Bangladesh is the most populous country that has never won an Olympic medal. This summer, the hopes of the country's nearly 170 million residents rest on the shoulders of 18-year-old archer Sagor Islam.
Despite its huge population, Bangladesh will have only four representatives at the Paris Olympics, with three of them participating in the honors invitations and only one winning their quota. Young Sagor Islam managed to save this in the last Olympic archery qualification held in Antalya, Turkey in June. There, he showed quality and character to beat Czech Adam Li in a head-to-head battle for Paris 2024.
"I was confident in my chances to qualify. The coaches didn't let me lose my concentration. It will have a lot of suffering, a lot of sacrifices in terms of my family, no rest, just training, training, training," shared the happy Islam after the success in Turkey.
Islam, the youngest of four children, lost his father when he was three years old. He was brought up by his mother who runs a tea shop in Rajshahi town. "I lost my father when I was three. Since then, my mother has been running the end teahouse to provide for the family. Despite all the difficulties, she gave me a chance to pursue archery. My mother is my biggest inspiration. She always My main motivation is to make her happy," says Islam, who received a bonus of 500,000 lacs (about 4,000 euros) for ranking in Paris.
His coach - German Martin Frederick - warns that Islam should not be burdened with too heavy expectations to bring Bangladesh its first ever Olympic medal. "I want to achieve the best possible result, but it will be difficult. The 64 best riders in the world will participate, world champions, Olympic medalists, world record holders. I don't want to talk about a medal, maybe the fourth final will be good post . But everything is possible," comments Frederic. He pointed out that the more important goal is for Islam to inspire the next generations of Bangladeshi athletes so that it can increase the number of Olympians, and from that sooner or later the first medal will come.
Sagor Islam is only the third athlete from Bangladesh to earn his quota for the Olympics and not receive an invitation to participate. The general secretary of the local Olympic committee, Syed Shaged Reza, blamed a lack of funds for the lack of sporting success. "We don't have enough money to train our athletes. For success with necessary training, it is a long process, we need to get foreign coaches, send the athletes to camps in the country and after that time we will get to a medal," says Reza.
One of Bangladesh's most legendary sportsmen Asif Hossain Khan disagrees with this statement. Khan became the sports shooting champion at the Manchester Commonwealth Games in 2002 when he defeated India's Abhinav Bindra in the final. "You don't need a budget to dream. We have seen many athletes who succeed even though they don't have financial support. For a country like ours, above all, you need heart and hard work," shared Khan.
Six years after his success in Manchester, his opponent Bindra became India's first Olympic champion at the Beijing Games, while Khan disappeared from the sky after a brutal beating by the Bangladesh police in 2006, which began after a dispute over a parking space.
Sagor Islam has all the prerequisites to now join the most successful Olympian in the history of Bangladesh. | BGNES
