SPORTS REPORTER

Bangladesh table tennis legend Zobera Rahman Linu has been selected for the Independence Award 2026, the country’s highest state honour. The government yesterday decided to confer the award on 15 individuals and five institutions for their “glorious and outstanding contributions at the national level”.

Linu becomes the 15th sportsperson to receive the honour, after Habilder Mostaq Ahmed (1977), Abbas Mirza (posthumously, 1981), M Mosharraf Hossain Khan (1986), Niaz Murshed (1989), Shah Alam (1991), Kazi Abdul Alem (1993), Atiqur Rahman (1994), Zakaria Pintu (1995), Kazi Salahuddin (1996), Sheikh Kamal (posthumously, 1998), Brojen Das (1999), Sultana Kamal (posthumously, 2000), ASM Rakibul Hasan (2023) and Firoza Khatun (2024).

Since the award’s introduction in 1977, two organisations -- Bangladesh Cricket Board (2001) and Bangladesh Ansar and VDP (2004) -- have also been honoured.

A dominant force in her era, Linu won a record 16 national women’s singles titles between 1979 and 2001 and represented Bangladesh at the Asian and World Table Tennis Championships.

She received the National Sports Award in 1999 and later served as president of the Bangladesh Table Tennis Federation and chairperson of the Athletes Commission of the Bangladesh Olympic Association from 2019 to 2023.