Former SAFF winner dies following childbirth

Mosammat Razia Khatun, a former winner of SAFF Under-18 Women's Championship, died from complications following childbirth in Satkhira in the early hours of Thursday.

Fazlul Haque, brother of Razia, 23, told our correspondent that Razia had given birth to a baby boy at their home in Lakshinarayanpur village in Kaliganj, Satkhira at around 10pm last night. However, her condition worsened later and she died while being taken to Satkhira Hospotal, he claimed. 

Razia's husband Inam Rahman, a former footballer himself, however claimed that Razia died due to excessive blood-loss owing to an apparent negligence by his in-laws.

Local doctor Sanchoy Mondol said that he had given Razia a tablet for stomach ache at around 11pm, when both the mother and the child were fine. However, later he received a call around 3am and saw her unconscious before transferring her to the hospital, Sanchoy claimed. 

Razia had represented Bangladesh in the age-group football from 2014 and continued up to 2019, when she made her maiden appearance for the senior team. She had played in the AFC U-14 Championship (south and central) in Nepal in 2014 and in the final round of AFC U-16 Women's Championship in Thailand in 2016. She was an important member of Bangladesh team which won the SAFF U-18 Women's Championship in 2018 before being part of the SAFF Women's Championship squad in 2019.

Soon after that though she dropped out of the BFF camp over performance and failed to return to the national team. However, she played in the women's football league regularly, representing Nasrin Sporting Club, FC Brahmanbaria and Kacharipara Ekadosh.  

Golam Rabbani Choton, former coach of Bangladesh age-group and senior women's team, lamented the death of his former protégé.

"It is really sad to hear the loss of one of my former students. I even talked with her last year when she was playing in the women's league," Choton told The Daily Star.

"Everyone says this is digital Bangladesh, smart Bangladesh and all that. Then how could a player of such repute die from so much neglect? I heard she died due to excessive blood-loss. Shouldn't she have deserved better treatment?" questioned the coach, who is now in charge of women's football team of Bangladesh Army.

Razia's former teammates including Sabina Khatun, Sanjida Akter and other expressed their sorrow at the untimely demise of their colleague. Bangladesh Football Federation also condoled the death of Razia.