The name of Begum Khaleda Zia conjures up a vision of one of the finest in the history subcontinent’s politics. But who could ever think that Begum Zia, who was a shy housewife when the late President Ziaur Rahman, Bir Uttam, was in charge of galvanizing Bangladesh, would rise above the rest to become an inspiring politician?
After the tragic death of Ziaur Rahman, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) was going through fiery circumstances and many felt that BNP may not survive the test of time. At such a critical juncture, Begum Zia stood up to face the challenge of walking through the rough roads of Bangladeshi politics.
The counterparts of the BNP always portrayed Begum Zia as a non-entity in the political fraternity. But Begum Zia responded to the critics with deeds — she was not a shy housewife anymore — rather became the symbol of courage and hope during the dark days of dictator Ershad era.
Begum Zia’s uncompromising approach and determination spread like wildfire in the minds and hearts of millions of Bangladeshis who got involved in her fight and finally victory was achieved in December 1990.
A year later, Begum Zia’s victory in the general election was the icing on the cake — she would become the first-ever female Prime Minister in the history of Bangladesh.
From the very first day in the office, Begum Zia created a road map that would make a positive impact in each and every sector of Bangladesh. Uplifting the health and education of Bangladesh were her topmost priorities, which actually paved the way for the development of other important sectors.
If a nation is healthy and educated then automatically the rest of the developments would follow and Begum Zia worked accordingly.
The impact of Begum Zia on the sports of Bangladesh is not talked of more often whereas; she has a huge contribution to Bangladesh’s sports sector.
Begum Zia can be credited with taking Bangladesh Cricket to the next level.
Begum Zia noticed the rise in the popularity of cricket in Bangladesh.
In 1992, she took the initiative to arrange the inaugural South Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) cricket tournament, where the A teams from India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka came to participate in a 4-nation tournament in Bangladesh. Bangladesh, who was not a Test-playing nation back then, played with their main team and such an event was ideal for them to showcase their ability with the bat and ball and passion for the game among the people to the international audience.
Abu Saleh Mohammad Mustafizur Rahman, who was the President of the Bangladesh Cricket Board and also the Chairman of the National Sports Control Board — followed Begum Zia’s passion for sports and acted accordingly to arrange the tournament. Sadly, the tournament had to be cancelled due to unavoidable circumstances, but two years later, in 1994, the festival of cricket in the form of the SAARC Cricket Tournament was arranged in Bangladesh again.
It was one of the most iconic cricket tournaments in the history of Bangladesh cricket. Not a single match went spectator-less, but till the final match, the Dhaka National Stadium was jam-packed and the passion for cricket among the Bangladeshi fans was noticed by distinguished personalities like the late Jagmohan Dalmiya and Zaheer Abbas, who were astonished by the massive turnouts in every game.
In one of the group-stage matches –Bangladesh beat India by just a solitary run and triggered euphoria across the country. That victory earned Bangladesh a place in the final against India. In the final Bangladesh was beaten but they had sent a clear message to the world that they are prepared to take themselves to the next level in the international circuit.
Again, Bangladesh came close to beating the Pakistan A team led by Rameez Raja during the group stage matches and then beat Sri Lanka A led by the current coach of Bangladesh — Chandika Hathurusingha.
In between 1992 and 1994 SAARC tournaments — Begum Zia invested in arranging friendly tours of international teams in Bangladesh.
In 1993 — the Zimbabwean National Team of Andy Flower and Grant Flower visited Bangladesh for two 50-over matches. In both matches, the stadium was filled with vociferous cricket fans from Bangladesh. Bangladesh fought well against that strong Zimbabwe side and in January 1994 — defending world champions Pakistan led by Saleem Malik played two 50-over matches in Bangladesh.
In the first One-day International, Athar Ali Khan’s attacking intent against the number one fast bowler in the world at that time Waqar Younis which included a couple of scorching boundaries in one over, left the crowd ecstatic. Bangladesh lost but those two tours had helped Bangladesh develop more technically and temperamentally and the result was witnessed at the SAARC Tournament in 1994.
Since starting her journey as the Prime Minister of Bangladesh — Begum Zia’s initiatives have led to the sky-high popularity of cricket in Bangladesh. In Bangladesh Television there was even a program where a cricket coach was seen teaching cricket to youngsters, which inspired many youngsters to play cricket.
Cricket was played in the open fields in the afternoon and evening time by youngsters. Cricket Academies started to grow slowly but steadily and school cricket became a big hit during that time. Most importantly, the decentralization of cricket started during Begum Zia’s era –cricket spread countrywide.
