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The B angladesh Table Tennis Federation (BTTF) is likely to ban two of its players for skipping their respective matches at the recently concluded Commonwealth Games 2022. Sonam Sultana Soma and Sadia Aktar Mou will be banned from the international and domestic circuits as the duo went to visit relatives in London skipping their matches at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham earlier this month.
Sonam Sultana and Sadia Aktar were among the six paddlers Bangladesh had sent to Birmingham for the Commonwealth Games. While Soma was scheduled to play three matches – women's doubles, singles and mixed doubles, Mou was scheduled to play the doubles. The two players lost their singles fixture and were scheduled to take on England’s Tin-Tin Ho and Maria Tsaptsinos for the round of 32 clash in women’s doubles on August 5.
However, the two paddlers opted to skip the game and instead went to London to visit their relatives. Therefore, BTTF has decided to ban these players from the international and domestic circuits for three and two years respectively for tarnishing the country’s image.
"The decision was taken unanimously at the executive committee meeting on Saturday as they tarnished the image of the country by giving walkovers in the matches they were scheduled to play on August 5," Bangladesh Table Tennis Federation's general secretary Sheikh Mohammad Jahangir Alam said while announcing the board’s decision.
A show cause notice will be sent to the two players before the decision is officially taken, he informed.
"Soma suffered a minor muscle injury on August 4 and pulled out in the middle of a game before giving a walkover in the next match," Alam said. "Our team doctor assessed the injury which was not a major one and the doctor advised her to take rest as she had matches the next day."
"I had a meeting with all players on August 4 and asked them not to go outside the Games Village, but the next day Soma called me to express her wish to visit London. I asked them about their matches of the day," Alam said. "Later they did not pick up my calls, not even calls from Chef de Mission and returned to the Games Village at 8:00pm."
