Alcaraz play down expectations
AFP, Paris
Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz know they won’t win anything on reputation alone playing together at the Paris Olympics but vowed on Wednesday to do everything in their power to overcome a lack of preparation.
Nadal, the 2008 singles gold medallist, will pair up with Alcaraz in a tennis dream team at Roland Garros, looking to also add to the doubles title he won with close friend Marc Lopez at Rio in 2016.
The 22-time Grand Slam champion was keen to play down expectations though ahead of his final Olympics, with Nadal and Alcaraz teaming up for the first time.
“I understand the fascination, the hope of seeing us play together, (but) let’s not think that this translates into success, I think that’s a mistake,” said the 38-year-old Nadal.
“At the end of the day, Carlos hasn’t played much doubles and I haven’t played much in either doubles or singles,” he said at a Spanish team press conference in the Olympic Village.
Both Nadal and Alcaraz will also compete in the singles at Roland Garros, where Nadal has won the French Open a record 14 times. Alcaraz captured the title in Paris for the first time last month.
“We’re going to give our all to try and at least leave with the peace of mind of having done everything possible,” added Nadal.
Alcaraz said it was “a dream” to be able to make his Olympic debut in doubles alongside Nadal.
He too sounded a note of caution and insisted their star power was no guarantee of a medal.
“What I can say is that we’re going to do give the best of ourselves... with great enthusiasm, let’s hope we can enjoy it and play well,” said Alcaraz, who beat Novak Djokovic again in this year’s Wimbledon final.