Para archery expands horizon for physically challenged athletes

Aysha Akter lost one of her legs six years ago in a road accident in her native Cumilla. Following multiple surgeries and over many sessions of therapies, she is now not just able to move on a wheelchair, but also is spirited enough to take part in different sporting disciplines.

Formerly a student of technical studies, Aysha has found refuge and passion in sporting activities. She may not have the physical ability anymore to roam freely, but her spirit soars, thanks to the work of Centre for the Rehabilitation of the Paralysed (CRP).

Already a member of Bangladesh wheelchair basketball team through the collaboration of CRP and the National Paralympic Committee, Bangladesh, Aysha is now setting sights on a new sporting ambition – express herself and travel through para archery, a discipline which officially took off in Bangladesh on Monday.

"The wheelchairs that we use are sports wheelchairs. Those give us the feeling that we are flying like a bird, and gives us the desire to engage in different sporting activities. We have a lot of obstacles, but sports give us a new meaning of life," Aysha told reporters at the inauguration ceremony of Bangladesh Para Archery at a hotel in the capital.

Speakers at the inauguration of Para Archery Bangladesh at a hotel in the capital on Monday. Photo: Star

"There is a programme of ICRC under CRP which forms sporting teams in different disciplines. I have been a member of wheelchair basketball team. There are other teams as well. And our teams have already played in foreign countries like India, Nepal, Thailand, and Indonesia. So I think para archery expands the horizon for me and the likes," Aysha said.

Aysha and 16 of her teammates were selected by Bangladesh Archery Federation to form the first team of para archery in Bangladesh. They have received three months of orientation and will start their training camp in CRP soon, informed BAF's high-officials.

BAF's general secretary Kazi Razibuddin Ahmed Chapal was named as the president while former hockey player Faisal Ahsanullah was made the general secretary as Bangladesh Para Archery Federation.

The inauguration programme was attended, among others, by World Archery Federation's secretary general Tommy Dielen, World Archery Asia's secretary general Kyu-Hyung Han, BAF's president Lt Gen Mainul Islam (retd), State Minister for Youth and Sports Zahid Ahsan Rassel, and vice-president of Bangladesh Paralympic Committee Professor Sheikh Abdus Salam.

Chapal hoped that the physically challenged athletes of this discipline will bring laurels for the country the same way archers have brought glory to the national from regional and international events.