In her next term as the Prime Minister — new international cricket, stadiums were built at Bogura, Khulna, and Fatullah.
Begum Zia’s younger son Arafat Rahman Koko brought fresh ideas in 2003.
After the disastrous ICC Cricket World Cup, 2003 campaign in South Africa, Arafat Rahman decided to appoint Dav Whatmore as the national team’s coach and Richard McInnes as the coach of the High Performance Unit.
Such moves brought a world of change.
Whatmore had changed Bangladesh technically and temperamentally as the Tigers won their first-ever Test and ODI series in 2005, beat Australia at Cardiff during the tri-nation tournament in England the same year, beat a strong Sri Lanka in an ODI in 2006, beat India in 2004, brushed away Kenya and Zimbabwe at home in 2006, fought neck-to-neck against Pakistan in the three-match Test series in 2003 and almost shell-shocked the defending champions Australia in the one-off Test against Australia in 2006.
Young guns like Mohammad Ashraful, Mushfiqur Rahim, Shakib Al Hasan, Tamim Iqbal, Enamul Haque Junior, Rajin Saleh, Syed Rasel, Aftab Ahmed, Shahadat Hossain, Shahriar Nafeez were emerging courtesy of McInnes, mentorship at the High-Performance Unit and Whatmore’s brilliant eyes to pick and nurture them.
Cricket started its journey in the newly independent Bangladesh in 1976–77 through late President Ziaur Rahman, Bir Uttam, and Begum Zia carried on the legacy in the early 90s and 2000s to build a strong foundation at the domestic level that reaped a rich harvest later on.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh, football has had its own fan base for a long time.
Begum Zia, herself, is an avid follower of football. Being a supporter of Brazil in the international circuit and Mohammedan Sporting Club at the domestic level — football kept on flourishing, but the desired results at the top were not coming. The emphasis on youth took over rather than relying too much on those who lost their sting and this policy was paid back in 2003 when Bangladesh won the South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) Championship in 2003.
A year ago — on January 11, 2002, FIFA imposed a ban on Bangladesh Football Federation “due to the government violating the FIFA and AFC law that only recognizes a democratically elected committee to run a country’s football federation.”
The ban was short-lived, after the BNP government reinstated the elected committee of the Bangladesh Football Federation, FIFA lifted the ban, on February 11, 2002.
That ban motivated Bangladesh to exhibit its credibility in the international arena during the 2003 SAFF Championships and in 2005 they ended as the runner-up.
The Dhaka National Stadium was given full access to football and nurturing young bloods became a priority.
In the Under-20 Asian Football Tournament in Pakistan in 2002, Bangladesh topped the group.
The Dhaka National Stadium regularly arranged club matches and also, and football was maintaining its pace with the rising popularity of cricket at the grassroots level outside Dhaka.
Begum Zia’s influence was not limited to just football and cricket, but it was evident in other sports as well.
Late President Ziaur Rahman Bir Uttam kicked off the Bangladesh Games in 1979 and it used to take place regularly.
After the second edition of the Bangladesh Games in 1980 — it was decided that the event would be arranged biennially. The event took place regularly until the seventh edition in 2000 which was not held but took place in 2002.
After 2002, the event in 2006 could not be staged due to political circumstances.
In 1993, Bangladesh hosted the South Asian Games successfully, and thus in the games’ history, Dhaka became the first city to host the event for the second time.
Bangladesh bagged 11 gold, 19 silver, and 32 bronze medals in the 1993 event and had been impressive in 1995 as well. They bagged gold medals in the 2004 and 2006 editions of the South Asian Games as well.
The popularity of chess was ensured. Ziaur Rahman earned the title of Grand Master while people like Niaz Morshed and Rani Hamid stepped forward to work on chess. In 2002, Rifat Bin Sattar earned the title of Grand Master in an international chess tournament.
Necessary steps were taken to improve one of the popular sports in the world — Hockey and the Bangladesh Army won the Chairman Cup of the Olympic Committee Hockey tournament in 2002.
An appropriate measure was taken for the Bangladesh Shooting Federation so that better outcomes happen and in 2002 Asif Hossain Khan won the gold medal in 10-meter Air Rifles in the Common Wealth Games by beating India’s Avinab Bindra. In 2004, Asif won the gold medal in the South Asian Games.
Bangladesh experienced the positive growth of all the major sports during Begum Zia’s regime and whatever the rich harvest Bangladesh is reaping today in sports, the initiatives of Begum Zia deserve its due credit.
Thank You
Faisal Caesar
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