Farida Akhter Begum receives ‘National Sports Award’

A total of 85 talented sports personalities of the country have been awarded in the ‘National Sports Awards’ on Wednesday (May 11). Among them, Alhaj Farida Akhter Begum, a prominent sports organizer, has received the National Sports Award in the Organizer category of 2016. She is the mother of FM Iqbal bin Anwar (Dawn), senior executive director (games and sports, marketing) at Walton Group.

As a reward, she was given a 16 carat gold medal weighing 25 grams, a check for one lakh taka and a certificate. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina distributed the award while appearing on the virtual platform as the chief guest at a function held at Osmani Memorial Auditorium. State Minister for Youth and Sports Zahid Ahsan Russell, MP was present at the time. Alhaj Farida Akhter Begum was born on 11 April 1947 in Tangail district. She was the General Secretary of Tangail District Sports Association in 1977.

In 1978, she had a role to form the first division women’s volleyball, kabaddi, and athletics teams. In 1979 she was active in forming hockey, swimming and chess teams. In 1980, under her leadership, kabaddi team, volleyball team and athletics became the champion and runner-up in the national games. Through her organizational activities, a team became champion in the national hockey competition in 1979 and women’s junior athletics team became champion in the divisional in 1982. In 1981, she became the manager of the divisional women’s swimming team. In the same competition, the women’s swimming team became champion. Besides, she was the manager of the divisional women’s team in the first Bangladesh Games in 1978. The women’s team became the champion in that games. In recognition of her glorious contribution in the field of sports, she was awarded the National Sports Award for Organizer (Athletics) for 2018.

The other awardees of 2018 are- Jyotsna Afroz- Athletics, Md. Rafiq Ullah Akhtar Milon – Organizer (Athletics), Kazi Anwar Hossain – Player (Football), Md. Shawkat Ali Khan Jahangir – Organizer (Football), Mir Rabiuzzaman – Player (Gymnastics), Mohammad Alamgir Alam – Player (Hockey), Tayeb Hasan Samshuzzaman – Organizer (Referee), Nivedita Das – Player (Swimming), Mahmudul Islam Rana – Organizer ( Taekwondo).