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Most of Bangladesh›s sports organisations are commemorating International Sports Day at the national level today by holding rallies, seminars, and sporting events around the country under the slogan Krirangoner Unnoyon Sheikh Hasina›r Dorshon.

Bangladesh Olympic Association, its affiliated federations and associations, and the majority of the country›s District Sports Associations are marking the day under the auspices of the ministry of youth and sports to promote the tremendous power of sport as a collective cause for building a better nation.

Bangladesh have celebrated the day in a festive mood every year since 2017 — three years after the United Nations General Assembly designated April 6 as the International Day of Sports for Development and Peace — but the colours of celebration fade when the eyes turn to the ground reality, which includes meagre achievements at international and regional levels.

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Cricket

Cricket has been the one sport Bangladesh have had some form of success, albeit they haven’t won any trophies, but that scene has changed in the past 12 months.

While it might appear as a kneejerk reaction following the men’s team’s horrorshow in their two-Test series against Sri Lanka and the women’s team’s hapless surrender against Australia, the overall picture is not a pretty sight for anybody who is a Bangladesh cricket fan.

2023 was a turbulent year for the men’s cricket team as it was marred by off-the-field incidents, including Tamim Iqbal retiring and un-retiring, Shakib Al Hasan bashing his teammate in an interview, and a hurried change in captaincy.

All of those resulted in the team underperforming in both major tournaments of 2023 – Asia Cup and World Cup – as they could not reach the final in the former and finished eighth in the latter.

Since then, Bangladesh have once again changed their captain to Najmul Hossain Shanto, and while they performed well in the series against New Zealand – both home and away – the performances took a nosedive in recent months.

The women’s teams had a successful year in 2023, beating India and Pakistan at home and also South Africa away but against world champions Australia; they were clean swept in both one-day internationals and Twenty20 Internationals, failing to put up any competition at all.

However, while the respective national teams have failed to provide the fans with joy in recent months, it paints the overall cricketing stature Bangladesh holds at this point.

Bangladesh’s trophy cabinet is nowhere near noticeable as their only three major trophies are the Women’s Asia Cup 2018, Under-19 World Cup 2022, and U-19 Asia Cup 2023. The men’s team managed to reach the final of the Asia Cup thrice in the 2010s but failed to win any.

The reason behind it might be the lack of investment in the development sector of the game as despite being one of the richest cricket boards around, the Bangladesh Cricket Board has often been more interested in splashing money at the top of the pyramid, rather than in the building blocks.

Bangladesh neither has an academy like the National Cricket Academy in India or the National Cricket Centre in Australia or a working school cricket structure like Sri Lanka, meaning they have to look towards the Bangladesh Krira Shikkha Pratishthan for players, which in turn creates a dearth for quality players ready for international cricket.

With another world sports day going by without progress, the BCB might have to look at themselves and realise that if they want their trophy cabinet to fill up, they will need to invest more in the grassroots rather than having a huge bank balance.

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Football & other sports

Men’s football in Bangladesh showed some signs of improvement in 2023 as they reached the semis of the SAFF Championship after 14 years but this year, they have just won one game out of four.

Despite receiving improved training facilities in Saudi Arabia for their campaign in the FIFA World Cup 2026 and AFC Asian Cup 2027 joint qualifiers, the national men’s football team failed to advance to the competition’s third round.

Spanish coach Javier Cabrera’s men are at the bottom of the Group I standings, with one point from three games. They lost 0-7 away to Australia, drew 1-1 at home against Lebanon, and lost 0-5 and 0-1 to Palestine in Kuwait and Dhaka, respectively.

They will play the remaining two games in the qualifications round two against Australia on June 6 and Lebanon on June 11.

The Bangladesh Football Federation organises the Premier League, Federation Cup, and Independence Cup, as well as other level events each year, and they established the BFF Elite Football Academy in 2021, however, none of these have solved their problem of lack of forwards.

Bangladesh won the 2024 SAFF Under-16 Women’s Championship on March 10, a month after sharing the SAFF Under-19 Women’s Championship title with India at home on February 8.

After winning the SAFF Women’s Championship 2022, Bangladesh played two international friendlies at home against Singapore in December 2023, winning 3-0 and 8-0.

Bangladesh Football Federation requested Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, and Myanmar for women’s friendlies throughout FIFA windows but all of their efforts have been in vain.

Notable success came in chess when International Master Fahad Rahman earned the first of the required three Grand Master norms in Vietnam on March 31.

Ruman Shana, a 28-year-old archer who played in the Tokyo Olympics, retired from the national squad in early March 2024, citing frustration with the Archery Federation’s inadequate facilities.

Amidst the dispute over Shana’s retirement, Joma Akter has been the first Bangladeshi para archer to receive a direct quota spot to compete in the compound women’s solo event at the Paris Paralympic Games.

Joma, a physically challenged archer, earned a bronze medal at the qualification competition in Dubai, UAE, on March 8.

Athletics is known as the ‘mother of all sports’, but Bangladesh’s situation in this discipline is similarly bleak, with four-time fastest man Imranur Rahman’s poor performance at the 11th Asian Indoor Athletics Championships 2024 in Iran in February 2024.

Imranur, who became the first Bangladeshi to win a gold medal in the men’s 60-meter event and competition in Kazakhstan in 2023, failed to earn a medal in the same event in Iran in February 2024.

While Imranur failed, national champion runner Jahir Rayhan won a silver medal in the men’s 400-metre event.

The Bangladesh Athletics Federation appears to have only one athlete representing the country in most international tournaments since England-based sprinter Imranur became the country’s fastest man for the first time in 2022.

The BOA organised the multidisciplinary sports carnival ‘Bangladesh Youth Games’ twice, in 2023 and 2018, intending to find new talent to add to the athlete pipeline, however, the sought-after athletes are yet unknown.

Bangladesh Hockey Federation’s off-field operations are more noticeable than their on-field actions, as domestic competitions are held irregularly, and the ongoing Premier Division Hockey League 2024 is taking place after the last edition was held in 2021.