Celebrated archer Mohammad Ruman Shana and Eti Khatun have displayed a brilliant show in archery securing three gold medals each -- two in team evenst each and one in singles events -- in the Nepalese tourist town of Pokhara on Monday.
Riding on their outstanding performances, Bangladeshi archers secured all the 10 gold medals in archery enabling the country to achieve the record of clinching 19 gold medals in an edition since the games was introduced in 1984 also in Nepal.
The previous best performance of the country in the SA Games was 18 gold medals earned in 2010 in Dhaka. But, Bangladesh’s highest number of gold medals won in a single game held outside Bangladesh was 7, in the Madras Games in 1995.
Ruman Shana and Eti Khatun were the best performers of Bangladesh in the regional games after swimmer Mosharraf Hossain Khan, who secured a record five gold medals for Bangladesh in a single edition—three in individual events and two in relay--in the 2nd SAF Games (presently SA Games) in Dhaka in 1985.
Bangladeshi archers brought the glory for the country in the ongoing games on Sunday clinching all the six team event gold medals -- men’s recurve, women's recurve, mixed recurve, compound men’s, compound women’s and compound mixed –with Ruman Shana and Eti Khatun bagging two gold medals each.
Thereafter, Bangladeshi archers proved their worth displaying cent percent accuracy in the discipline as Suma Biswas, Mohammad Sohel Rana, Mohammad Ruman Shana and Eti Khatun bagged the remaining four gold medals in archery on the 9th day of the regional meet on Monday, in absence of Indian archers, who was banned by International Archery Federation.
Bangladeshi archer Suma Biswas clinched the day's first gold beating Anuradha Karunarante of Sri Lanka by 142-134 scores in the women’s compound singles final.
Sohel Rana bagged the day's 2nd gold in men’s compound singles beating Tandin Dorji of Bhutan by 137-136 scores, while Ruman Shana, who became the first Bangladeshi archer to qualify for the Olympic Games, clinched the day’s 3rd gold beating Kinley Tshering of Bhutan by 7-1 set points in men’s recurve singles.
Eti Khatun bagged the day’s last and the 10th archery gold for the red and green beating Sonam Dema of Bhutan by 7-3 set points in the women’s recurve singles to raise country gold tally to 18 golds, equaling the record of 2010 Games in Dhaka.
Finally, Bangladesh Men’s Cricket team created new chapter in the SA Games history presenting Bangladesh their record 19th gold medal winning the men’s cricket title beating Sri Lanka by seven wickets in the final on Monday.
The achievement was even more remarkable considering Bangladesh never won gold previously in the South Asian Games archery. Their previous best performance in the SA Games archery was the three silver medals in Guwahati in 2016.
Apart from Sunday’s six gold medals in Archery, the Bangladesh women’s cricket team also clinched their first-ever gold medal in the history of the competition beating Sri Lanka.
Bangladesh men’s recurve team comprising of Mohammad Ruman Shana, Mohammad Tamimul Islam and Hakim Ahmed Rubel clinched the Sunday’s first gold medal in the men’s recurve team of archery beating Ravien Kavisha Dalpatadu, Sajeev De Silva and Kumara Herath of Sri Lanka by 5-3 sets in the final.
Bangladesh women's recurve team comprising of Eti Khatun, Mehnaz Aktar Monira and Beauty Roy beat Thisari Madushika Silva, Rehana Tayabally and Malsha Dilhani of Sri Lanka in the women's recurve team event final by 6-0 sets points to bag the 2nd gold for the country on the day.
Thereafter, Bangladesh recurve mixed team comprising Mohammad Ruman Shana and Eti Khatun beat Sonam Dema and Kinley Tshering of Bhutan by 6-2 sets in the final for the third gold.
Bangladesh also continued their success in the compound team events.
The compound men’s team comprising Md Sohel Rana, Ashim Kumar Das and Mohammad Ashikuzzaman secured the gold beating Phuntsho Wangdi, Tandin, Dorji and Karma Sherab of Bhutan 225-214 in men’s compound team event final.
Bangladesh women’s compound team comprising of Suma Biswas, Susmita Banik and Shyamoli Roy bagged gold beating Anuradha Karunarante, Harshani Shalika and Damayanthi Thakshila of Sri Lanka 226-215 in the women’s compound team final.
Bangladesh compound mixed team comprising of Sohel Rana and Susmita Banik clinched the day’s last gold beating Lmayung Rai and Sanatah Malla of Nepal 148-140 scores in the compound mixed team final.
Earlier last Saturday, Bangladeshi athletes earned three more gold medals -- two in weightlifting and one in fencing -- on the 7th day of the 10-day seven-nation 13th Asian Games in Nepal.
Famed lifters Mabia Akhter Simanta and Jiarul Islam bagged two gold medals in weightlifting events of the games in Nepalese tourist town of Pokhara while Fatema Mujib clinched the first-ever gold medal for Bangladesh in women’s fencing at Kirtipur Covered Hall in Nepalese capital of Kathmandu.
Bangladesh’s athletes also clinched three gold medals in Kumite events of Karate of the 13th South Asian Games last Tuesday apart from Dipu Chakma’s first gold medal for Bangladesh in Taekwondo last week.