Dhaka, Bangladesh, March 9, 2020: Around 10,600 athletes from across the country will take part in the Bangabandhu Bangladesh Games, Bangladesh Olympic Association officials confirmed during the logo and mascot unveiling ceremony at the Kurmitola Golf Club.
The ninth edition of the national games will be held from April 1 to 10 at 22 venues, where the athletes will compete in 31 disciplines for 1,338 medals — 396 gold, 396 silver and 546 bronze, reports New Age Sport in Dhaka.
The biggest sports event of the country is expected to be inaugurated by the Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina, on April 1 at the Bangabandhu National Stadium, the central venue of the meet.
Some 1,250 athletes who took part in the first Bangladesh Youth Games 2018 will participate in the Bangladesh Games.
Bangladesh Olympic Association Secretary General Syed Shahed Reza provided all the details during the ceremony. The logo has a sketch of the country’s founding president, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, while the mascot is a pigeon as the symbol of peace.
The first Bangladesh Games took place in 1978 and the most recent edition, the eighth, was held in April 2013 with 10,000 athletes.
As the BOA is marking the birth centenary of the founding President of Bangladesh, Mujib, through the national games, a short documentary on him was screened at the beginning of the ceremony.
The torch will be lit at Tungipara on March 31 and will be transferred to the Bangabandhu National Stadium in Dhaka.
The meeting, which took place on March 5, also heard that a special medical team would be on hand to deal with any outbreaks of the novel coronavirus.