BSSF's Vision 2020 gets off the ground

The Bangladesh Shooting Sports Federation (BSSF) had last November disclosed its ambitious 'Vision 2020' plan to win a medal from the Tokyo Olympics and to bring that vision closer to reality, the game's governing body is all set to start a long-term training programme at the National Shooting Complex in Gulshan today.

Bangladesh have taken part in nine Olympic Games since 1984, but have failed to produce any medals from the world's biggest sporting showcase. Winning a medal from the Olympics has always remained a distant dream for Bangladesh as all of its athletes -- with the exception of golfer Siddikur Rahman -- have participated in the Olympics via wild card entries, which are provided by International Olympic Committee (IOC) to ensure the participation of all member associations.

A total of 30 rifle and pistol shooters, including 14 female shooters, have been selected for the first-phase of the training which will be a three-month camp. The number of shooters may be decreased based on performances during the camp, but new recruits are also expected to join.

The BSSF has already appointed two European coaches till 2018 and Montenegrin pistol coach Marko Sokic already arrived here on Thursday to work with 14 pistol shooters -- seven males and as many females.

The rifle shooters are supposed to report to the camp today to start training under local coaches until Danish coach Christensen Klavs arrives on January 13 to take charge of the Rifle team.

“As per the agreement, the shooters are supposed to get at least seven to eight months training a year under two foreign coaches and we think it is enough time to build up the players,” BSSF chief operations officer Mushtaque Waiz told reporters.

The game's governing body is going to hold the Youth National Championships from January 13 from which some talented shooters are expected to join the national team's training.

“We hope we will get some new talents from upcoming championship as approximately 200 budding shooters are likely to take part in the tournament which we think will help the national coach pick some young shooters for the Vision 2020,” said Waiz.

As the shooting team are scheduled to take part in Shooting World Cup in New Delhi next month, it is expected that the training camp will help the coaches pick the best shooters for the meet.