Bangladesh Ansar close their women’s kabaddi wing

In response to the recent scandal in the Bangladesh Games, Bangladesh Ansar has suspended the activities of its women’s kabbadi players indefinitely. During the women’s kabbadi final at the Bangladesh Games on April 23, officials from Bangladesh Ansar were involved in a skirmish with their Bangladesh Jute Mills Corporation counterparts. Later, the Kabbadi Federation punished the parties concerned, and Major General Nazim Uddin, director general of Bangladesh Ansar, said that the incident forced them to make the decision to suspend women’s kabbadi. “Ansar is a disciplined force and our job is to ensure the law and order of the country, but this occurrence made us ashamed, so that we took this type of decision,” said Nazim Uddin. “The services teams like us are participating in sport only for recreation. Our goal is not to win any Olympic medal. We cannot afford such deterioration of reputation. Therefore we suspended the team,” he added. This decision however will have a big impact on the national team’s performance as at least nine of the national players belong to Ansar and they depend on the organization for their livelihood. The women’s Kabaddi team has been one of the most successful national teams in recent times. They won a bronze medal in the Guanzhou Asian Games in 2010 and a silver medal at the South Asian Games in Dhaka in 2010. Shahnaz Parvin Maleka, captain of both Bangladesh Ansar women’s team and the national team, was shocked at the decision. “We earned a lot of honour and medal for Bangladesh playing kabaddi. At the same time we got all kind of facilities form Ansar. The organisation was like mother to us. This decision has put us in an uncertain situation,” said Maleka. “We were not responsible for whatever happened on that day. The brawl took place between spectators and federation officials. So why do the players have to suffer?” she asked, referring to the federation’s decision to fine Ansar Tk100,000 over the incident. Bangladesh Kabaddi Federation general secretary said that they received a letter from Ansar about their decision and the federation will have a meeting with the service organization where they will request Ansar to reconsider the move.