Ruman open to return if facilities increased

Having decided to quit national duties with long-held indignation and frustration over the state of archery, Ruman Sana is open to retracting his decision if he offered better facilities compared to what he gets now.

Ruman, one of only two athletes of the country to have qualified for Olympics directly, tendered his resignation to the archery federation nearly a month ago citing shoulder injury, poor performance, lack of confidence and inability to take pressure as his reasons to leave the national team.

However, in conversation with The Daily Star, Ruman admitted that it is the lack of incentives from archery which made him take the shocking decision.

No official from the game's local governing body, meanwhile, have communicated with Ruman to persuade him to change his decision – a sign of reluctance to bringing the player who flew the Bangladesh flag in the archery world.

"I don't know whether I will change my decision in coming days but it is sure that I will never return under the existing facilities. I only get Tk 3000 as allowance per month apart from accommodation and food in the national camp. They are, however, giving me an additional Tk 2000 as house rent of since I got married," Ruman told The Daily Star yesterday.

"If they increase the facilities, I can stay in archery. Otherwise, I will not be here because I badly need financial support to continue playing. I am planning to do business with my father and brother apart from continuing my job in Bangladesh Ansar," said the archer from Khulna.

Explaining the reasons behind his sudden decision, Ruman said, "Gradually I became disenchanted. At the end of the day, I don't have anything in possession. No doubt, I earned a lot of honour and image from archery but at the same time, I also got my honour taken away," Ruman said, referring to his suspension handed over by the federation in 2022.

Since coming back to archery after serving the suspension of more than a year on disciplinary ground, Ruman endured a long lean patch, recently missing out on the Asia Cup squad after being denied Olympic scholarship in 2022.

"There is no future playing for the national team. I just deliveries one after another (medal) but I don't get anything from anyone. I never got any support from the government, federation or anyone but a lot of athletes received a lot of things over small achievements compared to me," said a frustrated Ruman.