National coaches of different disciplines found some potential athletes on the opening day of the divisional phase of the inaugural Bangladesh Youth Games yesterday.
Nearly 3500 athletes from 64 districts are taking part in the divisional phase of the under-17 level games after having competed at the district level.
Out of the eight divisions, Dhaka is hosting 15 disciplines among which 11 disciplines completed their events on the opening day while the remaining disciplines will be completed by January 10.
However, a visit to different venues of Dhaka yesterday revealed that the number of participants was less than expected. There were cases of karatekas becoming champions without playing a single match while there were only two teams competing in table tennis.
Eight districts are taking part in knockout format in kabaddi where some well-built youths drew the attention of national coach Subimol Chandra Das.
“I can see some talented players in the Madaripur, Dhaka and Tangail teams, but we need to groom them up by providing proper training. I think holding the youth games is a good initiative but it could have been better had this group of boys got two-week's basic training before the games,” said Subimol.
Monir Hossain, manager of Dhaka district, said that they have formed the squad with the inclusion of players from four upazilas but did not get enough time to train them.
Five districts participated in volleyball, with players from Gopalganj drawing the national coaches attention with their height. Gopalganj's volleyball manager Refayet Hossain informed that they are holding volleyball leagues in their district regularly with the participation of 28 clubs as it is a very popular game there.
“Definitely there are some potential players and they are more or less perfect in height and skill. I saw some talented players among the Gopalganj, Gazipur and Tangail teams,” said senior national coach Golam Rasul Mehdi.
Boxers from Kishoreganj stunned Dhaka district boxers by winning two gold medals in six boys' events while bagging three gold medals in four girls' events at the Mohammad Ali Boxing Stadium.
The boxers from Kishoreganj are products of the National Sports Council's talent hunt programme which initially trained athletes at upazila and district levels before bringing them to Dhaka for three-months of training.
"If these boys and girls are given proper training, they can go top,” said Kishoreganj's coach-cum-teacher Mohammad Abdullah.
Kishoreganj shone in swimming too, winning 10 gold medals in 14 events as a total of 54 swimmers from seven districts took part in the one-day programme at the Syed Nazrul Islam Swimming Complex in Mirpur.
National youth badminton coach Samiul Haque said, “The participants have basic knowledge on how to grip rackets and about feet movement, but they need more intensive training for improvement.”
Though there were a moderate number of teams participating in kabaddi, swimming, volleyball and badminton, the highlight of the day was the disappointing turnout in table tennis and karate.
