OCA agrees to replace Bangladeshi officials in Asian Games

The impasse over replacing officials in Bangladesh’s upcoming Asian Games contingent is all but over, with the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) agreeing to replace some officials.

Bangladesh is scheduled to compete in 26 disciplines at the 20th Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, from September 19 to October 4. The impasse began when the high-ups of newly formed ad hoc committees of different federations demanded that officials from the previous ad hoc committees be replaced in the Bangladesh Olympic Association (BOA) contingent.

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“It is almost solved because the OCA agreed to replace some of our team officials, especially after our BOA president [Army Chief General Waker-Uz-Zaman] talked to OCA deputy director general Vinod Kumar Tiwari. We also informed the federation officials about it at the meeting,” BOA secretary general Jubaidur Rahman Rana told The Daily Star after a meeting between the BOA president and high-ups of different federations today.

The BOA had earlier requested the OCA twice to replace 34 team officials and coaches and six players from 15 of the 27 disciplines. However, the OCA accepted only 10 team officials and three players, who were included in the lengthy list of the Bangladesh contingent.

“Though we have already sent the list of officials and players, we will further apply to the OCA tonight for the remaining officials, coaches and players. Let’s see what they do,” Rana said.

“Actually, we don’t have any say over the list of officials and players that the federations send to us. We usually send their lists to the OCA because the selection of officials and players is the choice of the federations and associations,” Rana explained.

Bangladesh is scheduled to compete in athletics, archery, swimming, badminton, basketball, boxing, cricket, cycling, fencing, football, golf, gymnastics, beach handball, hockey, judo, kabaddi, karate, rugby, shooting, surfing, table tennis, taekwondo, beach volleyball, weightlifting, wrestling and wushu.