\\\'Green Delta\\\' in promotion of sports in Bangladesh

It was indeed a most delightful and unforgettable experience to be present in the prize giving ceremony of the Green Delta Insurance Premier Division Hockey League, 2013. Organised by the Bangladesh Hockey Federation (BHF) the ceremony was held on 16th April 2014, Wednesday at noon in the Falcon Hall of Bangladesh Air Force. It was chaired by the President of BHF and Chief of Bangladesh Air Force Air Marshall Enamul Bari, BBP, nud, psc. Mr Nasir Ahmed Chowdhury, the Founder Managing Director and Adviser of Green Delta Insurance Company Ltd (GDIC) was the chief guest while the incumbent MD & CEO of the Company, Mrs Farzana Chowdhury, the first ever woman MD & CEO of an insurance company in Bangladesh, was one of the special guests. Another guest was the Chair and MD of private TV channel ATN Bangla Dr Mahfuzur Rahman. Consultant of GDIC Mr A S A Muiz, DMD and CFO Mr Nazim Tazik Chowdhury, CEO of Green Delta Securities Ltd (a subsidiary of GDIC) Mr Wafi S M Khan, Sr Executive Directors Syed Kaiser Ahmed and Nazrul Islam and some senior executives of GDIC were also among the invitees.
Green Delta Insurance Company, a long-standing sponsor of Bangladesh Hockey, is one of the first insurance companies in the private sector in Bangladesh. Mr Nasir Ahmed Chowdhury, the insurance icon and father figure in our insurance entrepreneurship with an international repute, established the company. He was a dedicated and prominent cultural activist and freelance journalist as a student in the late forties and early fifties. His natural passion for culture inspired him to play a pioneering role in the promotion of sports and physical culture in Bangladesh even before his newly launched company in general insurance sector attained a sound and strong financial footing. Just after establishment in 1986, this new insurance company came forward to sponsor Hockey and other sporting disciplines including Table Tennis.
Though in respect of popularity hockey stands next to cricket and football in the present-day sporting arena of Bangladesh, this game is enriched with an ancient past. Historical records suggest that a game comparable to modern hockey used to be played by ancient Egyptians 4000 years ago. Ethiopians practised it around 1000 BC. Romans, Greeks and Aztec Indians of South America used to play it centuries before Christopher Columbus of Spain discovered the New World. Modern hockey was developed in England during the middle of the 18th century. British schools developed it into a competitive sport. This stick and ball game was first included in the IV 1908 London Olympics. However, in the absence of an international governing body in the form of a Federation or Association this game was excluded from the V and VII Games of Olympiad held in Stockholm and Antwerp in 1912 and 1920 respectively. The VI Games of Olympiad could not be celebrated due to the First World War. The international body for governing and regulating hockey named International Hockey Federation came into being in 1924. Thus hockey regained its admission in the Olympics the same year. Women hockey developed in many countries and in 1927 International Federation of Women's Hockey Association was formed. The two organisations were merged in 1982. Hockey is the only elite sport which is included in both the Games of Olympiad and Olympic Winter Games.
Hockey of the Indo-Pak-Bangladesh subcontinent is crowned with a most glorious past as far as the performance in the Olympiad and World Cup Hockey is concerned. India won Olympic championship in five consecutive Games. Pakistan Hockey team also emerged champion in Olympic Games and World Cup Hockey introduced in 1971. It is a pride for us that we produced efficient hockey players of the likes of A Mazed, Sabbir Yusuf, Bashir Ahmed, Shamsul Bari, Mohsin, Abdus Sadek, Ebrahim Saber, Ehtesham Sultan, Nurul Islam, Abdur Razzaque, Pratap Shankar Hazra, the brothers trio from Faridpur, Musa, Isha and Yasir, Jumman Lusai and many others. Some of our ex-hockey players played a glorious role in our Liberation War in 1971 of whom Mr Hazra was one.
Despite the contemporary under-performance of Bangladesh Hockey in international competitions, Green Delta Insurance or for that matter Mr Nasir Ahmed Chowdhury never turned back from financially patronising the promotion of hockey. Most probably Mr Chowdhury and the Green Delta Family under his paternal care considers the past history and tradition of this game in our country which precedes today's popular non-Olympic discipline - Cricket. After a prolonged disappointment and despair of under-performance a ray of hope is in sight at the other end of the tunnel. That is, Bangladesh Hockey Team has qualified in the 2014 Asian Games Hockey Qualifying Tournament held in Dhaka recently. Bangladesh has emerged unbeaten champion and has booked a berth in the 2014 Incheon (South Korea) Asian Games.
The very objective of sponsoring a game or sport by a corporate body is the promotion of its brand and widening the audience support to the game or sport sponsored. In all analysis, it is true that the present state of hockey in Bangladesh does not serve the above purpose to the regular sponsor of the Premier Division Hockey League of BHF - The Green Delta Insurance Company. Only with the true intent of promotion of sports GDIC or Mr Chowdhury has been extending most sincere and continuous financial cooperation to BHF as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility for the future promotion of this popular game. The result of the just concluded Asian Games Hockey Qualifying Tournament is a leap forward towards that cherished goal. Finally, it is expected that the long cooperation of GDIC to BHF will not be wanting in the days to come during the incumbency of Mrs Farzana Chowdhury, the worthy daughter of Mr Chowdhury who has come forward to support this prize distribution ceremony following in the footsteps of her iconic father with an eye to the future promotion and development of this traditional game in our country.