Photo: Collected
The fourth edition of prestigious Bangabandhu Cup 2024 International Kabaddi Tournament got underway through a colorful opening ceremony at Shaheed Suhrawardy Indoor Stadium in the city's Mirpur.
Youth and Sports Minister Nazmul Hassan Papon formally inaugurated the tournament as the chief guest by releasing balloons.
The Minister became ecstatic while seeing the official opening and setup of the tournament bearing the name of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the Father of the Nation.
"It's incredibly tough to organise any large international competition," he stated during the inaugural programme and adding: "Bangladesh Kabaddi Federation is organising the tournament for four consecutive years. My heartfelt greetings to all including president and general secretary of the federation. Not one or two, but 12 countries are participating here this time, it's not an easy task."
"I'm very happy with the way that the Kabaddi Federation is running the game and I will extend all kinds of support to them from my ministry. We made a short list of important sports. Kabaddi is on that shortlist. On the other hand, it's our national game and we have to do well in this game. If we want to start Kabaddi from our grassroots level, we'll have to start it in our educational institutions first. It'll be a good step to produce new players. I talked to the Minister for Education yesterday (Saturday) about this. We want to sit together for the sake of Kabaddi," he continued.
The sports minister said Bangladesh is working with an eye on the World Cup.
He said: "Our target is to play in the World Cup. As Kabaddi is our national game and if we can work properly, we'll be able to advance and Bangladesh will get good results at the international level of Kabaddi."
Papon said the ministry will work together with the ministry of education to spread Kabaddi across the country. "I'm not thinking about clubs at this moment. I want to go further down. I want players to come out of the school level. If we can organise Kabaddi competitions in schools, colleges, and universities every year, we'll get a lot of players. Actually, our first task is to spread Kabaddi across the country," he added.
Bangladesh Kabaddi Federation President and Inspector General of Bangladesh Police Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun presided over the opening programme. General Secretary of the federation and DMP Commissioner Habibur Rahman and others were also present in the opening ceremony.
Messenger/Sumon
