Curtain goes up in Phuket today

PHUKET (Thailand). Nov 13 (UNB): The 4th Asian Beach Games is set to begin at the Saphan Hin Public Park in the Thai resort city of Phuket today (Friday) amid huge enthusiasm by holiday crowd with Bangladesh participating in the event eyeing women's kabaddi medal.
Representative of Thai Royal Family and Privy Councilor Surayud Chulanont will inaugurate the meet with a one and half hour long opening ceremony. Olympic Council Asia (OCA) President Sheikh Ahmed Al Fahad Al Sabah will be present.
The opening ceremony will feature some eye-catching programmes-miracle of the merry land, miracle of pearl of the Andaman sea, miracle of the unity sand, miracle of the charming sunshine, and miracle of the 4th Asian Beach Games.
Meanwhile, the first batch of the 52-member Bangladesh contingent for the 4th Asian Beach Games-2014 consisting of basketball, handball, swimming and wrestling teams reached Phuket Thursday.
Chef-de-mission of Bangladesh contingent Mohammad Abdul Karim will join the teams today (Friday) morning to take part in the opening ceremony.
Bangladesh volleyball team was due to arrive here later Thursday while kabaddi and athletics teams Sunday (Nov 16).
Basketball player Mithun Kumar Biswas will carry the Bangladesh flag at the march past of the games opening ceremony as bronze medal winner because the women's Kabaddi team will leave for Phuket Sunday (Nov 16).
Some 5,000 Asian athletes and officials will join the battle for 169 gold medals of the 26 disciplines of sports at seven different beach venues of Phuket-Patong Beach, Karon Beach, Naiyang Beach, Saphan Hin Sports Centre, Anthem Wake Park and Chaofa Mine-on November 14-23.
Of the 26 disciplines of sports in the continental games, Bangladesh will compete in seven beach sports-Athletics, Marathon Swimming, Basketball, Handball, Kabaddi (Men's & Women's), Volleyball and Wrestling. Bangladesh contingent comprises 33 athletes, 11 team officials and eight contingent officials.
Bangladesh team will start their 4th Beach Games campaign today (Friday) in the Wresting event with Mohammad Dipu competing in under-70 kg category and Sheikh Shipon in under-80 kg category, both at Patong Beach, followed by Beach Marathon Swimming to be participated by Mahmudun Nabi Nahid in 5-kilometre competition tomorrow (Saturday) at Karon Beach.
Bangladesh contingent:
Chef-de-mission - Mohammad Abdul Karim, NOC Attaché - Fakhruddin Haider, Physician - Debesh Chandra Talukder, NOC Staff - M Mehdi Hasan.
Ministry representatives: Deputy Minister for Youth and Sports Arif
Khan Joy, Naimur Rahman Durjoy MP, BOA representatives: Mohammad Deen
and Jahangir Kabir
Athletics - Mesbah Ahmed and Shirin Akhter (both in 60-meter run), M
Kitab Ali (team official),
Basketball - Tareq Aziz, Mithun Kumar Biswas, Shamsuzzaman Khan
Shoyeb and Khaled Mahmud Akash (players) and Abhijit Sarkar (team
official),
Handball - Chowdhury NA Alimuzzaman Chowdhury Kanon, Ashiqur Rahman Khan, Bipul Ghosh, Naharul Kawsain, Mahbubul Alam Chowdhury, Jamal Hossain, Imdadul Haque, Sudhan Barua, Towhidur Rahman and Kazi Rashed Newaj (players), M Nurul Islam and M Nasirullah (team offcials).
Men's Kabaddi - Arshaduzzaman, Kamal Hossain, Ashraful Sheikh, Tipu Sultan, Zakir Hossain and Zayed Hossain (players), Ratan Kumar Saha and Abdul Jalil (team officials).
Women's Kabaddi - Shahnaj Parvin Maleka, Farzana Akhter Baby, Sharmin Sultana Rima, Fatema Akhter Poly, Kazi Shaheen Ara Bristi and Rupali Akhter (players), Subimal Chandra Das and Roushan Akhter Chhabi (team officials)
Volleyball - Sayed Al Zabir and Shafiqur Rahman (players) and Golam Rasul Khan (official).
Marathon Swimming - Mahmudun Nabi (5-kilometer marathon swimming) and Seniat Khan (team official)
Wrestling - Mohammad Dipu (Under 70 kgs) and Sheikh Shepon (Under 80 kgs) and M Tabiur Rahman (team official).
Besides, Dr Farzana Akhter Bhuiyan Lipi, as doping control officer of OCA, and two technical officials of Kabaddi will also accompany the team as invitees of the games organizing committee.